[7] He started out as an apprentice editor and later became chief editor of Heinemann Educational Books, where he was involved in the publication and promotion of many notable African writers including Ali Mazrui, Chinua Achebe, Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye, Meja Mwangi, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Okot p'Bitek.
[8][9] Chakava published a great number of educational and cultural books that have had a major importance in eastern Africa.
His publications included school books for primary and tertiary education that signified an important renewal in view of the subjects that were written from an African perspective.
[8] Chakava was the author of the 1996 book Publishing in Africa: One Man's Perspective,[10] for which Chinua Achebe wrote a brief introduction.
[1] He also founded the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, jointly with the Shah and Rhughani families of the Text Book Centre.