Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
The coming of the Chinese a decade ago has massively turned around Africa. The once much-talked about unemployment problems are fading away as discussions shift to the quality of work. When they entered Africa, Chinese firms were condemned for employing Africans in low-level positions only. Top jobs in the hierarchy, it was said, were kept for the Chinese people who were considered more educated than Africans. Being at low-level ranks, Africans were poorly paid, while their Chinese counterparts took home a lot of money.
The so-called job discrimination put Chinese firms operating in Africa in a tight spot. Indeed, Western powers, the US and Europe, claimed China was in Africa to exploit its cheap labor and the vast amount of natural resources.
While Chinese firms are in this land for various businesses, the truth of the matter has been that many of the firms operating in Africa have strived to be as fair as possible to Africans by not only offering them jobs but also high quality jobs with lucrative pay.
A case in point is the 70-kilometer Thika Superhighway in Kenya that was constructed by a Chinese firm. Majority of the people working in the stretch that links Nairobi and the industrial town of Thika were Kenyans, occupying virtually all positions from casual labor to managerial.
According to the Kenyan government, the construction of the superhighway offered employment to more than 4,000 Kenyans. But this does not mean that everything was smooth from start to end. Just like any other job setting, a number of challenges have to be experienced.
Perhaps the biggest challenge that Africans find in working with the Chinese firms are the cultural gaps. In Africa, the Chinese are perceived as workaholics as they rarely rest and failing to comprehend the intricacies of local work cultures or the laws mandating rest. On the other hand, the Chinese think most Africans are lazy.
Based on these claims, Chinese firms have now launched training, seminars and exchange programs that seek to bridge this gap. Already, these programs are bearing fruit as Africans have now started embracing a 24-hour work culture. In Nairobi, China House, a small consulting firm, is also helping Chinese companies to interact more with the locals so as to learn from each other.
It is even more encouraging that Chinese companies are now partnering with local universities in Africa to nurture young people so as to boost their capacity. There are indications that the companies may go further than this by influencing the curriculum of these universities, especially for engineering and architecture courses. This way, university graduates' skills would be in tandem with the dictates of the job market.
With a harmonious working environment, Africans foresee a situation where Chinese firms based in Africa will be run by Africans. To quote a Chinese engineer who is working on the Standard Gauge Railway linking Nairobi and Mombasa: "Africans are loyal, ambitious and extremely hardworking. They can make great bosses if they are well trained."
By boosting capacity for the local workforce, Chinese firms stand to incur lower costs, and empower Africans economically. Such an ambitious outlook needs the total support of the African and Chinese governments. Crucially, the African governments need to provide the Chinese firms with a conducive investment landscape to encourage their growth and expansion. They include extending tax holidays to them as well as ensuring sufficient security in unstable areas such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and South Sudan.
The author is a journalist on African issues based in Nairobi, Kenya. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn