Ikirezi Librairie - Kigali, Rwanda

Librairie Ikirezi was established in 1998, mainly as a sales point for periodicals, dictionaries and books about Africa, Rwanda in particular. We rented a small shop of around 30m² in downtown Kigali, a dark office space without windows and ventilation.


Some months later, the Belgian school offered us the opportunity to rent two classroom buildings suddenly exploding the surface to around 200m². We began to extend our range of products with adult and children literature; school books; sociology and political science and at a time when everyone was only talking about French and Kinyarwanda language books, Ikirezi introduced English-language books back in 2000. Since Ikirezi was located in the Belgian school compound and the year around availability of school materials was a serious  

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matter in Kigali, Ikirezi introduced quality materials sourced from international recognized brands.
Even though we were satisfied with the location and partnership with the school, parents and pupils, other – potential – customers identified Librairie Ikirezi too much with the school. As well, Kigali’s urban sprawl, which led to shifts in work and housing habits, meant that we had to move to a neutral and modern location where Ikirezi could spread its wings.