The Status of Leather Supply Chain in Egypt: An Exploratory Study for the INNOLEA Project

Egypt has a traditional wealth in manufacture and use of leather and leather products as demonstrated on the walls of the tombs of pharaonic civilization. Nowadays the status of leather supply chain in Egypt has deteriorated and only account for a minor percentage of the Egyptian GDP. The INNOLEA (Erasmus+) project aims at developing and enhancing the leather supply chain through the establishment of leather innovation centers in Egypt and Jordan. The project also aims to create a link between university research activities and the leather sector which shall foster innovation and lead to manufacturing of high quality products. In this regard four focus group discussions have been organized with a total of nineteen participants (4-5 in each group) from different leather sector stakeholders (industry and academia). The outcomes of this research emphasized a number of steps to be undertaken to ensure a bright future the Egyptian leather supply chain with its main phases, tanning and leather products manufacturing. The industry has to undergo major technological advancements, produced leather products have to comply with the international norms and standards, government should increase its intervention and monitoring of this industry and support it stakeholders and labor professional skills and training have to be giving more emphasis and get developed.