#595
Exporting Entrepreneurship

As the competition to build businesses in China has reached an all-time high, some would-be moguls take the road less traveled—literally, a dirt road cutting through the copper-stained hills of central Africa. For a growing wave of ambitious, restless Chinese entrepreneurs, their home has become too crowded and too cutthroat - forcing them to pack their bags and take their hustle abroad.

This isn't a story of multinationals or government megaprojects—it’s about the solo acts, the small-time mineral wholesalers, and rogue restaurateurs and hoteliers. They’re not backed by venture capital or state subsidies, but with their own shops, clinics, and burger joints, they’ve created a kind of economic microcosm—a DIY ecosystem that thrives in the cracks of failing infrastructure and opaque governance.

Bloomberg’s account of the growing Chinese community in a once-overlooked Congolese town focuses on an external transformation. With it, the shortcomings of the Congolese government are brought to light, as questions remain whether the necessary capital and education would have allowed their own citizens to be the first movers to capture these opportunities.

What’s striking isn’t just the enterprise, but the exodus from China. When the country’s youth face either grinding competition or the passive rebellion of “lying flat,” others have created a patchwork diaspora of scrappy business builders who’ve decided that if they can’t beat the game at home, they’ll just start a new one abroad.