The New Secretary General of COMESA, H.E CHILESHE KAPWEPWE, Visited Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 17th September 2018. The Secretary General was accompanied by Mr. Simal Amore, Chief – Strategic Planning and Research, and Mr. Salvator Matata, Head of COMESA Liaison Office to the AU. The SG was welcomed by the Executive Director - Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija and ALLPI staff.

Venue:  Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi Kenya

Date:  29th – 31st August 2018.

The committee's 5th meeting was convened in Nairobi, Kenya from the 29th to 31st of August 2018. The objective of the meeting was to deliberate on comments received from the Member States on the previous drafts documents, approved new work items, proposed standards for adoption as African Standards (ARS) and to identify new projects for future work
The meeting was officially opened by Mr. Reuben Gisore who is the Technical Director ARSO.  During his opening remark, Mr. Gisore thanked the THC for its commendable work and role it plays in the harmonization of textiles and leather standards. He further emphasized that standards must take into consideration all people, whether living in rural or urban areas. He gave examples of new types of plant fibres which could benefit people doing small scale farming in rural areas and reusable sanitary towels which is an option for women who cannot afford disposable sanitary products or any products at all.

The Expert from ALLPI with the consultant from Member States went to Malawi to give training on FOOTWEAR DESIGNING AND FINISHING to SMEs from 13th to 20th August 2018 in Blantyre, Malawi.

The main objective of the Training was to enhance the quality of shoes produced by SME’s by using the newly established state of the art machines in Leather Satellite Design Studio in Blantyre.  The machines were bought with the support of EU-RISM with the aim of producing high quality footwear in Malawi.

ALLPI held its second scientific meeting from 3 to 4 August at PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort, in Mombasa, Kenya. Five Universities, namely Makerere University Business School (MUBS)-Uganda, Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST)-Sudan, National University of Science and Technology (NUST)-Zimbabwe, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT)-Kenya, Bahir Dar University- Ethiopian Institute of Textile & Fashion Technology (EITEX)-Ethiopia took part and presented progress reports on their ongoing collaborative research projects with ALLPI and/or two new Concept Notes. Each presentation was followed by thorough discussion. The ongoing projects and newly submitted Concept Notes were as listed here below:

The African Leather and Leather Products Institute Board of Directors thirty fourth meeting, which is also the first Board meeting for the year 2018,   was held in in Mombasa, Kenya  at  PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort from August 6 to 7, 2018. Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, ALLPI Executive Director, welcomed Board members and presented ALLPI’s accomplished activities for the period January 1st to July 30, 2018, and the Institute’s 2019 work plan and budget proposal.

ALLPI as mandated institute to develop the leather sector in Africa in general and in its member states in particular organized the “Business Plan Designing and Implementation” workshop that was held 30th July – 3rd August in Mombasa, Kenya.
Participants were drawn from the following 12 African Countries: Burundi, DRC, Eretria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The participants were mainly from government ministries and private sector.
The general objective of the workshop was to improve the capacities of Member States in terms of supporting their respective enterprises in the leather sector.

On 1st August 2018 in Antananarivo, Madagascar at 1730 hours Mr. Sindiso Ngwenya, the outgoing Secretary General of COMESA, received the High Honorary Distinction COMMANDER OF MALAGASY NATIONAL ORDER from His Excellency Mr Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina, President of the Republic of Madagascar and Chairman of the COMESA Authority for Distinguished Service in regional integration. The honour is in recognition of Ngwenya’s distinguished service in regional integration.

For developing and least developed countries in Commonwealth, SMEs represent an opportunity of wider economic development and poverty alleviation. Linking these SMEs to each other as well as to the SMEs in the developed members of the Commonwealth can provide huge opportunities to export and invest for all member states.
To actualize the existing potential of trade and investments and link the Commonwealth countries, which share the same language and similar legal institutions, the Intra-Commonwealth SME Association was launched by the Commonwealth Secretariat in June 2016 in New Delhi, India. It was established as “India-Commonwealth SMEs Association”; however, to give the association a global face, it was eventually transformed into Intra-commonwealth SMEs Association (ICSA).

In collaboration with Ministry of Commerce, Trade and industry of Zambia and with support of Regional Integration Support Mechanism (RISM), the Executive Director (ED) of ALLPI Prof. M. Mwinyihija accompanied by Mr. Nicholas Mudungwe and Mr. Nasir Mahmoud Talab the ALLPI’s Programs Coordinator and Cluster Development Expert respectively, conducted Leather value chain strategy review workshop and advance training in footwear design in Kitwe. The two activities were held as follows:-