Flying Into Africa

　　A Republic of Congo airlines MA60 aircraft madeits inaugural commercial flight from Brazzaville to Djambalain August to much fanfare. The Chinese-made turboprop powered airliner, mainly used for regional flights,is exported by AVIC International Holding Corp (AVICInternational), a Chinese company with its eyes firmly seton the African market.

　　AVIC International, which was established over 30 yearsago, has placed much emphasis on its growing business tieswith Africa. Over the last three decades, Africa has becomeone of the key markets for AVIC International, according toLiu Jun, Vice General Manager of AVIC International.

　　“AVIC International has always attached great importanceto the African market. It has already made progressin expanding aircraft sales to the continent since the 1980s,as China has built increasingly strong economic ties with Africa,”Liu told ChinAfrica.

　　Key player

　　AVIC International has played a leading role in China’s importand export of civil aviation products and services, withits core business areas including aviation trade, internationalcooperation, global sourcing, subcontracting and biddingservices.

　　So far, the company has over 100 overseas offices inmore than 40 countries and regions. It employs more than70,000 employees, and conducts business in 180 countriesand regions. It has assets of over 100 billion yuan ($16.3 billion)and an accumulated import and export trade volumeexceeding $60 billion.

　　AVIC International has always been committed to promotingand developing Africa’s aviation industry. For morethan 30 years, the company has exported over 400Chinese-made aircraft to Africa.

　　“Most parts of Africa remain underdeveloped inthe transport sector, which largely limits African businessescooperation with their Chinese counterparts aswell as Africa’s future development,” Liu said. “We arewilling to build an ‘aerial Tanzania-Zambia railway,’ so asto make substantial efforts to improve the current aviationsituation in Africa.”

　　AVIC International has now exported China-madeaircraft to many African countries including Zimbabwe,Senegal, Kenya, Mauritania, Tanzania, and Mali.

　　To provide better service and assure advanced dispatchesand safety, AVIC International has establisheda full-area coverage after-sales service network whichconsists of representative offices and overseas companiesin 14 African countries, including a regional technicalsupport service center in Zambia.

　　Diversification strategy

　　When speaking about his company’s diversified developmentstrategy, Liu said, “in recent years, the demand forinfrastructure in Africa has been driven by its rapid development.AVIC is also dedicated to helping the African nationsimprove their infrastructures construction.”

　　He added that the projects the companyis now undertaking include Nairobi airportexpansion and the construction of a newairport, and transformation of transportationsystems in Lusaka, the capital city ofZambia. AVIC International is also responsiblefor the road construction projects inwest Zambia leading to Angola. The roadsthere have been damaged by river flooding,but AVIC International will completethe road reconstruction in 2014.

　　In addition, AVIC International alsospearheaded various other projects. AVICInternational built up a modernized B747steel structure maintenance hangar forEthiopian Airlines, which was 32 meters high and 90 meterslong. The maintenance facility was put into operation in2006, and gained a great reputation due to the high quality.The company also established the Chinese brand “JIEFANG”truck, “YUEJIN” light vehicle assembly line in Tanzania.Besides, AVIC International built other projects, includingbeachfront apartments, TBA Dodoma apartment in Tanzania,and undertook bridge and apartment constructionin Algeria. About 300,000 patients have been treated in themobile hospital that AVIC International provided in Zambia.

　　Explaining how a Chinese company has become a keypartner for African infrastructure projects, Liu said, “theChinese companies outbid foreign competitors with theirhigh efficiency and low cost. Besides, Chinese enterprises[in Africa] get full support from the Chinese Government. Allabove factors contribute to the market demand in Africa.”

　　Localization in Africa

　　Apart from a diversified development strategy, localizationis AVIC International’s key to success in Africa. In AVICInternational’s offices in Africa, locals account for about 20percent of the total management personnel, while nearly allof the workers are locals, according to Liu. Local employmentis crucial in African countries, he said.

　　Chinese enterprises have shouldered a wide range ofsocial responsibilities in Africa. Likewise, one of the importantsocial responsibilities for AVIC International is to trainprofessionals and technical personnel and offer vocationalskills training. “The export from AVIC International to Africawas not merely machinery, but the transfer of technology.

　　We pay more attention to train professional and technicalpersonnel at the local level and help improve the localeconomy. For example, we teach locals how to grow, store,and process grains, as well as how to repair and drive thevehicles,” Liu told ChinAfrica.

　　In addition, AVIC International provides mobile hospitalsand vocational education training projects to Kenya andZambia, which enhance local medical standards andeducational accessibility. Take Kenya for example. AVICInternational provided a training session to Kenyan youthservice teams, in order to promote their technical level. Thevocational training program in Kenya aims at training about10,000 young technicians per year. It will boost the localeconomy and lower high unemployment so as to benefitlocal people in the long run, according to Liu.

　　AVIC is a pioneer in exploring overseas markets, andwants to become a multinational enterprise. Yet, Liubelieves that Chinese enterprises still have a long wayto go before succeeding in overseas markets, becausethey lack the required understanding of the market rules,technology, capital, brand, personnel and culture. “In theprocess of going global, every Chinese enterprise venturingabroad must get familiar with the elements of internationalmarketing environment; in this way, we can truly say itis going global. This is especially important for Chinesecompanies that would like to tap into African markets,” hesaid.