People power

Four years ago, China surpassed the United States as Africa's biggest trading partner. Bilateral trade between the two sides has grown from $10.6 billion in 2000 to around $220 billion last year.

More Chinese companies now consider Africa as an ideal investment destination, says a 2011 report from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

The report said that the number of Chinese companies investing in Africa has sharply risen and out of the $59 billion outbound direct investment that was invested abroad in 2010, 22 percent was invested in Africa.

The strengthening business ties have prompted an increasing number of Chinese corporate donors, which are eager to give back to local communities after years of doing business in Africa.

Liu Hongwu, director of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, says Chinese companies are the biggest financiers of charity projects in Africa.

Chinese businesses in Africa have enacted the role of NGOs, especially in terms of making a difference in local communities through their corporate social responsibility projects.

Hainan Airlines has been helping cure cataract patients in Africa since 2010, one year after the Shenzhen-based airliner opened its Beijing-Dubai-Luanda route.

The program called China-Africa Brightness Action is sponsored by Hainan Airlines and Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group with help from doctors at the Beijing-based Tongren Hospital. The project, originally started in China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the strong sunlight results in millions of cataract patients, has cured more than 2,000 patients in Africa.

"When we entered Africa, we found that many African people suffered from cataract, which can be easily cured once you have the doctors and medicines. So we decided to extend the project to Africa," says Li Xianhua, chief executive of Hainan Airlines. "As a company, we know we can't put money on top of our agenda, we also need to shoulder more responsibility and give back to local people," says Li, adding it is the reason why the company has always been generous on various projects inside and outside of China.

According to Li, the company has so far invested 25 million yuan in the African project and the carrier would extend further assistance by sending a team of Chinese doctors to Africa in May.

Hainan Airlines is no exception. Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation, two high-tech giants in China, have also undertaken various corporate social responsibility projects in Africa, as they see the continent as a strategic market for their development.

"We have business in 50 countries in Africa and in about 30 of them we have representative offices. Each representative office offers financial help of no less than 1 million yuan every year," says Zhou Hongfeng, who is in charge of CSR.

He adds that help comes in different forms, sometimes a library, others a cash donation, as the company understands the importance of involvement in the local community.

Zhou says that it is difficult for his team to choose which project to sponsor in Africa. But his company has never cooperated with Chinese NGOs before, like many other Chinese companies in Africa.

"We'd love to have professional help but there does not seem to be too many Chinese NGOs doing long-term projects in Africa," he says.

ZTE Corp is the ideal target Zhang Ming is looking for to establish Red Cross China's first operation in Africa.

"They have the money and we have the skills. We can make a perfect team," says Zhang, adding that further cooperation between NGOs and companies is likely with more NGOs going aboard in the near future.

"With more Chinese companies establishing themselves as responsible global corporations, there is more need for them to engage with local communities and more opportunities for NGOs like us," she says before boarding a plane to Shenzhen to discuss a potential tie-up with ZTE in Africa.

Contact the writers at mengjing@chinadaily.com.cn and sunyuanqing@chinadaily.com.cn