Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed unveils team to revive leather industry

Mr Adan Mohamed, the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Local leather industry has a capacity to contribute up to $630million (Sh5.5 billion) to the Growth Domestic Product
  • Those appointed to the taskforce include Bata Shoe Company CEO Alberto Errico

Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed has named a task force to spearhead recovery of the local leather industry.

Mr Mohamed said Friday the local leather industry has a capacity to contribute up to $630 million (Sh5.5 billion) to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“This Taskforce has been appointed with a clear brief to share their wealth of experience on how the leather sector can be sustainably developed to create jobs and facilitate development of the leather sector in Kenya," Mr Mohamed said

“Despite a heavy demand of up to 28million units of leather, the demand is still served by imported supplies due to an existing deficit of more than 24 Million units against the current local supply of less than 4million units annually,” he added.

The Leather Development Taskforce will serve a one-year term.

IDEAL PRODUCTION ZONES

Those appointed to the task force include Bata Shoe Company CEO Alberto Errico, Dr Samuel Kiruthu (a director at Leather Technologies and Fashions Limited), Sambasiva Rao (managing director at Alpharama Limited) and John Muriuki, the Acting Secretary and CEO at the Kenya Leather Development Council.

Other members are Erastus Kimuri, Robert Njoka, Yassin Awale, Ms Nalina Rupani and Ms Mumtaz Mughal.

Mr Mohamed said Kenya’s semi-arid areas are ideal production zones for quality leather and deserve to be tapped for growth and development.

He said the government would spare no effort to revive and strengthen the local leather industry for domestic consumption and export.

“With the global leather demand now estimated at more than US$60 billion, we must work hard to grab a share of the cake,” he said.

The Leather Development Taskforce will map out avenues to ensure the efficient delivery and supply of leather products required by public sector consumers such as the Kenya Defence Forces and the National Police Service.

The task force will also evaluate viable models to engage county governments to establish modern slaughterhouses and regional tanneries.