Towards the end of 2022, Maisha Yetu honoured Dr Henry Chakava with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the book industry and general publishing, not only in Kenya but also in Africa.
In the early nineties he bought the company from UK publishers and named it East African Educational Publishers. However, the most enduring part of his story is how he led his company to publish more than 2000 tiles of culturally relevant books - which include fiction - the largest by a local publishing house.