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

The COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute’s Experts Team, led by the Institute’s Executive Director, Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, and composed of the Institute’s Leather Value Chain Expert Prof Mekonnen Hailemariam  and Cluster Expert, Mr. Nicholas Mudungwe was on Mission to the Republic of Burundi from November 27 to May 2  2016.

The purpose of the Mission was to conduct a training course in “Governance, Cluster Implementation Procedures and Administration”  to SMEs working in leather footwear and leather goods manufacturing, and to discuss with the officials and concerned stakeholders on the best way forward for the  implementation of the National Leather Value Chain Strategy and Training Programs in Leather Technology. It is to be recalled that both the Strategy and training programs development was fully sponsored by COMESA/LLPI and finalized and submitted in 2015.

The Experts Team conducted a three day training in “Governance, Cluster Implementation Procedures and Administration  to 20 SMEs working in leather sector and 7 participants from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourisme at Royal Palace Hotel, Bujumbura. The training topics encompassed designing incubation frameworks for SMEs, Cluster Governance, Cluster business and action plans and administration.

The Expert Team was also received by the Permanent Secretaries  of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourisme and Ministry of Education;  Assistant to the Minister of the Ministry of Public Service, labour and Employment, and Chief of Protocol of the President’s Office to discuss on the best way forward for the Burundi Leather Value Chain Strategy implementation and ways and means of the starting of the Vocational and Diploma level Training programs in leather technology. The government is planning to collaborate with LLPI to train around 600 youth in skills that will improve their livelihoods. The two parties (the Government and COMESA/LLPI) will further discuss on ways and means of imparting leather related skills to the youth.

It is pertinent to note that the message of promoting value addition as a mechanism of unleashing value in the leather sector in the COMESA region that COMESA/LLPI has been spearheading is starting to bear fruits in Burundi. In 2013, COMESA/LLPI held a regional workshop in Addis in partnership with UNCTAD. The theme of the workshop was promoting intra trade in value added products. Among many participants, there was Mr. Bede Bedetse, who is the owner of Afritan tannery in Bujumbura, Burundi. For many years he was focusing on the production and export of wet blue, however the message on promoting the production of value added products, hit him hard and he quickly decided to upgrade his tannery to a leather finishing stage. Three years down the line some of his leather is being used in footwear production in Burundi and the region. However, the zenith of his success, three years down the line has been marked by manufacturing upholstery leather, which has now replaced synthetics in the manufacturing of furniture in Burundi. This is historical, and COMESA/LLPI team and trainees took time to visit a shop where some of the sofas made from finished leather from Afritan, were on display. In the picture below , Professor Mwinyihija, congratulated Mr. Bede Bedetse on his milestone achievement, which is set to motivate other tanneries in the COMESA region to emulate this.

The Experts Team mission was successfully completed with issuance of certificates to trainees and fruitful discussions with concerned Ministries on the way forward for the implementation of the vocational and diploma level curricula and national leather value chain strategy. See picture below some of the participants showing off their certificates.

Some of the quotes, which were captured during the training, are as follows:

Mr. Gedeor King Nduwimana  – President of the Association of Footwear Artisans in Burundi “ This cannot end without me acknowledging the importance of the three days to our business operations; we were working in isolation for many years and we have not developed by an inch; this training has transformed our mind sets by demonstrating the importance of clustering; the concept of clustering has been well presented to us, and it is now very clear in our minds that joint collaboration will enhance our business operations and competitiveness and the future will not be the same”

Mr. Zepherin Nsahimana, the Secretary General of the Association of Footwear Artisan in Burundi “ The training has allowed us to see far ahead we are more informed and we are ready to take the challenge”

Ms. Kauziza Alda Pamela “These three days were very useful, we have leant a lot, and what we can only say is thank you to COMESA/LLPI, and we are ready to transform our operations”

The Ethiopia Leather Sector Value Chain Five Year Strategy that was facilitated and fully sponsored by COMESA/LLPI was Launched on 25th November 2016 at Nexus Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Launching Event was graced by H.E. Tadesse Haile, State Minister, Ministry of Industry of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and H.E. Prof. Mwinykione Mwinyihija, Executive Director of COMESA - Leather and Leather Products Institute (COMESA/LLPI) and more than 30 participants representing different institutions, organizations and enterprises across the leather value chain.

The Strategy formulation, pre-validation and validation processes were fully participatory, involving sector players across the value chain and stakeholders from Public and Private sectors and Academia.

Mr. Wondu Legesse, Director General of the Ethiopia Leather Industry Development Institute (LIDI), during his opening remark emphasized that the Strategy Development Process considered the Global Dynamics in the leather industry and experiences of different countries which progressed in the Industry. He also iterated that Strategy Development by itself is not enough; it must be followed by detailed work plan and implementation. Finally, Mr. Wondu appreciated COMESA/LLPI for the support rendered to the Ethiopia Leather Industry.

Prof. Mwinyihija, during his Strategy Handing over Remark, stressed that COMESA/LLPI in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry will evaluate the implementation of the Strategy annually. He also mentioned that the Ethiopia Leather Industry Association (ELIA) Strategy is also finalized and will also be launched in few weeks time.

H.E. Mr. Tadesse Haile, during his launching remarks expressed his extreme happiness and appreciated the participatory approach that was followed in the development processes of the Strategy. H.E. Mr. Tadesse said that the Strategy will have a great role to play towards achieving the Ethiopian Government’s set GTP II industrialization goals.

H.E. Tadesse thanked COMESA/LLPI for all the support provided to develop the Ethiopia Leather Industry.

The Strategy unpacking meeting will take place soon.