China's agricultural machinery giant provides equipment adapted for African conditions and customers' needs BY WANG SONG (XINHUA)

Customer service

Apart from successfully building a competitive advantage based on price and high-performance products, CAMACO believes service is equally important.

The company plans to gradually build an after-sales service supply chain by deploying qualified personnel for better quality control, technical support and spare parts supply. "Due to the unified arrangement of the employees, maintenance personnel in South Africa are able to provide fast, efficient service to clients in neighboring Mozambique," said Zhao.

A South African client purchased a YTO-X904 tractor in 2000. After many years of use the tractor required a replacement part. The client contacted CAMACO's branch in Cape Town about the out-of-warranty product, as he couldn't find the original dealer. To his surprise, the branch offered maintenance, services and replacement parts. The customer was so happy that he later wrote an article for local media praising YTO's customer service.

In addition to excellent service, CAMACO is offering several hands-on training courses to allow users to become familiar with farm equipment before making a purchase, said Zhao.

Sharing experience

CAMACO has established itself as an important business platform for Chinese enterprises entering the African heavy machinery market. The farm equipment maker currently has five branches in various countries, including South Africa, Cameroon, Benin, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire, offering thousands of farm equipment products for local agricultural development. In addition, it is localizing operations by employing nearly 200 African workers, and training local personnel in technical skills.

As an example of operation localization, African employees accounted for nearly 90 percent of the staff at its Cote d'Ivoire branch, with some assuming leadership responsibilities in the company.

"In addition to bringing benefits to the local economy through state-of-the-art agricultural equipment, we would also like to have more experiences with Africans in achieving effective agricultural development through marketing approaches. Africa boasts abundant agricultural resources, while China is a big agricultural country with mature and applicable agricultural technologies," said Zhao.

Challenges

Despite strong performances in sales, service and marketing across the continent, there are still some challenges to confront, such as instability in the global financial environment and uncertainty in the African market.

Zhao believes that most of China's global enterprises, including CAMACO, are facing a talent shortage. "Chinese enterprises operating in Africa should pay special attention to local cultural practices and good relations with the local people by operating within the rule of law, adhering to credible business practices and enhancing resource conservation and environmental protection in order to promote mutual beneficial and win-win development," he said.

Despite the uncertainty of the global financial environment, Zhao said his company continues to spare no effort to strengthen Sino-African communication by supplying African countries with excellent service and matched products at reasonable prices.