The African Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) called on Zimbabwe’s leather sector players to collaborate to solve poor quality and low capacity utilisation at a stakeholders workshop held in Bulawayo on Thursday, 16 April 2026. The institute said joint action is key to revive the country’s leather industry.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Leather Value Chain Stakeholders’ Workshop, ALLPI Executive Director Nicholas Mudungwe said the leather, textile and clothing sectors are critical to building a strong economic foundation. He urged the revival of Zimbabwe’s leather industry, which once produced quality products for global export markets.
“If we go to economic history, you will notice that all countries that have developed, that are now the first world, they use the leather and textile sectors to build a foundation for growth and development. So, if we cannot develop the leather and textile sectors as well as the clothing value chain, we will never have a foundation,” he said.
– Nicholas Mudungwe, Executive Director, African Leather and Leather Products Institute
Mudungwe said Africa holds 25% of the global leather value chain potential but contributes only 3%, leaving a 22% gap. He said collaboration can help players solve access to finance by forming clusters.
“Some people will cry about the past and say Zimbabwe’s industry was strong but it collapsed. For me, when I look at it, it’s an opportunity for leather players to own companies. As players you can transform something small to become bigger for the future generations. These are the issues that we should deliberate and address in this workshop. We need to come up with clear concrete activities that we want to implement so that we can transform the industry.”
– Nicholas Mudungwe, Executive Director, African Leather and Leather Products Institute
He called for priority actions under the Zimbabwe Leather Sector Strategy 2021 to 2030.
The 2 day workshop ran under the theme “Strengthening Collaboration to Address Systemic Bottlenecks and Unlock Inclusive Growth in the Leather Value Chain” and was organised by ALLPI.
