The Huajian International Shoe City (Ethiopia) provides jobs for thousands of locals

Responding to a question about whether Huajian's management style is too tough on local staff, Zhang Huarong said managing employees effectively creates the necessary conditions for developing skills in the footwear industry. He said when the factory was first established, the productivity levels were far behind those of China as the shoemaking industry was completely new at the time. In order to change this, great efforts have been made to improve productivity and quality through training.

Huajian offers each person, from floor staff to higher management personnel, a chance to be trained and promoted. New workers without manufacturing experience are given hands-on training by experienced mentors. Local staff who excel, like Demis, are given the opportunity to train in Huajian's headquarters in China to learn about corporate culture and management skills. These staff return to take up managerial positions.

Employee benefits include a free shuttle bus service to and from the factory and free meals. Huajian's stable employment and competitive salaries are attractive to local youth. Demis' monthly salary of about $800 as a member of management has long been the envy of people in his neighborhood. He said a continuous stream of people come to the factory looking for work, while there were always relatives and friends asking him about opportunities there.

Zhang said the good corporate culture, good training system and attitude to share with other people are what people are attracted to, adding that with these corporate attributes, one can build a good company in Africa.

Next move

As chairman of China's leading footwear manufacturer, Zhang has a bold ambition. He plans to make Ethiopia a global hub for the shoe industry within the next decade and be a key contributor to the country's economy.

Likewise, the Ethiopian Government hopes to enlarge its production capacity cooperation with China by attracting more Chinese manufacturers, and help the country take off economically.

Mulugeta Tiruneh, head of the Ethiopian Investment Commission, said the country's low labor cost and favorable environment for business offered attractive incentives to Chinese investors.

Huajian's latest project, the Huajian International Light Industry City (Ethiopia), is a 126-hectare industrial park launched in the vicinity of Addis Ababa in April 2015, which cost 3.2 billion yuan ($480 million) to build. It is expected to generate annual revenues of about $2 billion and create about 50,000 local jobs by 2020.

"We should make full use of our own capacity advantages and advantages of production factors locally to achieve international capacity cooperation," said Zhang. He believes this will not only improve the company's global resources allocation, but also promote Ethiopia to keep mutually beneficial development going forward.