Translation Tuesday: Tecno, the Chinese Cellphone Manufacturer That Only Does Business in Africa

By Laiyin Yuan

Author: Li Kunkun
Translator: Laiyin Yuan
Published on: 07/18/2014
Source: African Business Insider
Original text (in Chinese): http://www.abitimes.com/portal.php?mod=view&aid=139

This is a story about a “unique” Chinese cellphone manufacturer that is obscure in China, but not so low-profile in Africa. As popular as Samsung or Nokia are among African consumers, Chinese brand Tecno is equally popular and it represents the strength of Chinese companies in regards to localization, brand building, and distribution-channel expansion. How can a Chinese company only do business in Africa, and how was Tecno so successful? Maybe this report can provide some answers.
- Laiyin Yuan (translator)

Last month, one of my British friends, Emma, wanted to buy a cellphone in Lira, a town in northern Uganda, to replace the Nokia phone she brought with her from England. While we were chatting, she asked me about the brand Tecno: “I saw Tecno phones in many Lira stores, and I heard that it was a Chinese brand. You must have heard of it.” However, the truth is I have never came across this brand before coming to Africa. When I told her that Tecno phones are never actually sold in China, Emma was very surprised: “I thought Tecno was a popular brand in China!”

Deep thoughts by Derek Sheridan

After last week's episode, hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu are brought on another person Winslow met at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting last year: Mr. Derek Sheridan, An anthropology PhD student at Brown University, Derek is studying Chinese migration in east Africa. He is interested in broader questions of transnationalism, migration, identity, and more! He also speaks Mandarin after putting in a few years in Taiwan. Derek came on the pod to discuss anthropology, epistemology, theory, and if there is such a thing as "China-Africa Studies." Prepare for some deep thoughts!

Recommendations

• Winslow
• China’s Aid to Africa: Monster or Messiah? by Yun Sun
• China, the Death Star of Emerging Markets by William Pesek
•  Dr. Kalu
• Why Do We Need ‘Myth-Busting’ in the Study of Sino–African Relations? by Miwa Hirono and Suzuki Shogo
• #NBCFail
• Derek Sheridan
• Africa and China: New Engagements, New Research by Jamie Monson and Stephanie Rupp
• What’s the Point If We Can’t Have Fun? by David Graeber

Sources

Unthinking (and then rethinking) the relevance of "China-Africa": Some small notes from the wholesale-retail trade in Uganda and Tanzania. by Derek Sheridan

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Mighty Mike

The Africa Daily

China's role in the future of South Sudan

You wanted South Sudanese voices? We have South Sudanese voi - we have A South Sudanese voice on hand to share her fascinating insights on South Sudan's peace process, China/South Sudan relations, and the future of the young country. Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu had a live discussion with Ms. Natalina Malwal, a representative of the South Sudanese community in the U.S.

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African Development Jobs

Mighty Mike

The Africa Daily

Addendum - 130 Years of China/South Sudan history

While Dr. Daniel Large gave an excellent overview of Chinese/South Sudanese history, there was not as much of a discussion on South Sudan's relations with neighboring countries (China is not a neighbor, after all). Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu asked Ms. Lesley Anne Warner, an Africa security specialist, to talk a little more about the particulars of South Sudanese politics and how they relate to its foreign policy, to which she graciously agreed. Despite their best efforts, there were still technical difficulties in the recording, however: a slight scratching sound every time Winslow speaks. But you do not listen to this podcast for what Winslow has to say, correct?

Brought to you by:

African Development Jobs

Mighty Mike

The Africa Daily

South-South Cooperation Part 1

Here are two stories that made me think of 'South-South Cooperation,' I phrase and idea of which I am deeply skeptical, but that is a tale for another day.

• Kathleen McLaughlin has been doing phenomenal work over at the Pulitzer Center looking at Chinese foreign health aid to Africa. I urge you to read every piece on the site. She looks at a very complicated set of issues with nuance and gets gets some great quotes from actors on the ground, exemplified in "Malaria: The Core of Every Ugandan Pharmacist's Business." I loved this piece for how it turned the narrative away from simply 'fake Chinese drugs' vs 'real wholesome (probably American) drugs' and instead tried to look at the issue of malaria more holistically. I mused a few days ago whether McLaughlin thinks China would respond to some of the fake drug criticism, and she herself answered me by linking to a piece she wrote which demonstrated Chinese officials are definitely thinking about the problem. As she says "Perhaps acknowledgement of the problem by official China, even in the form of defensiveness and denials, could lead to some changes. At the very least, we know they're talking about it." Agreed. One of the things I admire about China's interaction with African peoples is that they acknowledge (though not admit, necessarily) when things could be better. 

• As I was reading Bill Bishop's Sinocism newsletter today, I came across a delightfully lurid corruption story that caught my attention by Amy Li. It was not the rather banal act of entrapping an official (state or otherwise) by bribing them with sex, videotaping it, and blackmailing them, which at this point is old hat. No, rather it was this quote that I found fascinating:

The scandal involves US-listed technology company Agilent Technologies, which had been accused of bribing Zhang with sex service provided by male sex workers in a high-end Beijing club, said media reports. Some of the escorts were reported to be African.

In my experience, it is rather rare for a Chinese woman to enter into romantic relationships with black Africans. Out of the subset of Chinese women even willing to date a foreigner, which itself is rather small (no matter what some Fenqinq might say), there is but a tiny fraction of women who would even consider being with a black man, let alone a black African without the perks of an American or British passport. Obviously I am only speaking from anecdotal evidence, so feel free to correct me if I am wrong. So when I read that this woman was being tempted with sexual services from Africans, I felt that this was probably the most progressive instance of South-South Cooperation I was going to read for a while. That, or it was racialized slut-shaming.