In the streets of Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos, and other African cities, signs advertising Chinese tech products are not an uncommon sight. In fact, all Chinese tech firms are rushing to get into Africa.
Earlier this month, from the gallery of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, I watched Chinese President, Xi Jinping, give a speech at the just concluded Forum on Africa and China Cooperation (FOCAC) where he announced a total of $60 billion in aid, loans and investment for African countries.
Jack Ma announced on August 8 the establishment of the Africa Netpreneur Prize to encourage young Africans to start their own businesses. 800 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, researchers and policymakers witness the launch of prize at the “Netpreneurs: The Rise of Africa’s Digital Lions” conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In a newly built office building in the technology zone of Shenzhen’s Nanshan District lies a plain-looking phone company. This company has few Chinese users, yet it sold over 80 million phones worldwide, far more than Xiaomi and vivo. The Shenzhen-based company named Transsion mainly targets the African market. According to the data of IDC,…
