Head of Publishing – Hargeisa, Somaliland

Head of Publishing

Background

At Sahanbooks, our mission is to bring the benefits and pleasures of reading to everyone in Africa.

Sahanbooks recently opened a flagship bookshop in Hargeisa, Somaliland and aims to expand its retail presence across the country. Work is in progress to sell digital and print books at affordable prices through our online bookshop.

The Role

Working with the team in London, the Head of Publishing will set up SahanPublishing, the new publishing arm of Sahanbooks, which will publish and distribute digital and print books in local languages at affordable prices through our online bookstore and via our walk-in retail bookshops in East Africa.

This is an exciting new role where you will have complete operational ownership of the new publishing arm of Sahanbooks. You will build partnerships with the landscape of organisations involved in the publishing value chain, develop a large portfolio of Somali and other local language titles, acquire and negotiate rights with publishers, develop a network of authors, translators, local language editors, proofreaders and designers to commission for our publishing portfolio and build an in-house team as the business grows.

The role would suit a well-organised generalist who has international experience, speaks Somali, is curious, is comfortable with early-stage ambiguity and who has an MBA or equivalent.

To apply, please send your CV and a covering email to David Foster at careers@sahanbooks.com with the header ‘Head of Publishing’.

There is a notional deadline of 21st February.