During the last day of the AALF (June 10, 2018), the Esteemed Principal Secretary, Mrs. Betty C. Maina, Ministry of industry, Trade and cooperatives- Kenya visited the Fair and held brief meeting with ALLPI at the Fair ground. The discussion centred on leather sector development activities in Kenya and areas of focus for ALLPI assistance. Key activities areas pointed out were:

• The finalization of a revolving fund scheme of 300,000 USD for SMEs in Kenya pledged by TDB through ALLPI facilitation;
• The Kenya Leather Park development activities;

The Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI), in its leather development agenda in Africa, Co-sponsored the 10th Edition of All Africa Leather Fair (AALF) which was held during 8th -10th June 2018.

Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, Executive Director of ALLPI, in his opening remarks of the Fair emphasized that Africa is endowed with the supply and demand potential of the leather sector; and hence, we all should partner to create economic growth, gender and youth empowerment, employment and wealth creation, and poverty alleviation. He also underscored that Africa should bench mark those countries, Vietnam, Brazil, and India, who tapped the leather sector potential to an optimal level.

Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute, in collaboration with the Zambian Ministry of Commerce, Industry and co-operative held Artisanal/MSMEs training program in Vegetable tanning at Artisanal/MSMEs level and thus change the situation where over the years and until now the Artisans have been tanning hides and skins in over two to three weeks a scenario which was covered in 8 – 9 days.

Sudan is consider as one of biggest among the African countries in livestock population; thus, Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) has a number of activities in Sudan among these activities but not limited to are :

• Formulation and unpacked of leather value chain strategy
• Conducting traceability training
• Supporting Khartoum leather fair
• MoUs with different stakeholders
• Preparation the leather sector activities under RISM
• Curriculum Development for some academic institutes

Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute’s (ALLPI) Expert Team, composed of Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam, Institutional Capacity Development and Consultancy Expert and Mrs Birikinesh Gonfa, Investment, Trade and Marketing Expert, was on mission to Malawi from April 23 to 29, 2018. The main objectives of the mission were to develop a Business Plan for the leather Satellite Design Studio through participatory workshop and also to discuss with the Ministry of industry, Trade and Tourism officials on areas of collaboration as part of the implementation of phase II of the “Malawi Enterprise Productivity Enhancement (MEPE)” project under the COMESA RISM financial support.

The Team of Experts of Africa Leather and Leather Product Institute (ALLPI) went to Mauritius from 8th – 15th April 2018.
The general objective of the mission was to formulate a leather Strategy for Mauritius: and the specific objectives were:

• To explore the potential to establish a high-end finish line leather products,
• To revamp and revitalize the leather sector in Mauritius, to undertake the quantum leap to enter the targeted “niche” markets,

The exercise took place from 10th – 13th April 2018 and conducted by two international tannery waste water (effluent) treatment and disposal expert contracted by ALLPI. They were accompanied by Harrison Mungai who is ALLPI’s Tannery expert.
Six (6) tanneries 2 in Masaka, 3 in Jinja and 1 in Busia were visited and the following observations/suggestions were made for each tannery as listed hereunder:

Training of Tannery Technicians/Key operators on Leather Finishing

The Tanning clinic training was conducted by an International leather expert from United chemicals ltd (one of the ALLPI Global Collaborating Partners) from Turkey assisted by Harrison Mungai ALLPI Tannery Expert. The Training was conducted at Leatherland at Masaka on 9th and 10th April 2018. Seven tannery technicians from Leatherland ltd 5 (host), SWT tannery 1 and 1 from Kyambogo University were trained.

The Training focussed on footwear (upper) leather production from raw hides/skins to crust putting more emphasis on process control to avoid chemical wastage and achieving the required end product (leather).

The ALLPI Team of experts led by the it’s Executive Director (ED) met high ranked Government officials for the purpose of familiarization on leather sector policies made the Government of Sudan and thereafter made field visits to get the right-hand information on the ground. The mission date was 18th – 24th March 2018.

The main objective of the mission was to: --

• Collect data (gather information) to enable the development of business plans for Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST) leather incubator, National Leather Technology Center (NLTC) and Kerari Vocational Training Center,
• Present draft report on hides and skins traceability study,
• Hold strategy review workshop on Sudan’s leather value chain strategy.  

Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute’s (ALLPI) Expert Team led by its Programs Coordinator, Mr. Nicholas Mudungwe and composed of Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam, Institutional Capacity Development and Consultancy Expert, Mr. Harrison Mungai Leather Value Chain and Tannery Expert and Two consultants from UV Enterprises-India, conducted a mission to Asmara from March 3 to 11 ,2018.
The main objectives of the mission were:

• Validate the Vocational and Diploma level curricula on leather Technology;
• Conduct training on Cluster Design and Implementation, and
• Assess the operations of tanneries and their effluent treatment and disposal systems.