The Principal Secretary for Public Investments and Assets Management Mr. Cyrell Wagunda today attended the launch of a five-year Strategic Plan for the Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) running between 2025-2030.

The PS who was the Chief Guest commended the oldest publisher and printer of academic books and materials for their consistency and resilience since 1947 when it was called the East African Literature Bureau, the very first publishing house in East African region.

He noted that the firm has undergone various restructuring and evolution to its current status of a fully-fledged commercial Government Owned Enterprise (GOE) under the GOE Act of 2025 effectively placing it under the State Department for Public Investments and Assets Management.

He noted that, the GOE Act shall reorient KLB as a profit-oriented, self-financing, and self-sustaining commercial entity thereby reducing its reliance on exchequer support but diversifying its revenue streams to demonstrate that GOEs can compete and thrive in a dynamic, open market.

According to the Plan, KLB sets an ambitious but credible target to grow gross revenue from Ksh. 12.5 billion to Ksh. 14.5 billion by the 2029/2030 Financial Year.

To achieve this, the Publisher has set out a clear pathway to achieve the target through diversification of revenue streams, expanding open market book sales, growing print sales revenue, mobilizing strategic partnerships, and increasing investment income by entering new markets.

“Plan commits KLB PLC to increasing internal production capacity from 3.6 million to 10 million units over the plan period, integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) across publishing and printing operations, and migrating core systems to secure cloud platforms. These are transformational shifts that will determine KLB’s relevance and competitiveness in a rapidly evolving industry,” the PS said.

He challenged KLB leadership to pursue modernization of infrastructure, automation of workflows, and adoption of digital technologies which he said are prerequisites for delivering that return.

The Vice Chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Education Hon. Eve Obara, Former Chairperson of KLB’s Board of Management Prof. Rispah Wepukhulu, Managing Director, Mr. George Okeyo, and other stakeholders in the publishing sector were present.