Business that was built from the ground up

Chinese businessman's furnishing company adopts African style and finds success in Kenyan market

Kenya is a fertile land that nourishes those who run a business with a green hand, and Jiang Jifeng is one such businessman who started from the very beginning.

Jiang came to Kenya in 2006 to help his friend with the business of office furniture. Since he had no experience in trading, he didn't expect that he would stay for more than 10 years in the country.

"The office furniture trade was quite smooth at the time," says Jiang. "I helped import furniture from Foshan, Guangdong province, and sold it to the local Kenyans, during which time I made many friends."

However, with standardized market rules and fierce competition among mushrooming online e-commerce companies, the old mode of trading was no longer profitable, says Jiang.

After eight years in the sector, Jiang began to think of starting up a new business in Kenya to complement furniture trading.

"While supplying office furniture to clients, we found some ready-made furniture did not really fit the space well," Jiang says. "They needed customized furniture to make the best use of the space."

With this in mind, Jiang decided to produce furniture locally to provide convenient services. He imported equipment from China to process customized furniture in Kenya.

By the end of 2014, he registered One Sixty Eight Decoration Ltd, a company that is engaged in imported furniture sales, custom-made office and home furniture and design and decoration.

Major projects of the company include office buildings, stores, workshops and villas.

As general manager of the new company, he invited experienced designers and technicians from China to Kenya to participate. The designer is an established artisan with more than 20 years' experience. However, due to cultural differences, the Chinese design concept did not fit the local market well.

"Decoration is something that changes. I read from websites that many decorations in China are now imitating African style, indicating the integration of culture," he says.

"I was the first to adapt to the local market," Jiang says. "I told my designer to change his style by following African style and design according to the needs of local customers."

"Now, the two businesses are, in fact, interwoven," Jiang says, "If the client requires quality imported furniture, I will choose suitable imported products at a proper price for the client. If the demand for the furniture is not luxury pieces, I will process locally according to the requirements, in order to reduce the costs for clients."

Plagued by the worldwide economic downturn, fiercer market competition and the inflow of more Chinese businesspeople with mature technologies, business became difficult.

However, thanks to his eight years of selling office furniture, Jiang has made many local friends who have introduced clients to him, so he has been able to overcome the difficulties.

Jiang found local clients were not so particular about products. They have a mutual understanding with him, which made business easy. Although payment is usually delayed, Jiang is confident that local clients are honest, reliable and trustworthy.

"Whenever the situation turns for good, my clients will pay me, bringing me confidence in business in Kenya," Jiang says.

panzhongming@chinadaily.com.cn