Turning to Africa

The trip convinced him that South Africa was where his future lay. “There was a big change in South Africa,” he explained. “Apartheid had ended, international economic sanctions had been lifted and an election had been held. To get the economy off the ground after being isolated for two to three decades, the new government was encouraging foreign businesses and investments.”

At the same time, South Africa also had the infrastructure and business culture foreign investors looked for, compared to some of its peers which were either facing civil war or administrative chaos. So the die was cast for Shen and in 1998, Union Color Co., the company he registered in Johannesburg with a local partner, began operations.

This time, the focus was on building materials as Africa was on a construction drive. Gradually, he added interior decoration items and then, after becoming familiar with the granite mines in South Africa, included that in his list as well. In 2012, he got a contract to supply granite for a project but could not find enough supplies in South Africa. A business acquaintance told him about the granite mines in Mozambique and that is how he branched in that southeast African country, finding a local partner to go into business with.

Today, Union Color Co. has over 200 employees, most of whom are locals. Shen is emphatic that it is an African company. “Xiamen in China is my hometown