Global and regional representation
Hermann has developed a career in assisting the endeavors of Chinese commerce in Africa, but what about the economic undertakings of Africans in China? The end goal in aiding Africans to truly benefit from growing global and China-africa commerce is the building of what Hermann refers to as a global African chamber of commerce. Part of the responsibility for uniting the needs of African businesses into a collective that benefits from such initiatives as the Belt and Road, lies with embassies and the AU, he believes.
“There’s no representative of the AU in China. An African chamber of commerce would bring several African nations together within a common structure. China is a far too large market for any single African country to handle,” he said.
“One chamber of commerce for all African nations could be difficult to manage. It’s better to create a chamber of commerce [using] small African regional organizations, because they have points in common,” he said.
These common points would help regionally constructed chambers of commerce efficiently provide services and guidance that is specific to the needs of each diverse nation on the continent. “For example in Central African region, we have an organization called Economic Community of Central African States. The members use the same currency, the same passport, the same official language - it’s the same for Western Africa, Eastern Africa and Southern Africa and so on,” he said. If guidance and assistance is tailored around cultural and economic differences on the continent, African commerce would fare better with enhanced and strategic support and representation in China, he noted.
Hermann said focusing on assisting African countries to industrialize may help African nations utilize their resources to produce more products for import to China, rather than the current trend of African businesses buying from China.
“What we need now is to industrialize. We can, for example, transform African agricultural products directly on the spot,” he said. According to him, the market price of raw materials is volatile, so the only path to development for Africa goes through adding value. “For this to happen, we need to diversify cooperation between the continent and China.”
Despite the expressed need for further innovative ingenuities, Hermann’s nine years of working in China-africa commerce has cumulated into a wealth of knowledge of how locals are benefiting from initiatives such as the Belt and Road, which continues to help local businesses thrive, increases the mobility of the continent’s people and earns potential for companies.
“China’s purpose is to partner with Africa and increase cooperation,” he said. “The Belt and Road Initiative represents a major opportunity for Africa to establish itself as an essential backbone of this initiative. We should seize this opportunity,” he added.
Moving forward, Hermann would like to see more African experts and consultants from the continent representing their countries and introducing the diverse continent to foreign investors and entrepreneurs. “I hope that the younger generation of Africans will be able to negotiate the way in which cooperation takes place on the ground. We do want to open up the African market to China,” he said.
This would help curate better cross-cultural partnerships and support for Chinese investment led by Africans for Africans. Comments to nicolebonnah@chinafrica.cn