COMMONWEALTH ALLPI REGIONAL LEATHER DESIGN STUDIO
"Empowering African Leather Entrepreneurs through COMSec/ALLPI Regional Design Studio Initiative!"
COMMONWEALTH ALLPI REGIONAL LEATHER DESIGN STUDIO
"Empowering African Leather Entrepreneurs through COMSec/ALLPI Regional Design Studio Initiative!"
|
Institution |
Funding intent |
Type of support |
Beneficiary participating member states |
|
European Union/COMESA |
Regional Integration |
Satellite design Studios/Incubation centers Equipment. |
Zimbabwe, Malawi, Sudan, Eswatini, DR Congo |
|
European Union/COMESA |
Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme (RECAMP) |
Capacity building ; |
Burundi, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
|
PTA Bank |
Technical Support. |
Satellite design Studios/Incubation centers Equipment. |
Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda |
|
Africa Arab Development Bank |
BADEA Project. |
Satellite design Studios/Incubation centers Equipment. |
Eritrea, Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia, Kenya, and Uganda |
|
Member states |
|
Infrastructure support. |
|
Beatrice Kemunto - Mwasi |
|
| Role in RDS Panel : | RDS Chairperson |
| Short Profile: |
Beatrice is the founder of Sanabora Design House Limited, a co-founder of Leather Articles Entrepreneurs Association (LAEA) and Africa Designers in Development (ADiD). She holds over 15 years experience of working to promote gainful entrepreneurship in Eastern Africa, a distinction in MA Design Management, a first class honors degree in BA Design, and currently undertaking PhD Entrepreneurship. This is in addition to numerous short courses on export and business development. Her academic ability is augmented by many years experience in promoting practical action for business growth in the region with a focus on: business innovation, management and, product development - of which she is internationally acknowledged. In addition to serving as Director at Sanabora, Beatrice works to advance global competitiveness among SMEs through designing and delivering effective business innovation capacity building interventions. By so doing, market leadership and by extension socio-economic advancement are attained. |
| Nationality: | Kenyan |
| Email: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Mr. Feraw Kebede |
|
| Role in RDS Panel : | RDS Deputy Chairman |
| Short Profile: |
Graduate from Cordwainers Technical College, London, which is now a world leader in fashion design. (Christopher Branch Memorial prize winner from the same college in designing and developing convertible boot which has been published on Shoe and Leather News, Magazine, September 1983, England, considered as a new design and line of product.) Further education in 2002, in one of the largest colleges in the UK, with more than 26,000 students, and studied Footwear Technology, Footwear CAD/CAM, and Footwear Design at Leicester college, Leicester, England. Now, Footwear consultant and a General Manager for Oliberte limited Ethiopian branch, the first ever Fairtrade certified footwear factory in the world. |
| Nationality: | Ethiopian |
| Email: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Mrs. Victoria S. Byoma |
|
| Role in RDS Panel : | RDS Panel Secretary |
| Short Profile: | Chairperson, Footwear and Leather Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (FLEMEA), Uganda Executive Director, Gifts A' Curios Ltd. |
| Nationality: | Ugandan |
| Email: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Mr. Yassin Awale |
|
| Role in RDS Panel : | RDS Member |
| Short Profile: |
BIO: Over 25 years experience in the leather sector with excellent sectoral networking skills across the whole value chain both locally and internationally. Currently: Leather Sector Advisor, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Investment and Trade Director, Sagana Tanneries Limited (1991 - to date) Previous experience Independent Consultant; Enterprise development specialist; DAI UK, Progressive Intervensions Ireland, UN HABITAT and ILO (2004-2015) Regional Coordinator; UNIDO Regional leather programme (1997-2001) |
| Nationality: | Kenyan |
| Email: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Ms. Mukashyaka Germaine |
|
| Role in RDS Panel : | RDS Member |
| Short Profile: | Chairperson of Leather Value Chain Industry Platform, Rwanda Managing Director, GBF Leather and Art promoters ltd. |
| Nationality: | Rwandese |
| Email: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Mr. Natheniel Machai |
|
| Role in RDS Panel : | RDS Member |
| Short Profile: | Director of Natty Footwear in Lusaka, Zambia |
| Nationality: | Zambian |
| Email: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
The global leather value stands at US 120 Billion with Africa earning a paltry 4% of the total. This dismal performance is associated with very low-value addition of its raw material and high losses experienced in its supply chain which is estimated at slightly over 30%.
Design studios will shift the focus to the upper-value chain stratum and effectively enhance a higher trickling down effect to all the stakeholders in the leather sector. This success is potentially assured through well-established partnerships that could enhance value addition, reduction of losses in the supply chain, and overall wealth creation.
COMSec's partnership with ALLPI have attained quick gains as some member States and private sectors from the region have overwhelmingly registered their confidence and provided support to the concept of a Regional Design Studio.
Unanimously member States in COMESA identified ALLPI as the host of the Design Studio with Satellite Studio established in each participating member States.
The COMSec LLPI Design Studio come into operation with the official launching made on May 9, 2016 by Hon. Adan Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary for Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, the Republic of Kenya and H.E. Sinduso Ngwegna, Secretary-General of COMESA.
The COMSecLLPI Regional Design Studio will guide by relentless focus towards innovation, competitiveness and product design to enter regional and global market in transforming the leather sector in Africa.
COMSecLLPI Regional Design Studio to be Africa's pride that nurture innovation, transformative perception and deliver leather products sustainably to the global market.
The main objectives of the regional (leather) design studio (R(L)DS) are:
1. To investigate thoroughly and systematically the causes underlying the weaknesses of the leather industry in the Eastern and Southern Africa region to access and compete with differentiation in the global markets;
2. To explore the ways in which the industry in this region could invest in competitiveness and innovation to fulfill its potential as a key source of productive employment of the region, internationally recognizable and a reliable source of leather and leather products.
3. To incentivize local development of trend informed product design capability; development processes, emergence of informed (by trends research efforts in foreign markets) cluster ecosystem.
4. To continually use contemporary market knowledge to evolve a leather industry led design strategy for the region.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states. It is home to 2.2 billion citizens, of which over 60% are under the age of 30. The Commonwealth includes some of the world’s largest, smallest, richest and poorest countries, spanning five regions. Thirty-one of its members are small states, many of them island nations.
Commonwealth countries are supported by an active network of more than 80 intergovernmental, civil society, cultural and professional organisations.
Its guiding principles are contained in the Commonwealth Charter
See more at thecommonwealth.org
Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) was chartered in 1990, with the endorsement of 17 COMESA Heads of State. ALLPI’s main Mandate is to support the development of the leather sector in the Region. Over the years the Institution has created strong strategic linkages with Public and Private Sector Institutions in member countries. In addition to this, ALLPI has signed several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with global institutions, in its pursuit to improve competitiveness of the leather sector in Africa in line with global dynamics.
ALLPI is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and currently its membership encompasses ten African countries, namely Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Institute has short term plans to expand its operations to Swaziland, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Madagascar.
The location of its office is strategic, as Addis Ababa is the capital city of Africa, where the African Union and other International Development Partners are located. Furthermore, Addis Ababa is the African gateway to any global destination, which makes ALLPI highly accessible and convenient for our regional and international partners and clients.
The Institute has celebrated its 25th Year of Anniversary last November 2015 with the presence of former ALLPI Directors and Member States' representatives.
Read more at www.allpi.int