CHASHA FARMING
JF-Expert Member
- Jun 4, 2011
- 7,872
- 9,263
TheChinese way of doing business
I am writing this newsletter from the city of Guangzhou (Canton)in China whereI have come to make business contacts with manufacturers but most importantlyto study the Chinese way of doing business.
Now, China has become the second biggest economy after USA and in a few yearswould become No.1 while Africa is still lagging behind despite its immenseresources.
What is China doing and Africa is not doing?
Here in Guangzhou, the third city of China, I can see the achievements of thepeople of China, especially in infrastructure and their standards of living.Being in this City, some European cities like London, Paris or Brussels justbecome too small. Buildings are just too many, too high and quite new. Theroads are in floors and people are busy minding their own businesses, etc. Nobeggars like in New York!
A friend of mine who came to China 20 years ago told me that most of what I seenow has been achieved in the last 20 years. In 1985 when he came to China as astudent he was not impressed because even African cities like Nairobi werebetter than many parts of the Guangzhou city that time.
So, the questions in my mind are: What did Chinese do to change 360° theireconomy? How did they make such achievements in a very short time? What arethey doing differently? Can Africa do the same?
Here are four things people in China are doing differently and I think peoplein Africa should do:
1. Hard work and give value to work
There is no production and progress with hard work. Chinese take workseriously; they work more than 12 hours per day and have many jobs at the sametime. Most of young Chinese have at least two jobs while studying and are ableto pay their studies. In Africa, we think it is impossible to attend collegewithout a government scholarship or family financial support. Chinese usewhatever they have to create their own employment. In a big city likeGuangzhou, transport is done on trolley, a wheelbarrow, a bike, a motorbike, acar, a truck, bus, train, airplane, boots, ships, etc. A bike is the mostpopular mean of transport and on it you can do everything. I have a seen amobile barbecue with burning charcoal and hot meat on bike! A man was sellinghot corn on a wheelbarrow and I could not resist that one!
2. Start small with a big vision.
As a Chinese proverb says: A thousand miles journey start by the first step.Many Chinese have started their transport business on a bike having and now ownmulti cars companies. Why not start with what we have now?
3. Simple but high quality lifestyle
The lifestyle of Chinese is very simple. They eat less food but of high qualityand they are healthier. They have less personal possessions like clothes,furniture but stay in good and clean houses. A Chinese told me that he can putall his personal belongings in a one 20kg suitcase. When you enter a Chinesehouse, it looks almost empty while entering an African house you may think youare in a second hand shop!
4. Make it cheap, affordable but useful
We say that Chinese make goods of bad quality that don't last longer. It hasbeen their strategy but it has worked. They make for you what you can afford tobuy and you buy it. Anyway, why should you buy a long lasting mobile phone whenyou have to buy a new one every two years, even if it is IPhone!
Let us change our mind set
Could we do the same in Africa? I think we can do it even better but to adoptthe Chinese way requires a new mind set, people in Africa have to change ourway if thinking and acting. We need a new collective culture of hard work. Weneed to have individual and collective visions, plan strategically and use whatwe have to achieve what we want. We have to adopt a new lifestyle which usesless quantity but with high quality. This is the best way we can do businessand achieve prosperity.
SOURCE: AFRICA DOING BUSINESS
