Chinese firms have been urged to adopt long-term strategies and
engage the local workforce and partnerships if they are to gain greater
acceptance in the Kenyan market.
Guangdong Chamber of
Commerce in Kenya Chairman Liu Yanmei told a private sector delegation
from Foshan city in central Guangdong province, visiting Nairobi to go
for the long haul.
“Short-sighted prospects have failed
so you need to think long-term, and you have to fit in with the local
people. In Guangdong, Peugeot was unfriendly with the locals and was not
successful but when Honda came, their attitude helped them; they
respected the locals and fit in and were very successful,” said Mr Liu.
A
Chinese delegation led by the governor of Guangdong People’s Province,
Mr Zhu Xiao Dan, and Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, Dr Liu Xianfa,
accompanied by over 24 Chinese businessmen, led a side conference on the
heels of the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (Ticad VI) that ended last week.
During the
event, the businessmen held a match-making side conference with Kenyan
companies to set up partnerships and increase investments.
“We
are moving beyond trade and are targeting investments such as setting
up factories as well as partnerships, we have a presence here but we
want to scale it up for more business,” Mombasa-based Hong Kong Building
Centre Managing Director Feng Hui said.
Mr Feng said
the firms will be targeting local businesses to link up value chains in
manufacturing, machinery, furniture, building materials, steel and
prefabricated products.
TRADE IMBALANCE
Chinese
imports to Kenya have been rising over the years, hitting Sh248 billion
in 2014 against a figure of Sh6 billion in exports, leaving a
substantive trade imbalance.
“To mitigate this, we
propose carrying out market studies, organising trade fairs and
exhibitions to facilitate entry of new products and also bilateral trade
negotiations to bring down some of the entry barriers such as
non-tariffs among others,” KenInvest, Investment Promotion General
Manager, Puis Rotich said.
Mr Rotich said the lobby
also wants to sign an MoU between Kenya and Peoples Republic of China
Investment Promotion Agencies to fast-track facilitation of private
investments.
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