ED’s MESSAGE FOR 2018 ALLPI NEWSLETTER
Dear Esteemed Readers,
Welcome to the last Quarter Newsletter of 2018!
With 2018 now behind us, I am pleased to share with you some of the milestones already accomplished during the ending year whilst highlighting of some of the major activities of the Fourth Quarter.
I’m delighted to announce that African continent started the year with a blessing with my appointment as the Vice President of the International Council of Tanners (ICT) in a colorful ceremony which took place during its annual general meeting held in Hong Kong on 13th March 2018. As the Executive Director of Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute I will serve at the helm of the world’s second most coveted position in the leather sector for a term of two years. I’m also grateful to mention that as an International renown scientist in the leather sector arena, and an outstanding contribution to the development of leather sector in the African continent and region in particular, the Senate of Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST) awarded me an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of my continued role to develop the leather sector in the continent.
On leather sector platform, ALLPI hosted (separately) high-powered delegations from Sudanese Government and East African Community (EAC) who were on leather sector fact finding in Ethiopia.
During the period under review, ALLPI was graced with the visit of Her Excellency (H.E) CHILESHE KAPWEPWE the incoming Secretary General of COMESA. H.E was accompanied by Mr. Simal Amore, Chief Strategic Planning and Research, COMESA Secretariat and the Head of COMESA Liaison to the Africa Union (AU) Amb. Salvator Matata. While addressing ALLPI’S Senior Staff, Her Excellency hailed the entire ALLPI community for the excellent performance the Institute had shown. She took note of the recognition of the Institute’s success registered in the Continent during the implementation of the agenda on development of the leather Sector.
On ALLPI’s performance, the Institute registered the following accomplishments which encompassed: technical assistance given to our Member States (MS) by sending ALLPI Team of Experts to each country to strengthen leather development activities in the following areas; training of more than 600 personnel from private and public sectors in leather technology and related domains: prepared and submitted number of the documents: proposals to Member State and International Organizations; reviewed Strategy and Policy to support to Member States (Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe); designed and completed the strategy of Mauritius, designed and completed the strategy of FLEMEA, Uganda;. ALLPI also successfully negotiated with BADEA officials to extend the expiry date to June 2019 of a total sum of US$ 400,000.00; publication and dissemination of ALLPI Quarterly Newsletters; facilitated Participation of 28 leather sector SMEs in Inter and Intra Trade Promotion both regionally and Internationally; signed 13 MOUs with various Universities and other Institutions which include: Institute for Creative Leather Technologies, University of Northampton (ICLT) UK, Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST), University of Bahri-Sudan, University of North Kordofan, Sudan Technological University, West Kordofan State, Red Sea State, Investment and Industry Commission, North Kordofan State, Ministry of Human Development, Antiquities and Tourism - Khartoum State, Kyambogo University (KYU), Uganda, School of Engineering and Technology, Kenyatta University – Kenya, Small Industry Development Organization, (SIDO) of Tanzania – and Maverick Promotion PLC – Ethiopia.
During the year under review, ALLPI Introduced whatsApp Group platform on SMEs which is an experience sharing, educative and informative platform. This will continue keeping us connected with respect to information in the region’s leather sector development and other activities in the sector within African Continent and world at large.
It was another milestone achievement for ALLPI after it was Audited and given a nod for the next three years for certified QMS ISO 9001:2015 and EMS 14001:2015 status.
As a member of the IULTCS Executive Committee, I participated in its Committee’s Meeting held in Xian, China held on 16th -19th October 2018. During the Meeting, I highlighted the progress of the preparation of IULTCS Congress which will be held in Addis Ababa in 2017 and for the first time to be held in African Continent.
ALLPI closed the year by holding the 12th annual Regional Leather Sector Consultative Forum at Coral Port Sudan hotel, Port Sudan from 11th to 13th December 2018.
The opening of the forum was graced by the presence of H.E. Alhaj Muhamad Ali, the Governor of the Red Sea State, H.E. Mr. Ali Omer-Alsharif Alhindee, Minister Production and Economic Resources of the Red Sea State and H.E. Dr. Jaafar Ahmed Abdalla, Minister for Industry and Trade, Khartoum State. The forum was attended by 90 participants representing National, Regional and International Partners in the leather countries, (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe,) and Partner Organizations representatives from India, Italy and Turkey.
Some of the recommendations from the forum were: ALLPI to be inviting potential buyers of leather and leather products to participate in the forum, involve students from universities on graduation and other educational programs in the leather sector, assist enterprises to convert rejects to valuable products that will help to reduce losses along the value chain including raw hides and skins, establish database of SMEs with their profiles in order to have a database of enterprises for marketing purposes , develop Africa trade mark for e-commerce and export promotion.
At the end of the Forum, the participants rated the overall organization of the Forum to be excellent (70%) while 100% indicated that, it achieved its objective with the most frequently cited topics as technology, collaborative and sharing of good practices.
The theme and Objectives of the Forum was “Focusing on Innovation to transform Africa’s Leather Sector towards Productivity and competitiveness”.
In the final (fourth) quarter, we continued to heighten our activities as you may witness from the contents of this Fourth Quarter Newsletter.
We appreciate the support, feedback and information provided by those of you who participated in our activities, and kindly accept our appreciation for your collaboration with continued hard work and dedication. We value the insights you shared with us all through 2018.
Happy New Year to all of you and we look forward to seeing further strengthened collaboration and support in 2019!
Prof. (Dr5) Mwinyikione Mwinyihija,
Executive Director.
