Report Coverage
This report covers print and digital media publishing, book publishing, and printing across Southern Africa (excluding South Africa, which is addressed in a separate report). It profiles the countries of the sub-region and examines the industry value chain, market size, and the current state of the sector. The analysis explores trade flows, regional and international market dynamics, key trends, challenges, and opportunities, and assesses the factors shaping performance, including unforeseen events, the broader economic environment, technology, labour, government support, input costs, and environmental concerns. The report also reviews the competitive landscape, including barriers to entry, and provides an outlook on the sector’s future trajectory. 33 companies are profiled, including Éditions Jeunes Malgaches (Madagascar), Ethale Publishing (Mozambique), La Sentinelle (Mauritius), Longman (Zambia), Macmillan Education (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho), Media Nova (Angola), Mmegi Publishing House (Botswana), New Era Publications Corporation (Namibia), Pearson Education (Botswana), The Times Group Malawi, and Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers).
Introduction
• The publishing and printing sector plays a pivotal role in Southern Africa, providing access to information, strengthening literacy, supporting education, and nurturing cultural expression. Although modest in scale, the publishing industry is rich in creative potential, with local journalists, authors, and other content creators producing work that speaks directly to local cultures and contexts.
• The sector faces numerous challenges, including AI driven disruption. Southern African print media publishers are grappling with declining circulation and shrinking print advertising revenues, while book publishing in the sub-region remains constrained by socio-economic factors, weak distribution networks, and piracy and copyright infringement.
• The printing industry supports the production of newspapers, magazines, textbooks, official documents, and commercial materials such as brochures, flyers, posters, labels, packaging, and corporate stationery, but faces declining demand from legacy print media clients, rising input costs, and fragile supply chains.
• Across the sub-region, mobile technology, wider internet access, and digital platforms are creating new markets for locally produced content. The challenge is to build a sustainable, coordinated value chain that can carry Southern African voices from content creation to market.
Trends
• A continued shift towards digital news platforms, with media publishers using websites, social media, messaging apps, and podcasts to reach audiences.
• A gradual rise in indigenous-language publishing, supported by open-access initiatives and donor-funded programmes.
• Continued dominance of educational publishing, driven by learning materials approved by national ministries of education.
• Digital publishing and printing are gaining ground, while the circulation of print newspapers and magazines continues to decline.
• Faster printing turnaround times and a stronger focus on reducing production waste.
• Growth in print-on-demand services and related digital tools, such as e-books, web-to-print platforms and audiobooks.
• Increased demand for packaging and label printing as commercial document printing and newspaper circulation decline.
• Mobile-first publishing and e-learning are expanding as smartphone penetration rises across the region.
Opportunities
• AI-enabled translation of media publications and books.
• Curriculum-aligned educational and academic content.
• Developing e learning materials.
• Digitising backlists and new titles for distribution on mobile devices, enabling direct access for younger, tech-savvy readers.
• Leveraging growth in packaging, labels and point-of-sale materials, especially for printers able to deliver high-quality colour and short-run work
• Licensing African media archives, publishing catalogues, academic journals, and indigenous-language learning materials for AI training and information retrieval systems.
• Marketing African literature to international and diaspora markets.
• Publishing indigenous-language books and children’s literature.
Challenges
• Continued reliance on South Africa and offshore markets for printing.
• Declining newspaper and magazine circulation figures and falling print media advertising revenues.
• High levels of piracy, illegal photocopying and weak copyright enforcement.
• Most books continue to be imported.
• Opaque or poorly managed tender processes, particularly in state-driven educational markets.
• Press freedom is declining in many countries, compounded by the proliferation of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda.
• Rising input costs for paper, inks, energy and imported equipment.
• Shrinking volumes and shorter print runs, especially for newspapers and magazines.
• Supply chain delays, surging shipping costs, and broader logistics disruptions.
• Uneven digital transition, with wide gaps in capacity, infrastructure, skills, and investment between companies and countries.
• Weak or uneven reading cultures.
Outlook
• Publishing in Southern Africa is expected to remain under sustained pressure, with print newspaper and magazine circulation continuing to decline as audiences migrate to digital media and social media platforms. However, this shift also creates space for digital-first, creator-led newsrooms, podcasts and community outlets that can serve smaller, local markets at lower cost.
• In book publishing, demand for educational books and indigenous African-language titles will continue to be driven by government literacy initiatives, with a growing focus on digital textbooks and local-language publications. Academic publishing will increasingly move towards digital publishing and open-access research.
• On the production side, high-volume print media and commercial printing are expected to remain in decline, while print-on-demand, e-commerce and FMCG growth will continue to drive demand for short-run digital work, marketing materials, packaging and labels.
