Kenya has called on Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member states to move beyond policy declarations and mobilize bankable investments, placing the region’s massive leather industry at the center of green industrial expansion.
Speaking at the COMESA Green Industries Connect forum in Harare, Kenya’s Principal Secretary for Trade, Regina Mbamba, highlighted that the COMESA region holds roughly 30 percent of Africa’s livestock population. Under the COMESA Leather Regional Value Chain Strategy, this resource base gives the region the potential to:
- Produce up to 450 million pairs of shoes annually.
- Create approximately 450,000 jobs across member nations.
To unlock this billion-dollar capability, Mbamba urged regional governments to resolve long-standing obstacles, including raw material quality, limited tannery capacities, market access, and environmental compliance.
Kenya showcased its Kenya Leather Industrial Park in Machakos County as a practical template for sustainable leather manufacturing. The eco-industrial facility provides:
- Shared Eco-Infrastructure: Dedicated water supplies and centralized wastewater treatment to meet environmental standards.
- Industrial Synergy: Operational capacity for up to 36 manufacturers while connecting raw material suppliers, tanneries, designers, and training institutions under one roof.
Supporting Green Industrialization Beyond Leather
While leather served as a primary example of untapped value chain potential, Kenya stressed that circular economy initiatives must extend to other key economic drivers:
- Mineral Beneficiation: Moving away from exporting raw critical minerals to manufacturing battery components, electronics refurbishment, and e-waste recycling locally.
- Renewable Power & Regulatory Frameworks: Utilizing clean power (such as Kenya’s 75%+ renewable grid led by geothermal) alongside Extended Producer Responsibility laws to drive circular manufacturing.
Mbamba concluded by pressing delegates to adopt unified circular economy standards, expand cross-border financial access, and turn green commitments into commercial, market-ready partnerships.