Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) continues to intensify efforts to boost its member states Leather sector SMEs Productivity and Competitiveness.
This intervention is made possible through the grant funding support provided by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA).
The support comprises provision of “basic equipment for footwear production” and “capacity building Training in Footwear and leather good Design, Craftsmanship, Export Readiness, Transformative Entrepreneurship, Costing and Record Keeping”.
Earlier this year ALLPI completed installation of equipment at the Training and Production Center for Shoe Industry (TPCSI) Thika, Kenya. TPCSI is a regional training center that was established by the Government of Kenya with support from UNIDO and other cooperating partners in the early nineties and the Government of Kenya and its cooperating partners have invested in infrastructure development support in terms of machines and equipment for the center over the years. The equipment provided by ALLPI recently through BADEA technical support is meant to facilitate the establishment of the Satellite Design Studio that aimed at enhancing design capacity development for the SMEs in Kenya.
The installation of the Satellite Design Studio equipment is proceeded with the capacity building training which commenced on the 16th May, 2022 at TPCSI, Thika, Kenya and it is running up to the 28th May, 2022.
The training was graced by Dr. Issack M. Noor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) , Kenya Leather Development Council (KLDC). In his opening remarks, he explained to the participants the importance and role ALLPI is playing as an organization that is mandated by the Government of Kenya to help develop the leather sector for Kenya. He urged the participants to embrace the training program to ensure that the resources involved to conduct this training are well utilized. He requested ALLPI to give more of this kind of the training to cover the whole country of Kenya.
Furthermore, the CEO thanked ALLPI for the machines installed at the center, and stressed that the machines that are meant to help improve the competitiveness of the SMEs as well as to transform their lives (livelihood) and Kenya at large.
He admonished the participants to gain the knowledge and skills to train others and not keep everything to themselves, because it is Training of Trainers (ToTs).
In addition, he emphasized that the knowledge and skills learned from the training should be put into practice because a lot of training is being offered to SMEs but there is little transformation taking place.
He concluded by thanking ALLPI for organizing the training. He also thanked the Trainees for accepting to participate in the training, and he declared the training workshop opened.
