Casual labourers working on a stretch of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in
Mombasa on February 10, 2016. China Road and Bridge Corporation is
building a 609km section of the SGR linking Nairobi and Mombasa for $3.6
billion. Chinese firms operating in Kenya hire more locals compared to
foreigners in contrast to popular belief that the opposite is true. Most
of the employees are however on temporary basis. FILE PHOTO | NATION
MEDIA GROUP
Chinese firms operating in Kenya hire more locals compared to
foreigners in contrast to popular belief that the opposite is true. Most
of the employees are however on temporary basis.
The World Bank in its Policy Research Working paper titled "Deal or no Deal; Strictly Business for China in Kenya?" said the country ranked fifth job creator through her foreign direct investments in the country.
“Contrary
to the popular belief that Chinese companies only hire Chinese workers,
93 per cent of companies report hiring Kenyan employees; private
enterprises are more likely to hire locals than state enterprises.
In
addition, larger firms are more likely to hire Kenyans than smaller
firms. Of the companies surveyed, Kenyans represent 78 per cent of
full-time and 95 per cent of part-time employees,” the report said.
Kenya currently hosts around 400 Chinese firms spread across every sector.
The firms have an average of 360 local employees with 70 per cent hired on part time while the rest on full time.
Those
in the services sector hire 71 per cent full-time employees, but the
manufacturing and construction sectors hire only three per cent
full-time employees.
Ninety per cent of manufacturing employees are local, and 82 per cent of service sector employees are local.
BUSINESS PERCEPTION INDEX
In
February 2014, the Sino-African Centre of Excellence (SACE) foundation
launched the Business Perception Index (BPI) survey to learn the views
and experiences of Chinese companies in Kenya.
Most
firms in the sample were found to be in the manufacturing, construction,
and resources sectors as others engaged in trade, tourism, hotels, and
restaurants.
China constructed 905.5km of road in 2006 and invested Sh227 billion to rehabilitate the Nairobi-Mombasa road.
Many
Chinese firms have been pre-qualified by the government to develop
2,000km of road in various counties, according to the World Bank report.
China
Road and Bridge Corporation is building a 609km section of the Standard
Gauge Railway (SGR) linking Nairobi and Mombasa for $3.6 billion, and
the China Communication Construction company is building three berths at
the port on Lamu Island for $467 million.
The projects
are bound to increase as Chinese economy experiences a slowdown and the
country’s low-cost infrastructure providers will seek to market their
services outside of China, including in Africa.
China
ranks fifth overall among countries with significant FDI in Kenya with
2,170 jobs created, behind the United States, UK, Japan and India which
tops with 7,422 jobs.
Chinese firms involved in
labour-intensive activities identified the lack of skilled workforce as a
constraint to doing business in Kenya while language barrier is
hampering skills transfer.
Many Kenyans are already learning Chinese and the government of China offered 34 full scholarships to study in China in 2015.
Chinese
companies also hire fewer female employees with women only accounting
for five per cent of total employees for Chinese companies on average
versus 29 per cent for all companies in Kenya.
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