Golden opportunities

Drawn to Nigeria by his father's words and the country's booming oil business, Hu Jieguo has become a major business figure and chieftain in the country

Few Chinese businessmen have had as much success in Africa as Hu Jieguo, president of West-Africa Golden Gate Group. Once a middle school teacher in Shanghai, he has spent 32 years living in Africa and been honored as a chieftain in Nigeria.

The 64-year-old initially came to Nigeria in 1978, introduced by his father, who owned a large textile factory there and wanted his son to take over the business. On quitting his teaching position at Shanghai's Nanhai middle school, Hu knew nothing about Nigeria, but his father told him the people there were friendly and that the country had much in common with China in terms of economic development.

Despite his father's wishes, Hu did not take over the textile factory, but instead headed to Canada for a degree in hotel management at the University of British Columbia.

During the oil boom of the 1970s, the Nigerian government was focused on a number of infrastructure projects to attract foreign investment. Hu says he saw his first highway on a visit to the country and realized that, at that time, development there was moving faster than in China.

Nigeria, with more than 170 million people and a mixture of growing economic sectors, is categorized as a middle-income status country, according to the World Bank. Its abundant supply of natural resources, fast-developing financial, legal, communications, and transport sectors, and the second-largest stock exchange in Africa, have all become powerful engines driving its economy.

Lured by Nigeria's oil riches, a large number of Western oil companies and financial service providers began moving into the country to develop resource-related businesses in the 1990s.

They were followed by Chinese companies, responding to their government's "going out" strategy, which were aiming to internationalize their operations.

"A supply shortage of decent local hotels had become an issue for multinationals in Nigeria at that time," Hu says.

In response to this need, in 1995 he invested $8 million to build the six-story 4,000-square-meter Golden Gate Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, which opened for business in 1997.

Hu did not stop there. Over the years he expanded his business interests into eight industries, including hotels, wood processing, trade, project construction, textiles and building material production.

With total assets of $100 million and 15 subsidiaries, Hu currently employs 31,000 Nigerians, Ghanaians and Beninians, as well as 150 Chinese staff.