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Macmillan Education Group

Macmillan is one of the world's best known, privately owned, publishing groups. The principal shareholder is Verlagsgruppe Georg Von Holtzbrinck – Germany's largest Educational Publishing House.
Macmillan Education is a global publisher with a local presence

Macmillan Education operates in over 130 countries worldwide. Yet our global vision does not detract from our regional specialisation. Working locally allows us to get close to the people who matter – the students, teachers, institutions and educational authorities who use our products and with whom we have developed lasting and reciprocal relationships.

Today Macmillan Education publishes English Language teaching (ELT), school curriculum, Spanish curriculum, digital and online materials to suit the need of classrooms around the world. Our publishing is supported by a wealth of educational services, like teacher training and online learning, which underpins our commitment to deliver the most effective and appropriate resources for education today.

 

History of Macmillan Education in Southern Africa

The company was founded by Daniel Macmillan who, together with his brother Alexander, published their first book in 1843. Daniel's grandson, Harold Macmillan, joined in 1923 and contributed to the company's success over a period of more than 60 years. He was Prime Minister of the UK from 1956 to 1963. Harold Macmillan's famous "winds of change" tour of Africa in the 1960s not only changed the political face of Africa, but also provided the grand old man of publishing an opportunity to expand the Macmillan publishing empire throughout the continent – from oil rich Nigeria to diamond rich South Africa.
Harold Macmillan's winds of change continued to blow throughout South Africa in the 1970s and Macmillan Boleswa emerged as a fresh breeze from the old, conservative style of southern African publishing – and soon became a potent educational publishing force in the region. The winds of change altered the way in which Macmillan perceived its publishing objectives in southern Africa.

Macmillan very quickly discarded the conventional view that the difficult South African market should be challenged head on, and the focus was changed to the BLS countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland), where few publishers ventured. From a relatively small Swaziland base, unfettered by apartheid constraints, Boleswa grew rapidly – and became the first affirmative action publishing company – long before it was fashionable.

With strong editorial and production support from the UK, Boleswa developed fresh, innovative products, which were light years ahead of the competition. The winds of change which gave birth to Boleswa were often tempestuous and frequently unpredictable, but they resulted in the creation of a major publishing undertaking in the southern African region.

 

Macmillan Education in Southern Africa

Today, Boleswa and its subsidiaries are a group with a strong, diverse publishing team – able to operate independently of the parent UK company. Companies within the Boleswa group are as follows:

  • Macmillan Botswana
  • Macmillan Lesotho
  • Macmillan Moçambique
  • Macmillan Namibia
  • Macmillan South Africa
  • Macmillan Swaziland National Publishing Company
  • College Press Zimbabwe
  • Palgrave Macmillan
  • Pan Macmillan.

- See more at: http://www.macmillan.co.za/content/about-us/macmillan-education/3#sthash.ykFyN2WG.dpuf (Links to an external site.)

 

 

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