Kenyan artisans get boost with Sh120m shoe machines

NAIROBI: About 7,000 leather-shoe craftsmen at Nairobi’s informal Kariokor Market will be provided machinery to automate their operations. This is as the State seeks to cut reliance on imports and reverse declines in the sector.

Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed told traders at the informal market Monday morning that his ministry had set aside Sh120 million to procure the machines within the current financial year.

It is projected that automating the shoe-making business would improve output, while improving quality of the finished leather products in the multi-billion shilling sector.

“You are our solution to the second hand shoes that we import,” Mr Mohamed told hundreds of craftsmen at the market, about a kilometre from the city centre.

Thousands of containers with second hand shoes and clothing are shipped into Kenya annually, following the liberalisation of the market early 1990s. More than 106,794 tonnes of second-hand clothing, which include shoes, were imported into the country in 2014 alone.

USED ITEMS

Kenya revenue Authority estimates the import value at Sh8.8 billion, which is 25 per cent higher than 2010 is driven by the growing demand for the used items. CS Adan hopes that improving quality through automation would draw more Kenyans to locally produced clothing and shoes. “We must buy Kenyan if we hope to support the local industry such as these artisans,” he said during the visit to the market.

More than four million pairs of hand-made shoes and sandals are produced annually at the market which sits on a six-acre parcel.

A pair of the men’s leather shoes at the market retails at Sh1000, and Sh400 and Sh200 for sandals and belts, respectively.

Traders operate from stalls measuring four square metres. “It is inspiring that small traders are able to produce so much with such small spaces,” the CS said, while acknowledging that the State had failed in providing basic infrastructure for the small enterprises that are responsible for seven in every 10 jobs in Kenya.

Traders had sought the Government’s intervention to have ownership of the market transferred from the Nairobi County and handed to the Micro and Small Enterprises Authority. Traders Association Chairman Kabiru Ndong’e told The Standard that 4.8 million leather belts were manufactured at Kariokor last year alone.

This is besides millions of ornaments and handbags that are put together by hand, and are now anticipated to compete with imports which are deemed to be of better quality finishes. Quality leather shoes and other personal accessories would open up the global market to local products, which have so far struggled to find traction buyers in foreign market – partly due to lack of marketing.

The new machines would replace hand-held blades for cutting and knitting leather. They will be communally-owned by the traders in the Kariokor Market.

The ownership model would be replicated in other regions outside the city centre. They include Ngong, Kajiado and Mlololongo towns.

Statistics indicate the country’s leather and related products sub-sector registered a drop of 4.7 per cent last year. This was as a result of the decline in the quantities of finished leather by 7.4 per cent, according to the Economic Survey 2014-2015. Production of shoes with uppers of leather however went up by 3.8 per cent, falling behind shoes with uppers of plastic and rubber, which increased by 5.9 per cent.