ZimTrade, the Zimbabwe exports promotion body, is asking tanners of the country to focus on strategies to modernise their structures and businesses. Their final goal is to upgrade the overall industry, and to achieve it they are working in collaboration with PUM Netherlands, a volunteer organisation committed to the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries. One of the initiatives already implemented was a two days' workshop on the leather supply chain in Bulawayo.

The workshop was aimed at bringing together local tanners and relevant stakeholders to discuss issues affecting this important node in the leather value chain.

According to ZimTrade, the tanning industry in Zimbabwe employs around a thousand people, but in the golden days more than 5 500 people worked in the industry.

According to the Leather Sector Strategy, Zimbabwe’s exports of leather and leather products were depressed in the decade leading to 2010 with an average export value of 17.6 million US dollars per year. However, since 2010 statistics show a semblance of recovery, with exports figures on an upward trend from 18.6 million US dollars in 2010 to 36.9 million US dollars in 2018 with approximately 34 million US dollars accounting for raw hide and skins of reptiles (crocodiles), hides and skins of bovines accounting for 1.3million US dollars and the rest being accounted for by leather products.