The COMESA/LLPI Expert Team composed of Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam, Leather Value Chain Expert at COMESA/LLPI and Mr. Alfredo Martinelli, a renowned footwear consultant from Italy, conducted Service Centers Assessment for Leather Industry in five COMESA countries, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe from February 9 to 28, 2014.
The assessment encompassed identifying human resource capacity and equipment and technology gaps of the Service Centers vis a vis the ideal situation, and identifying current performance and constraints of MSMEs in the leather sector.
The study is expected to come up with practical recommendations with regard to what should be done to transform the identified centers into Service and Incubation Centers; the support which should be given to MSMEs in order to improve their productivity, quality of leather products, participation in formal national, regional and international trade and create more jobs; and facilitation needed by MSMEs to enhance their linkages in the formal national, regional and international supply chains.
