Two COMESA/LLPI’s Experts, Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam and Mr. Harrison Mungai conducted a mission to Antananarivo, Madagascar from March 26 to April1, 2017.

The objective of the mission was to conduct a baseline survey for gathering information that will serve as input for formulation of projects that will be supporting and strengthening the Madagascar’s Leather Value Chain towards enhanced value addition, increased productivity and improvement in quality and market access.

The Experts Team held consultative meetings with government higher officials in different Ministries, Private sector players, training Institution and made visits to different enterprises along the leather value chain.  The complete report of the mission activities will be shared with all institutions and enterprises that participated in the survey activities.

The COMESA-RISM program is acknowledged for the financial support for the implementation of the baseline survey.

The COMESA Secretariat and COMESA Institutions meeting with the Tunisia government and private sector representatives was held on the 12th and 13th April 2017. The meetings were organized as part of the discussion towards Potential Accession of Tunisia to COMESA and its different institutions Membership.  LLPI was represented in two meetings held with the Private Sector and Public Sector players that were  interested to hear more on what the Institute has to offer. Important millstones were discussed with presentations done by Prof. Mekonnen to the Private Sector and Prof. Mwinyihija following up with Public Sector representatives coming from various Ministries and agencies. The discussions were  crucial as a preamble to prepare Tunisia whilest evaluating their membership accession. LLPI has offered to support Tunisian leather sector by assisting in Strategy development, SMEs development, and cluster formulation to make the sector productive and competitive.   

The First India- Commonwealth SME Trade Summit is being organised in order to fulfil the main objective of promoting trade and investments among the SME sector of the Commonwealth. The Summit will be organised by ICSA in partnership with Commonwealth Secretariat; Centre for WTO Studies, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India; FISME; FICCI; CII; GBS-Africa; TPSF; COMESA LLPI; and India Business Group, London. It will bring together and link high-level policymakers from Ministries of trade and Ministry of Industry within the Commonwealth, who will discuss and exchange information about their schemes for promoting international trade, strengthening the SMEs and linking them to the global economy. This platform will also provide opportunities to the industry in the Commonwealth to showcase and sell their technologies, whether soft or hard technologies. For More Information, Please click the Brochure.

The 9th Edition of the All Africa Leather Fair (AALF-2017) that was held from 17th -19th March 2017, was successfully conducted by bringing together tanners, footwear and other leather goods manufacturers, equipment and technology suppliers, chemical and inputs suppliers, manpower training institutions, trade promotion organizations, etc from all over the world.

A Team of Academicians from Bahir Dar University Visited COMESA/LLPI on March 9, 2017. The Team was composed of a Public Relation Officer, Researchers and Lecturers.

LLPI in pursuance of its mandate of empowering the SMEs, makes a breakthrough in facilitating Green Production of footwear in Africa. SMEs are producing footwears through eco-friendly processes through the technical support from the COMESA/LLPI and UNEP Switch Africa Green Project and financed by EU.

LLPI is optimistic through working partnership with UNEP and a kind assistance of the European Union (EU) it would create opportunities for reducing poverty, creating wealth, improving on gender parity and stimulating rural development particularly geared towards the SMEs empowerment.

Furthermore, LLPI is anticipating to replicate the success story in other Africa countries and, therefore, takes special appreciation to its excellent working partnership with Kenya Leather Development Council (KLDC) and UNEP through financing accessed from EU.

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The Ethiopia Leather Value Chain Strategy (2016-2020) unpacking workshop was held on February 10, 2017 at Nexus hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. COMESA/LLPI, in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry of the Government of Ethiopia facilitated the development of the Strategy and also organized the unpacking workshop.

Participants of the workshop were drawn from different public, private institutions and associations.

The objective of the Workshop was to streamline accountability and responsibilities of the different government and private institutions/organizations and stakeholders in the implementation of the Leather Value Chain Strategic Objectives stated in the Strategy Document.

The Hub’s footwear consultant traveled to Ethiopia and Kenya over the past week to meet with footwear stakeholders and exporters. Ethiopia is the largest African exporter of footwear under AGOA and Kenya is seeking to revitalize its leather sector, with footwear as a major component. The Hub’s footwear consultant assessed Ethiopian and Kenyan footwear firms to identify export-ready enterprises with which the Hub will engage. Selected firms will benefit from one-on-one technical assistance and linkages with U.S. buyers. Selected firms will also be eligible to participate in Hub-sponsored trade shows, including the upcoming Sourcing at MAGIC trade show in Las Vegas, NV on February 20-23, 2017.

While in Ethiopia, the Hub’s footwear consultant conducted a technical workshop with 20 export-ready companies to educate participants on U.S. market dynamics and requirements. Prof. Mwinyihija, the Executive Director of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute also made a presentation on intra-regional footwear market opportunities in Eastern Africa which was well received by companies.

The Djibouti 4th edition of the Artisanal Innovation Day was held around the theme “Craftsmanship and Regions" on January 5, 2017 at “PALAIS DU PEUPLE”, Djibouti. 

The event was organized by the Ministry of Trade, SMEs, Crafts, Tourism and Formalization, in collaboration with stakeholders and the private sector. More than 200 participants, including large number of artisans that came from all over the country took part in this event.

In an exclusive interview with Felix Jumbe, COMESA’s Alliance for Common Trade in Eastern and Southern African (ACTESA) Board Chairperson upon arrival from Ethiopia on Leather and Leather Products conference, disclosed that Malawi was losing billions of dollars in revenue collection through export.

Jumbe who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Salima Central observed that livestock’s hides and skins are being underused and wasted in the country while the world market is in dire need of them.

The ACTESA board chairperson Jumbe said it was high time Malawi capitalized on the already made leather market by rejuvenating its leather products sector. He added that the nation has the potential to export leather products considering the numbers of livestock and animals it has.

“Most African countries including the 20 member COMESA are losing out a lot of dollars in raw materials export on leather. And Malawi is the worst performing country as it has no organized structures for this sector. We don’t have a good legal frame work to facilitate leather trading as the nation still uses an old 1966 Act on leather product which needs to be reviewed, “said Jumbe.

He added: “Malawi has the potential for the leather sector considering the millions of cows, goats and wildlife animals on our land. We just need to get organized by formulating national council and associations on leather trade.”

“After 52 years of independence Malawi is still struggling with the export market. Leather markets are already made for us. If we continue exporting raw materials nothing will work for us. Just image processed skin or hide of a square metre fetches US$ 5 while unprocessed ones are at MK300 for the same quantity. This is how Malawi is losing out. We need to do something to boost our export revenue collection”, said Jumbe.

The lawmaker plans to engage ministries of Agricultures and Trade on how best the leather sector can put its operations in order in the country with possibility of having a processing plants for hides and skins products.

Source : www.maravipost.com