Bulawayo, Zimbabwe — The Southern African Development Community (SADC), backed by the German Government, has launched its inaugural Regional Leather Forum, bringing renewed focus to industrialisation through the leather sector.
Held on Monday, July 22, 2025, in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, the gathering attracted more than 50 delegates from across the region, including government officials, private sector players, academics, and development partners. The forum seeks to position leather as a high-value industry capable of driving inclusive economic growth and boosting intra-regional trade.
Eswatini, which has been exploring ways to diversify its manufacturing base, is among the member states represented at the event.
Calicious Tutalife, Senior Programme Officer for Value Chains at the SADC Secretariat, opened the forum by calling for stronger engagement from member states in shaping a common regional approach to developing the leather value chain.
Mary Chingonzoh, Acting Director in Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said the forum is designed to create a collaborative space for aligning regional policies, reviewing the implementation of the SADC Leather Regional Model Policy Framework, and identifying investment opportunities. She said the region needed to remove trade barriers and invest in innovation to strengthen the leather industry’s competitiveness.
The platform is part of the wider SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap 2015–2063, which outlines the region’s long-term plan to transition from raw material exports to value-added production.
Participants are expected to deliberate on strategies to build regional value chains, harmonise standards, and ensure policy coherence, with the ultimate goal of transforming the sector into a globally competitive industry.
Discussion about this post