Elimu – Who are we?

Elimu Editions is a publishing house based in Kigali, Rwanda. It has been registered with the Chamber of Commerce since 2020 for the following activities:

• edition and publication of books
• cultural education
• entertainment, arts and cultural creation

It is the result of several years of personal and/or collective reflection, university, professional and associative careers in connection in particular with sociology, education and social work, but also with the memory of the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda, the pan-Africanism and the history of Africa and its diaspora in general.

The founder and director, Manzi Rugirangoga is a Rwandan entrepreneur. He is also the author of “La Légende de Havilah”, Rwanda’s first Afro-futurist novel.

He studied sociology and education sciences in France at the University Lumière Lyon II, and in social work at ARFRIPS. During this period and in parallel with his studies, he became involved in several local or national associative networks in Lyon, including that of African students in Lyon (AECAL), that of the memory of the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda (Ibuka France) or still that of the pan-Africanist sphere (founder of the OJAL – Organization of Afro-descendant Youth of Lyon).

It is therefore in a social approach, of unity, of self-determination, of perpetuation of an emancipated and emancipatory memory that Elimu was born.

Our goals

Our goal is to provide an education adapted to African and Afro-descendant youth of the 21st century. It aspires to complete the “normal” academic training of children and students, which “forms” but does not always educate. This education therefore concerns children, parents and, more broadly, civil society as a whole.

We noted the lack of representation of our stories, our voices, our know-how, our cultures and our memory in the educational materials offered to the different generations of society (games, courses, books, textbooks , entertainment, etc.). We believe, however, that this representation and taking into account the voice of African youth is essential to its growth and educational development. Our idea is to energize the potential of the African child by focusing on self-revaluation.

We are aware that access to knowledge today depends on several information channels and that today’s youth is solicited by several media (television, social networks, streaming platforms, video games, etc.). It is for this reason that we have chosen to invest in all educational formats.

We are present on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), on which we regularly publish content from our site. However, we want to further develop access to knowledge for African youth. The objectives of Elimu Editions can be divided into three main fields of action:

• The publishing and sale of books and other educational media (novels, children’s books, collections of poetry, educational manuals, comics, animations, audio books, video games, etc.)
• The organization of events related to the culture and history of the peoples of Africa and the diaspora (cinema club, reading group, conferences, etc.)
• The creation of audio-visual cultural education programs (IBIGANIRO).