Africans In China

Anita Swarup

Chinese enterprises are springing up all over Africa working across sectors such as food processing, fishing industries, furniture manufacturing and shoe and garment making – and not simply operating within the conventional sectors of oil and extractive industries.

China has also established US $5 billion fund to encourage Chinese entrepreneurs in Africa and many are expecting to benefit from this. However, most people in the West see Africa’s investment climate as very poor so what are the motives for the Chinese private sector. Why are they so willing to invest?

For some, Chinese investment raises hopes but for many it raises concerns such as good governance, labour standards and human rights. Clearly Chinese involvement in Africa – both state and private sector – has characteristics which are different from OECD countries.

The Chinese government designated 2006 the ‘Year of Africa’, and the Third Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Beijing, November 2006) emphasised the huge importance of increasing Chinese private investment in Africa.

‘Given the growth and influence of Chinese private firms in Africa, anyone who is concerned with African development can ill afford to underestimate the impact,’ said Dr. Jing Gu, IDS.
Ground-breaking study at IDS
A new study at IDS is looking at China’s private sector investment in Africa and assessing its significance. Questions looked at include the extent to which this investment is based on business logic and how far is it promoted by the Chinese Government as part of its broader relationship with Africa? And, as Chinese firms are positive about prospects in Africa and willing to make investments, what does this tell us about their perceptions of the investment climate in particular Africa countries?

Dr. Jing Gu, who is leading the project, has recently returned from a research trip in Africa where she visited three countries – Ghana, Nigeria and Madagascar. She has already conducted extensive research in China interviewing private entrepreneurs in the six provinces who have strong links to Africa in order to get a Chinese perspective as to what the motives are for investing in Africa.

The study’s objective is to contribute to development in Africa - it will contribute to the capacity of African governments to enable more effective promotion and management of investment inflows from China, particularly with respect to local capacity building and technology transfers.
Collaboration with Chinese partners
In a collaborative effort with researchers from the China-Africa Business Council (CABC) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), an extensive survey of senior corporate attitudes was undertaken with in-depth interviews conducted with Chinese business, Chinese Embassy officials in Africa and UNDP representatives in Ghana, Nigeria and Madagascar. In these interviews, a range of issues were discussed such as China and development policy, the implementation of the Chinese government’s ‘Going Global’ policy, the motivation to invest in Africa and the pull and push factors affecting Chinese business decisions to invest.

Anita Swarup is a Communication Officer at IDS

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 6:39 am and is filed under Africa-China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.