Sharon Chakava Banda is currently the Operations Director at East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) where she has been for the past 11 years. East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) is one of the oldest publishing houses in East Africa with a 60- year legacy. She is the daughter of the late Dr. Henry Chakava, widely recognized as the father of African publishing, who transformed EAEP into the first fully locally owned multinational publishing firm in 1992. Dr. Henry Chakava passed away on March 8 th 2024 but his legacy lives on through his children Sharon Chakava Banda who is the Operations Director and Andia Chakava who serves on the board as a non- executive director at EAEP. Passionate about education and literacy, Sharon has travelled extensively across Kenya engaging with schools and communities to promote access to quality books. She is spearheading EAEP’s Life Long Initiative, which equips school libraries with storybooks to cultivate a love for reading among children from an early age. In addition to overseeing regional operations, Sharon is driving EAEP’s digital transformation, ensuring that its rich catalogue of titles is accessible on platforms such as World Reader, eKitabu, Revisionwise, African Books Collective, and Amazon. Sharon continues to expand EAEP’s impact in promoting African voices and publishing in local languages across Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia. Sharon has an MSC with Merit from Oxford Brookes University in Oxford England in Hospitality with a specialization in Destination Marketing and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts USA. Sharon will be contributing to the panel session Real Stories, Lasting Impact: How Enterprising Families Strive, Thrive, and Endure – An Intergenerational Dialogue on Resilience, Reinvention, and the Lessons that Shape Legacy”