Mediator solving Yiwu traders’ problems
International trader Tirera Sourakhata prefers to be called a “civil facilitator” than a successful businessman.
As founder and general manager of Yiwu Crestone Trading Co, he has spent most of the past 15 years in Yiwu — the so-called global capital of small commodities — in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.
While making money was the initial goal, today Sourakhata, 41, also devotes his time to helping fellow Africans settle or solve disputes in the city.
“Yiwu is perhaps the world’s largest and most active marketplace for foreign trade, and I want to integrate into the city as a true local,” he said.
Sourakhata arrived in 2003 as one of Yiwu’s first Senegalese entrepreneurs. He was drawn by “the lowest prices of hardware products in the world” and said the quality was almost as good as in Dubai and Hong Kong.
He would travel between Africa and the city every six weeks to purchase household goods, which he shipped in two or three containers to markets in Senegal and Ghana.
As business grew, in 2007, he established an office in Yiwu and became a permanent resident. His company now has 52 employees and is the city’s largest trading firm specialized in exporting to Africa.
In 2013, when the Yiwu government launched a civil mediation group to help settle disputes involving foreign nationals, Sourakhata was chosen as one of its members, allowing him to serve the foreign community.
“I wanted to not only help foreign businessmen and women solve their daily problems but also help Yiwu flourish and make it a harmonious global city,” he said.
Yiwu, which is home to only about 800,000 people, receives more than 500,000 traders a year looking to purchase and export small commodities. Some 20,000 foreign entrepreneurs also live there permanently.
Sourakhata said he has handled dozens of disputes as a mediator. He has also been involved in several charities and other fundraising activities.
For example, when an African student in Yiwu suffered a stroke while playing soccer in September last year, he posted the news on social media and within days had helped raise 130,000 yuan ($19,100) from 400 donors to cover the student’s hospital bills and fly him home.
Sourakhata’s achievements have also been recognized in Senegal, when in November 2016 he was appointed as a special adviser to the president.
“In 2014, when Senegal’s president visited China, I met with him and he said I should not only continue to do business in Yiwu but also serve as a bridge for Africa-China friendship,” he said. “Right then, I felt this dream would be achieved.”
Lin Yiqiao and Xu Ting contributed to this story.