Tapping into the leather market gap

Alibaruho at work. The proprietor of Big Leather goods is eager to plug the gaps in Uganda’s leather market. Photo by Rachel Mabala. 

By Faridah Kulabako

In Summary

With 90 percent of leather products imported into the country, the local leather products industry holds immense untapped potential.

 

If Stephen Alibaruho only wanted the prestige associated with working for the United Nations, his life today would not have been so different from what it was about 10 years ago.

Alibaruho, who was a training facilitator with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), says producing genuine leather products has always been his passion.

It is that desire forced him to resign the UNIDO job to ventured into the actual production of leather goods as a way of widening his income stream.

The decision made about seven years ago is slowly but steadily putting Alibaruho, the proprietor of Big Leather Goods, up the radar of the few local manufacturers of genuine, quality leather products in the country.

Big Leather Goods manufactures a range of ladies, men and children’s leather accessories including belts, customised handbags, shoes, sandals, wallets, briefcases and gun holders among others in hand and machine made fashion.

Founded in 2006, the business has made strides in the market, attracting a considerable customer base on retail and wholesale basis.

The ‘leather expert’, as he refers to himself says he joined St. Joseph Technical School after primary seven and he majored in making leather products.

After the course, he went on to Kenya, the Czech Republic and Ethiopia to master the art of manufacturing leather products in different types and fashions.

He was thereafter recruited by UNIDO as a training facilitator, a position he held for about six years before starting his own workshop in 2006.

“I saw a huge untapped opportunity in the leather industry. Most leather products are imported yet we have the raw materials needed to produce them,” Alibaruho notes with passion, adding that although still in its infancy, Uganda’s leather products industry has a great future if it’s supported by government.

He started with about Shs2.5 million as capital and could hire sewing machines since he could not afford to buy his own. He also used to improvise by using hammers, pliers, knives and hand-knit the leather.

He, however, explains that that the initial stage of the business was very challenging as he faced resistance from customers who mistook his products to be synthetic plastic and not genuine leather.

With increased awareness, he says customers who have sampled his products flock his small workshop located opposite Kamukamu plaza in Kampala to buy quality leather products for themselves and their loved ones. Alibaruho says that in addition to buying his own machines, he needed to facilitate production.

Today the business is now estimated to be worth about Shs12 million.

He adds that adherence to quality standards is the first ingredient of a good product and a philosophy that guides his processes—from selecting materials to product design, including the manufacturing methods to selecting the most qualified leather craftsmen to make the products by hand.