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Est 2009 Tel : 011 023-7588 / 011 402 - 1977 Inner-City Gazette
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Issue 19 - 2019
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072 824 3014
16 - 23 May 2019
Website : www.inner-city-gazette.com Inner City Gazette
Distributed free to households, churches, schools, clinics, government departments, police stations, libraries and businesses in Bellevue • Berea • Bertrams • Braamfontein • City and Suburban • City West • Crown Gardens • Doornfontein • Fairview • Fordsburg • Hillbrow • Jeppestown • Jules • Johannesburg Inner City • Kensington • Lorentzville • Malvern • Marshallstown • New Doornfontein • Newtown • North Doornfontein • Park Meadows • Rosettenville • Selby • Troyeville • Turffontein • Village Main and Yeoville
Cultural awareness for Chinese investors A crucial part of this strategy is helping them avoid misunderstandings that could scuttle deals Tanni Deb, Eleni Giokos and Aisha Salaudeen
Lucia Hau-Yoon
Johannesburg - Improving communications with Chinese business partners is at the top of the agenda for Lucia Hau-Yoon and her team at the Mandarin Training Centre in Edenvale, Johannesburg. Hau-Yoon has spent nearly 30 years teaching Africans the art of mastering business dealings with the Chinese. A crucial part of this strategy is learning the language and helping them avoid gaffes and misunderstandings that could scuttle deals and harm working relationships. Hau-Yoon says she set up the training centre in response to the increasing demand for Chinese cultural awareness by Africans who work with partners from China; an indication of how influential China has become in Africa in the past two decades. According to a report by McKinsey & Company there are over 10 000 Chinese businesses on the continent, including Ethiopia, South Africa, and Kenya. In infrastructure alone,
Chinese firms claim about 50% of Africa’s internationally contracted construction market, the report said. Hau-Yoon believes this presence has made it imperative for local organizations to build long term working relationships with Chinese investors. And part of doing so requires an understanding of the Chinese business protocol. “I think a lot of Westerners or people from South Africa are too anxious to make deals happen. They meet the Chinese and hope that after one or two hours talk they can sign contracts, which is impossible. It’s about all the other things; eating, drinking, talking and small talks to get to know each other.” This need to better understand Chinese people in business is why IMS Engineering and its partners in South Africa send their teams to Hau-Yoon’s centre. IMS Engineering managing director Paul Bracher said they wanted to build a partnership approach by getting a better understanding of differences in culture, avoiding misunderstandings that can arise when people have
different cultural norms. “The Chinese are respectful and appreciative of efforts to better understand their language and culture. And it’s not a one-way street, some of our Chinese partners have also put in the effort to learn about South African culture,” he says. Jacky Liu runs the China International Travel Agency South Africa, and switches easily between Chinese and African etiquette and norms, thanks to living in South Africa for more than two decades. But the profile of Chinese travellers has changed over the years as business opportunities continue to lure more people to the continent. “Chinese business travelers come here more now because both countries are economically related. Big enterprises from China invest in South Africa, so they send a lot of officials to do business,” he said. The hope is that as the eastern powerhouse drives opportunities across Africa, they both create a deeper understanding of each other’s values and overcome language and cultural barriers so investments pay off. CNN