My World of Bags Programme Lead Sinmi Olayebi forecasts that the Nigerian leather industry could generating more than US$1 billion by 2025, drawing on research from 2021, reports ILM.

Olayebi reiterated the trajectory of the industry following the recent conclusion of the Kafawa Training Programme, a partnership between My World of Bags and the Mastercard Foundation to drive growth in the sector.

The programme launched in October 2021 and aimed to give young people the skills necessary to access opportunities in the leather industry and “build a generation that views tailoring, production, and manufacturing as dignified and fulfilling”.

Olayebi said: “One of the primary aims of the Kafawa Training Program is to create a pool of extremely skilled hands – professionals and thriving entrepreneurs – who in turn create opportunities for other young and underserved people within their various communities.”

With a skilled workforce and support from the government in the vein of Nigeria’s ongoing Leather and Leather Products Policy Implementation Plan, Olayebi believes that the country’s leather industry can meet the expectations set out in a study carried out by Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in 2021, which forecast the US$1 billion figure and an earnings increase of 70% for the sector.