China private enterprise in Africa

China’s Private Enterprises in Africa and the Implications for African Development

Dr Jing GU
Institute of Development Studies
Email: [e-mail]

European Journal of Development Research Special Issue, Vol. 24, No.
1, 2009 (Forthcoming)

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China’s Private Enterprises in Africa and the Implications for African
Development
This paper evaluates the growing presence of China’s private business sector in Africa.
Currently, attention focuses on China’s state-owned enterprises in extractive industries. Less attention is paid to Chinese private enterprises. This study fills a knowledge-gap by evaluating characteristics and motivations of Chinese private firms in Africa and assesses their development impacts. Key findings are that the Chinese private firms have followed their own paths to Africa and the primary factors driving private investment are African market opportunities, competition within China and the presence of a strong entrepreneurial spirit. An effective mechanism bridging a gap between China’s Africa Policy and its implementation in terms of private sector engagement is lacking. To maximise development gains, a top-down and bottom-up ‘two-way street’ approach to Chinese public-private sector relations is necessary. This is a mutual learning process for the Chinese public and private sectors and also China-Africa relations. These are fluid relationships with each adapting to and shaping the other.

Key words: Africa; China; development; private investment; private enterprises

1. Introduction
The scale of the rapidly growing engagement between China and Africa has generated debate around two issues: what motivates this engagement, and what are its implications for Africa‘s sustainable development? (Broadman, 2006; Chan, 2006; Goldstein, Pinaud, Reisen and
Chen 2006; Tull, 2006; Wild and Mepham, 2006; Alden, 2007; Chin and Frolic, 2007; Li,
2007; He, 2007; Davies, Edinger, Tay and Naidu, 2008; Manji and Marks, 2007;

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