• AI continues to disrupt the sector while creating opportunities to monetise African content for AI training and information retrieval. By licensing archives, catalogues, and indigenous-language materials to AI platforms, publishers can unlock new revenue streams and ensure African voices are represented in global knowledge systems.
• The sector is expected to evolve from a constrained, education-dependent base into a more diversified and resilient one that balances traditional print with digital innovation and positions African content as a valuable asset in the AI era.
The Printing and Publishing Sector in Southern Africa
2026
Full Report
R 20 000.00(ZAR) estimated $1207.30 (USD)*
Industry Landscape
R 14 000.00(ZAR) estimated $ 845.11 (USD)*
Table of Contents
[ Close ]| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | INTRODUCTION | 1 |
| 2. | REGIONAL INFORMATION | 1 |
| 3. | DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY | 8 |
| 3.1. | Industry Value Chain | 14 |
| 3.2. | Geographic Position | 17 |
| 3.3. | Size of the Industry | 18 |
| 4. | LOCAL | 21 |
| 4.1. | State of the Industry | 21 |
| 4.2. | Key Trends | 29 |
| 4.3. | Key Issues | 31 |
| 4.4. | Notable Players | 32 |
| 4.5. | Trade | 38 |
| 4.6. | Regulations | 39 |
| 5. | AFRICA | 39 |
| 6. | INTERNATIONAL | 45 |
| 7. | INFLUENCING FACTORS | 49 |
| 7.1. | Unforeseen Events | 49 |
| 7.2. | Economic Environment | 49 |
| 7.3. | Labour | 52 |
| 7.4. | Environmental Issues | 53 |
| 7.5. | Technology, R&D, Innovation | 55 |
| 7.6. | Government Support | 58 |
| 7.7. | Educational Market | 59 |
| 7.8. | Input Costs | 60 |
| 8. | COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT | 61 |
| 8.1. | Competition | 61 |
| 8.2. | Barriers to Entry | 62 |
| 9. | INDUSTRY SUMMARY | 64 |
| 10. | OUTLOOK | 65 |
| 11. | INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS | 66 |
| 12. | REFERENCES | 66 |
| 12.1. | Publications | 66 |
| 12.2. | Websites | 67 |
| APPENDIX 1 – Summary of Notable Players | 68 | |
| COMPANY PROFILES | 77 | |
| COLLEGE PRESS (PVT) LTD | 77 | |
| DIKGANG PUBLISHING CO. (PTY) LTD | 79 | |
| EDICOES NOVEMBRO - E.P. | 81 | |
| EDITIONS DE L'OCEAN INDIEN LTEE | 83 | |
| EDITIONS JEUNES MALGACHES | 85 | |
| EDITIONS LE PRINTEMPS LTEE | 86 | |
| ESWATINI OBSERVER (PTY) LTD (THE) | 88 | |
| ETHALE PUBLISHING LDA | 90 | |
| GADSDEN PUBLISHERS LTD | 92 | |
| IMISEBE PUBLISHING AND PRINTING COMPANY (PTY) LTD | 93 | |
| INTER ESCOLAS EDITORES, LDA | 94 | |
| LA SENTINELLE LTD | 95 | |
| LE MAURICIEN LTD | 98 | |
| LONGMAN ZAMBIA LTD | 100 | |
| MACMILLAN BOLESWA PUBLISHERS (LESOTHO) (PTY) LTD | 101 | |
| MACMILLAN BOTSWANA PUBLISHING COMPANY (PTY) LTD | 102 | |
| MACMILLAN EDUCATION ESWATINI (PTY) LTD | 104 | |
| MEDIA NOVA, E.P. | 105 | |
| MM BOOKSELLERS CC | 107 | |
| MMEGI PUBLISHING HOUSE (PTY) LTD | 108 | |
| MWAJIONERA PUBLISHERS LTD | 110 | |
| NAMIBIA PUBLISHING HOUSE (PTY) LTD | 111 | |
| NATION PUBLICATIONS LTD | 112 | |
| NEW ERA PUBLICATIONS CORPORATION | 114 | |
| NOVA VAGA, S.A. | 116 | |
| PEARSON EDUCATION BOTSWANA (PTY) LTD | 118 | |
| TEMPLE PUBLICATIONS LTD | 119 | |
| THOMSON DIGITAL (MAURITIUS) LTD | 121 | |
| TIMES GROUP MALAWI (THE) | 123 | |
| WORDPRESS NAMIBIA (PTY) LTD | 125 | |
| WORDWEAVER PUBLISHING HOUSE CC | 126 | |
| ZIMBABWE NEWSPAPERS (1980) LTD | 127 | |
| ZIMBABWE PUBLISHING HOUSE (PVT) LTD | 130 |
