The Mauritius leather value chain strategy that was developed through a participatory process by the Ministry of Business, Enterprises and Cooperatives of Mauritius, in collaboration with Africa Leather and Leather Products Institutes (ALLPI), was successfully validated, launched and unpacked at Viola Hotel, Bagatelle on May 13 to 15, 2019.
The validation workshop was attended by more than 50 participants drawn from Ministries, different institutions, academia and private sector along the value chain. The validation workshop, on May 13, 2019, was officially opened by Mr. Abdool Nooranee OOZEER, Senior Chief Executive, Ministry of Business, Enterprises and Cooperatives, Mauritius and Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, Executive Director of ALLPI. The Strategy document was thoroughly discussed and validated with few amendments.
Thereafter, the official launching of the validated strategy was held on May 15, 2019 at the same venue. The event was graced by the presence of Hon, Soomilduth BHOLAH, Minister of Business, Enterprises and cooperatives.
The launch event was also very colorful with the large participation of all the stakeholders and players of the sector. Prof. Mwinyihija, ALLPI’s Executive Director, in his opening remark reconfirmed ALLPI’s continued collaboration and support for the implementation of the Strategy, in particular, in the push of innovation and alignment of the sector towards benefiting from the Mauritius ICT strengths already available.
Hon, BHOLAH in his official launch speech reiterated the Government’s keen commitment to revamp the industry that has huge potential for job creation and wealth generation. The Honorable Minister called all the stakeholders to join hands for effective and efficient implementation of the strategy as the leather sector joins the 10 priority areas that the Government wants to focus support.
The Strategy launch was followed by unpacking exercise that was facilitated by ALLPI Expert Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam and led to the development of a Matrix that defines responsible and accountable institutions/enterprises for the implementation of the different objectives, sub objectives of the Strategy, and recommendations that will stimulate quick adoption for the sector’s development.
