An inclusive Book Supply Chain in Nigeria

Her inspiration

Tonye was inspired by her two children, her son Ugo, and her younger daughter named Simone. At four months old Simone had a brief medical scare and two weeks later she was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Ugo began asking questions because he thought his sister was getting a different treatment, as a lot of people were coming to their house ‘playing’ with her. “How hard is it to explain to a four year old that these people are not playing with Simone but these people were providing early intervention to help with developmental delays that occur due to Down syndrome,” remarked Tonye As children are very visual she started looking for books that could better explain Down syndrome to a child. She found several interesting and wonderful books, but none of them featured an African family. Why not write her own Down Syndrome story? she thought and began closely observing her children and taking notes and soon a story emerged from where Tonye decided to share these with the community in the form of books. However, writing, illustrating, publishing, printing and marketing these books has not been easy.

Each phase of the book supply chain came with its own challenges and hurdles. In the coming blogs we shall discuss the phases of the supply chain in Nigeria, guided by Tonye’s experiences. In the next blog we will discuss title development in Nigeria.

You can read about Tonye’s inspiring adventure by clicking on the link below: Blog (simones-oasis.com)