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While the U.S. and Japan Talk About Private Sector Engagement in Africa, Chinese Companies are Already Doing Multibillion-Dollar IPOs Based on African-based Businesses

by Eric Olander
Advertisement for Transsion Holdings, parent of the popular Tecno line of phones in Africa, music service Boomplay that is a joint venture with fellow Chinese company Netease and is now the most popular streaming music service in Africa. Photo via Transsion Holdings

Boston Consulting Group senior partner Grant Freeland issued a plea to American businesses to take Africa more seriously and to get in the game or risk “ceding the market to China.” He didn’t shy away about the reality that U.S. business leaders are way behind the curve when it comes to Africa: 

“You’d be surprised how many senior executives, even those whose companies have far-flung global supply-chains and multi-billion-dollar international sales, possess only surface knowledge of many countries in which they do business.”

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