E-commerce signals new future for ties between China, Africa
African
companies are exploring new trade models with China based on e-commerce at the
first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE), which opened on June 25 in
Changsha, capital of Central China’s Hunan Province.
Trade
between China and African countries has been rising since 2008, and by 2018,
China had been the biggest trading partner of the continent for a decade. As
bilateral trade grows, e-commerce is emerging as a new way to bring about a
more sustainable growth mode.
In May,
China’s Alibaba Group signed an agreement with Rwanda to establish an
Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP). Charles Kayonga, ambassador of Rwanda
to China, told the Global Times on June
27 that e-commerce platforms including eWTP can stimulate the creativity and
productivity of the continent.
“E-commerce
is not a magic pill that solves every problem,” he said. “It can’t solve Africa’s
deficit in its trade with China. To solve trade issues, you need productivity
and manufacturing, and e-commerce can stimulate that, by opening up the market
for African companies.”
Hannah
Ryder, CEO of Development Reimagined, an international development consultancy
dedicated to finding new solutions to African development, told the Global Times that e-commerce is “absolutely
the future” of trade between China and Africa. The new channel is improving
mutual understanding and increasing opportunities on both sides.
“A lot
of African countries still have no idea about the huge potential of the Chinese
market,” Ryder said. “People still have a lot of stereotypes about China and
there is a lack of knowledge about what’s going on there.”
E-commerce
now serves as a connecting platform for sharing information, as more African
companies target Chinese consumers and their surging purchasing power.
Maxhosa,
a South African luxury clothing brand, is one of the seven companies brought to
the first CAETE by Development Reimagined. Ntsika Tyata, its public relations
liaison, told the Global Times that
the company is looking to take a share of the millions of e-commerce customers
through social media.
“One
thing that really took me by surprise when I first visited China is how
prominent WeChat is,” Tyata said. “Everyone is using it, even on the road or on
the train. We want to figure out how to sell our products on WeChat
effectively, and how to reach more people with our advertisements on WeChat.”
“Even if
we only get 1 percent of the e-commerce consumers in China, the volume will be
massive,” Tyata said.
The
company is designing and producing Xhosa-inspired clothing with 33 employees
back in South Africa, and it hopes to exercise its appeal to the young
generation of consumers of luxury brands in China very soon.
Source:Global Times
On June 27, 2019, the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) kicked off at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center. More than 80 outstanding enterprises from 53 countries and regions in Africa participated in the Expo. (Photo by Mao Zongke from People’s Daily Online
E-commerce signals new future for ties between China, Africa
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