Young African entrepreneurs eager for Chinese knowledge

Jan de Graaf from Rwanda jumped at the chance to take part in a two-week learning tour in China that started in mid-August.

The trip took him to several major cities, including Shenzhen in Guangdong province, Hangzhou and Yiwu in Zhejiang province, and Beijing, where he learned from and interacted with big Chinese companies such as tech giant Tencent and e-commerce heavyweights Alibaba and JD.

Thirteen years ago, Graaf studied for a semester at Tsinghua University under a student exchange program run in conjunction with National University of Singapore. "So, I was curious about how things are now," said Graaf, who co-founded and has run the Rwanda-based clean cooking fuel company BioMassters since 2020.

The company turns biomass waste into pellet fuel and supplies environmentally friendly stoves to help reduce emissions along with the cost of household cooking.

Graaf 's faith in green and renewable energy was reinforced by the transformation he witnessed in Beijing's air quality. "I'm comparing it to 13 years ago, and I see enormous changes, it's almost unbelievable," said Graaf, who is aged in his 30s and was born in Rwanda, and grew up in the Netherlands.

Graaf recalled that when he was a student in Beijing and played football, it was difficult for him to run on some days because of the smog.

"But now it's (the air) perfect. I've seen in the data that there is a huge decline in air pollution, so it gives me hope for the rest of the world; that we can also have a big change very fast," he added.

Indoor air pollution, mainly from cooking with traditional fuels such as wood or charcoal, is a major problem in Rwanda, so Graaf wants to address the issue through his business.

In recent years, BioMassters has made several orders for green cooking stoves from China to supply its 5,000 customers.

During his visit, Graaf met with existing suppliers and explored potential ones with whom he hopes to create partnerships to expand his business.

"I noticed several of the companies that we visited see Africa as an emerging market, with a lot of potential for its big and growing population. And, several of the people that I met are really open for partnerships. They need people with expertise on the market in Africa, the right licenses, the right understanding of the culture," he said.

"Of course, China can bring in a lot of expertise, technology, and resources," he added.