Business
Africans investing billions of dollars in China
Its first move was to negotiate with the government-backed China Resources Enterprises, for joint ownership of China Resources Snow Breweries, which is now the largest brewery in China.
While most foreign breweries struggle to sell their brands in the Chinese market, SABMiller has concentrated on purchasing local Chinese breweries. SABMiller’s winning strategy is to keep on purchasing shares in local brewers and investing in the production of popular Chinese brands without involving itself in daily operations and management of the companies.
Today, 30 years after its first investments, SABMiller co-owns more than 90 breweries with Chinese Resources, producing around 30 beer brands with a 23 percent market share.
Tunisia’s investment in China’s fertilizer production has an even longer history. Initially launched as a key project of China’s 8th Five-Year Plan, the Sino-Arab Chemical Fertilizers Company (SACF) was a joint initiative reached by Tunisia and China when Tunisia’s late Prime Minister Mohammed Mzali visited Beijing in 1984.
SACF wisely used the continuous investments in its technical reform and facility expansion in the new millennium, which significantly increased its production and quality control capacities.
Widely praised as a successful South-South Cooperation model, the company has grown to become one of the largest compound fertilizer producers in China.
Despite the global recession that jeopardized most countries’ investment plans, the amount of direct investments from Seychelles to China reached the US$100 million mark in 2009, compared to US$7 million worth of Chinese investments in Seychelles during the same period.
The large number of offshore companies anonymously registered in its Indian Ocean islands could possibly be the answer to this puzzle, analysts say.
Countries like Mauritius and the Seychelles are magnets for business entities and entrepreneurs around the world because of their relaxed taxation, lighter regulation of corporate activities and greater business flexibility.
On the other hand, their strict preservation of confidentiality for business transactions and individuals has made it almost impossible to track where the investments that are flowing out of these islands actually came from.
Big dreams in ‘Little Africa’
SABMiller and the other large corporations only tell part of the story of Africans seeking economic opportunities in China. Media reports estimate that China is home to more than 200,000 African immigrants.
