A delegation from the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) headed by Mrs Nigest Haile, Founder and Executive Director of CAWEE, visited COMESA/Leather and Leather Products Institute on May 7, 2014 to discuss collaboration. Dr Mwinyihija Mwinyikione, Executive Director of COMESA/LLPI, and other COMESA/LLPI Experts participated in the discussion.

COMESA/LLPI in partnership with the Eastern Africa Economic Chambers of Commerce, Commonwealth Secretariat, AFR-EXIM BANK and Center for WTO Studies organized the “WTO and Post-Bali Agenda for Africa workshop that was hosted in Nairobi-Kenya, at Fairmont Hotel, from 24th to 25th April 2014.

COMESA/LLPI received requests from its Member Countries to support them in the development of comprehensive leather value chain strategies. The main objectives of these missions were to develop a deep understanding of the value chains in these countries and to design road-maps for transforming the value chain into robust, efficient and sustainable systems.

Deloitte Representative Mr. Kedrock William Visited COMESA-LLPI on March 26th, 2014. This constitutes a follow-up of Mr. Keith C. Molkner, Director of Deloitte, visit to LLPI that took place on 22nd of January 2014.

According to the Contract Agreement signed between LLPI and the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), trainings were conducted in two centers for a total of 40 training participants. In Blantyre at MCCCI Trade Fair Grounds 20 SMEs were trained during period 20th – 31st January 2014 and also in Lilongwe Vas Cottage 20 SMEs were trained during the period 26th February-12th march 2014.

The COMESA/LLPI Expert Team composed of Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam, Leather Value Chain Expert at COMESA/LLPI and Mr. Alfredo Martinelli, a renowned footwear consultant from Italy, conducted Service Centers  Assessment  for  Leather Industry in five COMESA countries, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe from February  9 to 28, 2014.

COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute (COMESA-LLPI) co-sponsored and co-organized the 7th Edition of All Africa Leather Fair, 2014 conducted at the Millennium Hall Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The COMESA/LLPI in its endeavor to transform the COMESA leather value chain is leaving no stone unturned and is engaging all relevant stakeholders nationally, regionally and internationally to develop robust programs that would spur growth of the sector.

Nicholas Mudungwe, who is a Cluster Development Expert, has enrolled for a course on Quality Infrastructure for Sustainable Development, which covers the following topics: Standards, Technical Regulations and related Quality and Trade Topics. This is a blended course, which include online and face to face interaction.

The COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute sponsored training of SMEs in footwear designing was successfully conducted at the  Training Common Facility Centre, in Kampala Uganda from 27 November 2013 to 31 January 2014 in collaboration with Footwear and Leather goods manufacturers and Exporters Association of Uganda(FLEMEA).