Although recent analyses on Chinese entrepreneurship in Africa attempt a departure from African opposition and present Africans response as more nuanced. Little is known of the characteristics and considerations that shape the complex positions of Africans to Chinese entrepreneurship in the distribution sector. This paper argues that Ghanaian trade actors' response to the presence of Chinese traders is a function of their socio-demographic characteristics and trading capacity. While the young, educated and large scale importers are opposed to their presence, the old, lowly educated and small scale traders and other allies forge various relationships of mutual benefits with the Chinese.
Using multiple ethnographic methodologies spanning a period of 13 months and collecting data across borders, this paper suggests that African importers' participation in the burgeoning economy of China is more nuanced than previously reported. It argues that approaches, motives and strategies employed by these importers are subject to their trading capacities such as the size of capital, trading experiences and locations of their imports. For instance, whereas experienced large-scale traders procure the services of visa agents for convenient purposes, the small-scale trader's need the ‘visa agents to be able to undertake their business in China.
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