Kenyan government has high hopes for leather industry
09/04/2018
Betty Maina, principal secretary for industrialisation, said the government considers the leather sector to be “a critical component” for the economy.
As well as creating 70,000 jobs, she said the government hopes the leather sector can contribute Sh55 billion (around $400,000 at current exchange rates) to the national economy by 2022.
Ms Maina was speaking in Nairobi during a meeting of the Kenya Leather Development Programme (KLDP). She said the training offered by this initiative would help the leather industry fulfil the above objectives.
During the meeting, KLDP presented the results of a study of the Kenyan leather industry conducted by the World Bank.
While the sector employs 14,000 people during the peak season, the informal sector accounts for 10,000 of these jobs, meaning the number drops significantly during the rest of the year, the report said.
The World Bank concluded that although there is good opportunity for growth, the leather industry’s structure is restrictive, and the wealth is narrowly distributed among a small number of manufacturers. It said footwear is the biggest leathergoods subsector in Kenya.
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