BIGGER PICTURE:Rose Lin Zamoa expands her horizons

Rose Lin Zamoa was not sure whether her Afro-Caribbean dishes would be welcome when she opened her first private kitchen in 2009. Yet, after three years, the kitchen proves popular with both African and Chinese in Beijing. It has five full-time staff and caters to private parties and corporate banquets seven days a week.

Zamoa said her reason for starting a business in China was that there were more opportunities, and the Ghanaian-British entrepreneur is now planning to open another kitchen in south China's Yunnan Province.

Basket of opportunity

An increasing number of foreigners like Zamoa, being attracted by China's burgeoning economy, have come to work in the country. Data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security showed that 231,700 foreigners had work permits in China at the end of 2010, compared with 223,000 in 2009.

Jerome Adimorah, a 26-year-old Britain of Nigerian descent, saw China as a safer alternative as the global recession ravaged Europe and the unemployment rate was at an all-time high.

Adimorah said it was easy to settle in his first job in China within a few months of his arrival, and now he worked for a Beijing-based English newspaper.

"Since coming to China on my first travel in 2009, I saw that China had endless opportunities for me in my field of work," he told ChinAfrica. "The economy here is booming, and this is evident by the amount of foreigners who are relocating to China."

About 600,000 foreigners lived on the Chinese mainland at the end of 2010, according to the latest national census. Many expats do basic work such as English teaching, but a growing number are arriving with skills and experience in finance, computer, and other fields.

China's economic growth, which came in at a credible 9.2 percent last year, has created a large number of job opportunities, attracting many international workers as unemployment remains high in developed countries, said Carter Yang, Managing Director of Robert Walters Talent Consulting Ltd. China, a leading professional recruitment consultancy.

According to figures released by 51job.com, a Chinese human resources service provider, it provided nearly 65,000 job opportunities for overseas personnel in January, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent, mostly in the fields of finance, insurance, hospitality, environmental protection, electronics and car manufacturing.

In addition, some foreigners believe working in China can improve their experience of living in the country.

Rwandan Albert Rugaba ran a trading company with a Chinese partner to export machinery to Africa for two years after he graduated from Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics in 2002. His China experience made him stand out when the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) was established in 2005. He now is chief representative of RDB China Office based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, in charge of Sino-Rwandan investment and trade.

Rugaba believed he can make a great contribution in bridging and connecting Africa and China, and smooth out differences and misunderstandings that can occur in this important interaction process. "This is why my studies, my China experience and my Chinese language ability are of paramount importance in making this work a success," he said.

Thanks to growing attention of Chinese companies to Africa, Rugaba and his team have achieved great results in the last five years, with an average of $41 million of investment from China to Rwanda each year, and a growing bilateral trade of $286 million for 2010.

An increasing number of foreigners working in China indicated that China holds a strong appeal and competitiveness in the global arena; meanwhile, these expats gradually become essential ingredients for Guangdong, and the country's economic growth, said Ning Chaoqiao, assistant researcher from Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences.

"I think more companies should open up their doors to skilled African workers present in China," Rugaba told ChinAfrica. "I firmly believe that employment trends for foreigners, especially Africans should improve in coming years, as more companies realize that they need a local perspective."