Long Term Vision
Chinese companies in Africa create jobs and transfer skills for future local development
As you [Chinese companies] come and establish yourself, learn about the local culture and opportunities, integrate yourself with the local business community, and build on skills development programs.
Omid Kassiri, McKinsey & Company Partner, Nairobi
Christina Naidoo is on a mission to break
the glass ceiling in a male-dominated industry. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Huawei Technologies South Africa has paid her dues in the world of information and communications technology (ICT) and is now giving back.
Naidoo acknowledges the struggle to get to where she is today. Starting out as an operator in Telkom, Africa’s largest integrated communications company, she felt a lot of pressure. “I was the only nonwhite female [in my department]. The male workers undermined me and they gave me a difficult time. So I worked extremely hard and proved myself,” the South African recalls.
Before joining Huawei - China’s leading ICT solutions provider - in 2000, Naidoo, who is 45 this year, had already worked for 12 years in the ICT industry.
As a nonwhite female, she appreciates the growth opportunities her employer has provided her with. She said she is grateful to Huawei for assisting her in applying for funding from the South African Government to complete her MBA course in 2016.
Naidoo said part of Huawei’s localization strategy aims at placing more South Africans in leadership roles, with the emphasis being on women, in support of the UN’s International Telecommunication Union’s efforts to increase the participation of women in the ICT industry.
While working in the management team, she also feels she has an obligation toward her own country, which she said has a shortage of skills. “Huawei comes with the skills-set we don’t have in South Africa. It’s our responsibility as the management to make sure our training programs are correctly positioned to close that [skills] gap [between China and South Africa],” she said, adding that the company intends to create more opportunities for female employees and provide them with bursaries, training programs and online courses.
To create an environment for employees to learn and grow, Huawei established an e-learning platform to encourage employees to access online training courses anytime and anywhere. “Those high-quality training courses keep us up to date with the latest practical skills in different sectors of the ICT industry, allowing us to enhance knowledge, develop personal competence and keep pace with the knowledge economy,” said 33-year-old Pamela Khonyane, an administration specialist.
Naidoo also felt the company provided her with a platform to develop for future challenges. “When you work in an operation environment, there is nothing con-stant. Every day is a challenge. And with the development of technology, it pushes me to continuously learn, develop and grow,” she told ChinAfrica.
Huawei also supports ICT education in local communities where the company operates. It has helped launch learning programs with partner Khulisani, an establishment providing assistance and opportunity for individuals with a disability to develop vocational and entrepreneurial skills, to offer free computer skills training to schools for students living with disabilities.
In addition the company has planned to help train 1,000 young South Africans in ICT in China over the next five years and will set up Huawei laboratories in South African universities for use by students and the public, so that those with skills can become more employable.
Huawei has done business in South Africa for more than 15 years and is currently one of the country’s main providers of telecommunications equipment. Naidoo noted that her company places great emphasis on localization. Huawei South Africa has more than 1,000 employees, with over 60 percent being local.
Naidoo is just one example of the thousands of African employees in Chinese companies based on the continent, which are localizing their operations as they expand across Africa. The job opportunities for locals, training of African professionals and transferring technology and skills are benefiting local communities.
Localizing business
Many Chinese companies in Africa are facing the same challenge: lack of skilled labor force. This challenge creates obstacles to doing business and is heightened by the brain drain. Statistics show that more than 10 percent of Africa’s highly educated professionals live and work on other continents, according to the World Migration in Figures jointly released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in October 2013.
COURTESY PHOTOS
South African students in the “Seeds for the Future” program learn the Voice over Internet Protocol technology in Shenzhen in November
South African students in the “Seeds for the Future” program visit Huawei Headquarters in Shenzhen
In addition, with increasing unemployment rates threatening social stability in many African countries, hiring local staff at foreign-invested companies is welcome relief.
Therefore, creating a pool of skilled workers through various training programs is a priority for many Chinese companies.
The China Road and Bridge Corp. (CRBC), constructing the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway Project in Kenya, is another Chinese company attaching great importance to localization, according to the project Deputy Manager Li Juguang. The project is well underway and has created more than 38,000 jobs, providing employment to Kenyans to work as engineers, carpenters, masons, technicians and general workers.
In addition, CRBC prioritizes technology transfer and training of local employees to meet the demand of qualified personnel for Kenya’s railway construction and operations. Many Kenyans are learning how to operate a wide variety of machines imported from China.
“Chinese engineers work with our Kenyan workers and teach them high-end engineering skills so that Kenyans can gain the technical knowledge of railway construction,” said Alexander Wambua Muindi Ndivo, a Kenyan staff working for the project. “The project is changing the lives of many of us.”
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), China’s largest oil and gas producer and supplier, has for years provided systematic training programs and cultivated local professionals in the oil industry in Sudan through on-the-job training and training workshops in Sudan and China.
“We have developed a pool of professional talent in oil exploration and production, refining and chemicals, engineering construction and oilfield services, promot-ing sustainable development of Sudan’s oil industry,” said Xu Xiaoling, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Research Office at CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute.
With China-Africa cooperation expanding, the number of Chinese companies in Africa keeps growing, exceeding 3,000 now. By the end of 2015, there were more than 300 Chinese companies, including representative offices, in South Africa, statistics from the South Africa-China Economic and Trade Association showed.
Observers noted that in this context, Chinese companies investing in Africa need to have a long-term mindset. “As you [Chinese companies] come and establish yourself, learn about the local culture and opportunities, integrate yourself with the local business community, and build on skills development programs,” suggested Omid Kassiri, McKinsey & Company Partner in the Nairobi Office in an exclusive interview with ChinAfrica.
Just as Kassiri suggested, Huawei cooperates widely with local telecommunications operators, private enterprises and the government, and has become a key strategic partner in developing a digital society in South Africa.
And for Chinese companies operating in Africa there is also the desire to promote cross-cultural understanding. Huawei is one company that has taken up this challenge. Since June 2016, the company’s South African employees have been given the opportunity to learn the Chinese language and culture. This is aimed at helping local staff improve communication in the workplace.
Naidoo believes that the company cannot succeed without the community. “If we have good corporate social responsibility initiatives, we will be more accepted by the community in which we operate,” she said. CA
(Reporting from South Africa)
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interview with Christina Naidoo.
