A young African entrepreneur balances a handicraft item on his head during an improvised jig to draw buyers

As Walter Ochieng beat his drum, the irresistible rhythm made Li Haiyan, a Chinese college student, waltz inside his booth. Then she too picked up a drum and began pounding it with gusto, two strangers from two different parts of the world brought together in Kunming through music - and business.

Ochieng and his sister Detty Oloo came from Nairobi to take part in the Third China-South Asia Expo in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province in southwest China. The five-day fair in June, a landmark in the province's annual events calendar, is no longer confined to South Asia. It has become a much-awaited trading ground for African entrepreneurs as well.

Attended by over 20,000 businessmen and 3,000 enterprises from nearly 70 countries and regions, this year's expo boasted a large African contingent. The African booths were a magnetic sight. It was not only the colorful products - wooden and papier mâché handicrafts, semi-precious stones, and of course, the magical African drums - that drew large crowds, but also the extempore performances thrown in by the entrepreneurs.

In one kiosk, young men and women balanced wooden items on their heads, swaying their hips to the music and adding to the color. In another booth, Eunice Odeki, a 43-year-old Ghanaian, demonstrated her cosmetic product before riveted gawkers, scooping out a white substance from its jar and slathering it on her glistening face and arms. 

A new lifeline

As the economies of Europe and the United States remain in the doldrums, China's is growing. The International Monetary Fund said it became the world's largest economy in 2014, producing goods and services worth $17.6 trillion. The United States' economic output was $17.4 trillion. About a decade ago, the American output used to be three times as much as China's. As a result, African traders are flocking to China in search of a new, sustainable market. New bilateral government-to-government agreements, the expanding African diaspora in Chinese cities, and new flights connecting Chinese and African destinations are fueling this process. The Kunming expo offers them a gateway to the 1.3-billion-plus Chinese market.

"It's one of the best fairs," said Odeki, whose Odeki Ghana company was promoting "Made in Ghana" products at the expo. "Other Chinese fairs like the Canton fair [in Guangzhou] and Xiamen fair [in Fujian] are business-to-business fairs, but the Kunming fair is for retail."

What Odeki liked best about the Kunming expo was the security. The event is the province's pride and civil society members join the authorities to ensure its success. There are hundreds of volunteers aiding security personnel, providing directions and language assistance, and also keeping a watchful eye. "I feel I am safe," said Odeki. "My goods are safe."

The lack of security in his own country due to political turbulence and the subsequent economic downturn made Egyptian Mohamed Elmorshdy leave his home in Alexandria and set up base in Beijing. The 35-year-old, whose Egypt Lotus company deals in Eygptian handicrafts, including scroll paintings, and malachite stones, takes part in most trade fairs in China.

"Kunming itself is a big market," he said. "I attend to find new business opportunities. With the Egyptian economy not too good, businesses have to look outside. For us, getting a European or American visa is not easy. These markets are not open to us. In China, on the other hand, it's easier to get a visa. Plus salaries are high here and people have high purchasing power."

To encourage small and medium-sized enterprises, there is a reduction in customs duty on products brought in during the expo. Many traders, who don't have a fixed outlet, use the opportunity to bring in a large stock, warehouse it and then wait for the next fair. "The Kunming fair is important to promote my products," said Ugandan Zacchaeus Tusubira, whose Ebenezer United, registered in Kampala, sells semi-precious stones and African drums. "Sometimes, we don't recover costs but we have to be present at the fair for advertising our products."

Traders are on the lookout for distributors or partners. If that doesn't work out, enterprising ones like Tusubira still manage to turn a profit by picking up Chinese garments and electronic items from Shenzhen during departure and selling them back home. 

Speaking the same language

The Chinese market is becoming familiar to African entrepreneurs. Pascal K. Ezein came from Accra in 2008 to learn Chinese at Yunnan University. He fell in love with the country and a young Chinese woman, whom he married in 2010. Though the 33-year-old has an IT company in Accra, he founded Afrikiko Ghanart last year to sell African specialty products in China. Ezein speaks fluent Chinese, joking and haggling with buyers.

Tanzanian Pamela Malewo, owner of Karibu Arts, is a comparative newcomer, the June expo being her second trip. But she has mastered basic Chinese greetings and most importantly for business, the Chinese numbers. When asked the prices of her products, she rattled them off in Chinese. Zambian Celestine Chilambo, whose Magna General Trading had three booths at the fair, hired Chinese interpreters for the event. She also had a little chart with the Chinese names of the semi-precious stones she was selling.

The fair is an important platform to showcase African specialties and propagate the African way of life and culture. Malewo sells Makonde art, wood carvings by the Makonde ethnic community in south Tanzania. "Blackwood is one of the strongest woods in the world and not seen in China. The Chinese love the wood," she said.

It surprised her to learn that China has the largest Makonde Art Museum in the world. It was painstakingly built in Changchun City in Jilin Province by the husband-wife duo of Li Songshan and Han Rong, who had lived in Tanzania for over a decade.

Another African specialty is shea butter, a cream made of the high-fat nuts of the shea tree. "Discover the secret of African skin and beauty," urged the poster for the cream, claiming it keeps the skin soft and supple and the hair glossy. The buyers were mostly Chinese women, interested in trying out new beauty regimes. 

Business without borders

Lin Wenqin's Airichael company is selling natural health boosters that are part of African traditional medicine. Rows of jars contain seeds of Africa's "magic tree," the Moringa. The seeds are described as vitamin supplements, improving sleep and curing over 300 diseases. Lin is Chinese.

Enock Azu is from Ghana, selling chocolates made in Kazakhstan in China. As sellers and buyers come together, borders fade and mutual profit is the only consideration. Azu described the phenomenon succinctly. "This is business," the 24-year-old said. 

Facts & Figures

» The Commodities Exhibition of South Asian Countries was upgraded to the China-South Asia Expo in 2012. The fair is co-hosted by China's Ministry of Commerce and the People's Government of Yunnan.

» The venue is the Kunming Dianchi International Convention & Exhibition Center. This year, the indoor exhibition area was 120,000 square meters, the size of nearly 23 football grounds.

» The inaugural day saw a turnover of $25.19 billion, a 19.8-percent increase on last year. Deals worth $126 billion were signed in the five days.