Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) organized a training of 30 SMEs as ToT in transformative Entrepreneurship, Footwear and Leather Goods Design, Craftsmanship, Export readiness, Costing/Pricing and Record Keeping at the Kamange Artisans Production Center, Burundi, from June 22 to July 4, 2022. The training workshop was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Burundi, under the BADEA Technical Assistance grant. The purpose of the training workshop was to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of SMEs to attain growth through shifting their mindset and embrace changes, enhance SMEs technical capacity and economies of scale to supply both Public and Private Sector institutional buyers.
Hon Marie Chantal NIJIMBERE, Minister, Ministry of Commerce, Transport, Industry and Tourism visited the trainees while the training workshop was in progress and reiterated her Government’s commitment to support the leather sector SMEs in Burundi. Her Excellency also thanked ALLPI and BADEA for organizing this important training workshop that will provide the SMEs with a solid foundation to be competitive and more productive.
At the end of the training workshop, certificates were presented to participants by Eng. Anitha Nshimirimana, Director General of Industry, who also gave a speech, represented the Honorable Minister at the graduation ceremony. Other officials who gave speech at the graduation ceremony were Mr. Ghebregziabher Ghebremedhin, ALLPI Programs Coordinator, representing the Executive Director Prof. Mwinyihija Mwinyikione, and Mr. Seth Gashaka, Director of Industry. One representative of the trainees also gave feedback on knowledge and skills gained from the training. All the speakers thanked ALLPI and BADEA for organizing the ToT training and urged participants to apply and replicate the knowledge and skills gained for the transformation of the leather sector in Burundi from commodity dependence to finished product basis.
