Today we’re zooming in on a market many people may overlook — Africa. As a sourcing agent based in Yiwu, China, we’ve worked with clients all over the world, including partners in Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, and South Africa. But is it actually profitable to do business in Africa? To find out and understand how this market works, we spoke with Jocelyn — a 26-year-old Chinese woman who flew to Africa alone and started selling Yiwu goods to Kenya’s street markets.
Now, let’s switch to Jocelyn’s first-person perspective to dive into how she took the business from zero to one.
Why did I go to Africa?
10 days to decide, 15 days to prove
I’d always wanted to start something of my own. During a trip to Singapore, I walked through Chinatown and saw the shops filled with made-in-China products, but five times higher than in China. That’s when it hit me: the world is already selling the same goods, but not every market is saturated. So I opened a map, looking for where the next opportunity could be. Southeast Asia is too close and it’s too crowded. Western markets are expensive and competitive. Africa, though, felt unexplored. So I decided to go see it for myself. Ten days later, vaccines included, I was on a plane.
My first trip to Africa was only fifteen days long. I spent just two of them walking through local markets — talking to vendors, watching what sold fastest, and comparing prices. It didn’t take long to see the opportunity. A product that sells for ￥1 in China could easily go for ￥1.3 or ￥1.5 here. That might sound like pocket change, but in Chinese e-commerce terms a 30% margin is huge, especially when you’re moving volume. Right then, I knew this was a market worth doing.
Africa wasn’t plan B. It was the better fit.
What we do is still a very traditional business. I fly to Africa, visit markets, meet clients, build teams, even set up local warehouses. Every step takes time, money, and patience. Import taxes are high, around 25% plus another 16% in VAT, and moving goods through customs is never easy, so profits can get pretty thin.
But if I were doing business in the U.S. or Europe, there wouldn’t be much room for me anyway. Markets are mature, ad costs are high, and it takes serious money to build traction online. That’s why I always say I didn’t choose Africa, the market chose me. E-commerce, digital payments, and delivery systems are still far from fully built out here. Most business happens in the markets, face to face. And that’s where China’s manufacturing network gives us a natural edge: flexible production and reliable supply.
Breaking into a New Market, Step by Step
From one waiter to 500 leads
When I first went to Africa, I didn’t have much time to really understand the market, the local buying and selling channels were still unclear to me. You can’t expect to grasp a country’s entire trading system in 15 days. But I still wanted to stay connected and get first-hand information from local business owners.
On my last day in Africa, I was having dinner at a Korean restaurant. I asked one of the waiters if he could take a part-time job for me. The task was simple — not to sell anything, just to give out my business cards to every shop owner in the wholesale markets and add them into my WhatsApp group. Ten per day. I paid him more than he earned at the restaurant, so of course he said yes.
Internet and advertising are not that developed locally, so this way worked really well. A few weeks after I returned to China, I already had a local WhatsApp group with about 500 merchants, mostly small retailers and wholesalers.
My first ￥100,000 market test
I knew most of them weren’t my target clients, but they helped me see what African people actually needed. Every day, I asked questions about what products they wanted, what prices they wanted, and what their budget was. I wanted to figure out what the African market was really worth doing because only if it was worth it, we would invest more money.
When those 500 shop owners told me what they wanted, I was really shocked. It literally covered every part of life — food, clothes, daily goods, everything you can imagine. Many of them were very basic but huge in demand. For example, Africa bans plastic bags by law, so they wanted non-woven bags. But locally they don’t have textile factories, so the materials and machines all have to be imported.
At the same time, I was comparing product price gaps and learning how local distributors sell. In China, I also started visiting factories to understand my supply chain better. Around the third month, I invested about ￥100,000 to test the market, sending an LCL shipment (a shared container) to see which products sold fastest and made the best profit.
Trust Is the First Deal I Close
Ten hours on a bus, one client earned
In Africa, we’re unfamiliar Asian faces in a market where trust doesn’t come easy. It is not about having the lowest price, but about the fact that most people simply do not trust you at first. Sometimes, I’d take a ten-hour local bus ride just to meet one client in person, not even sure if the deal would happen. But the fact that I showed up, spending a full day just to see them, often made the difference. That is how relationships grow here, slowly, face to face, one by one.
Some of my local clients have told me directly that they know many Chinese people are doing business here, but they just cannot trust them. Their internet and payment systems are not very developed, so if they get scammed, it is almost impossible to get their money back. Many of them have been cheated before. They paid, and then when the shipment arrived, half of the container was full of bad products.
For them, doing business means meeting in person and spending a long time getting to know each other before placing more orders. This process takes months, sometimes longer. For a small company like ours, that means investing a lot of time and cost to build each relationship slowly. Unlike big can buy exposure, we build relationships one by one. Every client we earn, we keep, because we take the time to grow that trust.
Sharing my supply chain brings orders
I used to work in event planning, so I understand how to connect people. While many sellers prefer to hide their business information, I do the opposite. Once I find a good product, I invite local traders to small gatherings. I share openly where our goods come from, how they are shipped, and even how they can reduce import taxes. It is a very open way to do business, but it works.
In return, they also help me. For example, import duties can be as high as 25%, but if we have a local receiver or a guarantor who is an African partner, the rate can drop. To reach that level of cooperation, they must really trust you. So I often organize small meetups just to share useful information, not to sell. I tell them, “If I were 40 or 50, maybe you should be cautious. But I am still young and just trying to build something real. Why not trust that?” That honesty always makes people smile.
Over time, those small gatherings turned into strong partnerships. And for bigger clients, the rule is still the same: stable quality, fair prices, and reliable supply. Some Chinese traders in Africa resell factory surplus or off-grade goods, but when I bring products directly from the production line at competitive prices, everyone wants to work with me.
Skip the Middlemen: Source Direct from China
In many African countries, the wholesale system is still dominated by Indian merchants. They control most of the import and distribution channels, so Chinese traders often deal with them instead of local retailers. Every day, I share product photos and updates in my WhatsApp group, showing how things are made in China, how they’re packed, and how we ship them. When these local retailers realized they could connect directly with the factories behind those goods, the reaction was always the same — excitement.
Actually, China’s supply chain is perfect for that. Cities like Yiwu and Guangzhou have large wholesale markets, home to thousands of manufacturers of all sizes. Take Yiwu, for example. It’s often called “the world’s market,” and for good reason: most of its shipments don’t go to Europe or the U.S., but to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, where demand for affordable, ready-to-ship goods is massive.
I once met a sock supplier in Yiwu whose client from Rwanda ordered ten containers, millions of pairs, at just ￥0.35 each. It still amazes me, because Rwanda is one of Africa’s more developed markets, yet part of that shipment still found its way to Dubai.
How to Profit in Africa’s Fast-Growing Market?
Africa’s export entry barrier is surprisingly low, making it ideal for small startups or anyone who wants to test a new market with limited capital. Infrastructure here is improving fast. Many Chinese-owned businesses have already built and tested local logistics and warehousing systems, which makes them reliable partners to work with.
Africa is now going through a consumer awakening. There are so many young people, and the middle class keeps growing, like many of the Indian-African clients we work with. Mobile payments and the internet are changing how young Africans shop. As they gain exposure to global trends, they start looking for brands, not just products. Quality, style, and affordability are what catch their attention.
Younger consumers love bold styles, bright phone cases, flashy jewelry, statement sunglasses, and fashion that stands out. They’re expressive and unafraid of color. Gold tones, shiny finishes, and trendy designs sell incredibly well. In many ways, it reminds me of China’s own early e-commerce years, when cool, flashy, and affordable products sold fast.
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