Chinese businesses changing lives of local communities in Kenya

As an entrepreneur, Eric Mwaura had tried his hand at a number of businesses, with no success. With little capital and no support from the government, most of his business ideas died even before they took off. However, things changed for the better when a friend referred him to Romer Environmental Protection Ltd, a Chinese company in Kenya involved in the manufacturing of water treatment facilities.

"By this time I was working as a water vendor but the business had very little returns. On speaking to Romer, I was elated to hear that they were ready to fund my business by giving me a water treatment facility without demanding any down payment," Mwaura said.

"To my pleasant surprise, the company was even willing to install the equipment, train my workers and offer me free service in case the equipment broke down," he added.

Mwaura now operates Blue Spot, a fully-functional water treatment business in Ruiru town on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Speaking during the China-Kenya Industrial Exposition that was held in Nairobi in November, Qiu Fan, the general manager of Romer Environmental Protection Ltd, said that the funding they advance to business entrepreneurs such as Mwaura are credit facilities that attract no interest, with very flexible repayment terms.

"In as much as we are in business, our goal is to reduce water costs and have more people afford drinking water. To do this we decided to identify businessmen within communities with water scarcity and support them in making affordable water easily accessible to the people," Qiu said.

According to Qiu, they support small businesses through a model with clients like Mwaura where they give out water to vendors at no fee and collect their profits after the vendors have made their sales.

"The vendors do not need money to get our products. This encourages more people to get into the business of selling safe bottled water, thereby creating employment," Qiu said.

According to the 2018 Chinese Enterprises in Kenya Social Responsibility Summary, which was released by the Kenya China Economic and Trade Association, in 2018 Chinese enterprises created more than 50,000 jobs and provided training to 67,000 people in Kenya. In addition, there were a significant number of cooperation projects successfully implemented in the areas of poverty alleviation, public health, cultural exchanges, peace and security.