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This paper has been accepted for publication of the special issue of EJDR on China and Africa (forthcoming) and is provided for the purpose of internal workshop discussion only. It is not for circulation or citation without the permission of the author. All comments are, however, very welcome. China's Private Enterprises in Africa and the Implications for African Development This paper evaluates the growing presence of China's private business sector in Africa. Currently, attention focuses on China's state-owned enterprises in extractive industries. Less attention is paid to Chinese private enterprises. This study fills a knowledge-gap by evaluating characteristics and motivations of Chinese private firms in Africa and assesses their development impacts. Key findings are that the Chinese private firms have followed their own paths to Africa and the primary factors driving private investment are African market opportunities, competition within China and the presence of a strong entrepreneurial spirit. An effective mechanism bridging a gap between China's Africa Policy and its implementation in terms of private sector engagement is lacking. To maximise development gains, a top-down and bottom-up 'two-way street' approach to Chinese public-private sector relations is necessary. This is a mutual learning process for the Chinese public and private sectors and also China-Africa relations. These are fluid relationships with each adapting to and shaping the other.

This paper evaluates the growing presence of China's private business sector in Africa.Currently, attention focuses on China's state-owned enterprises in extractive industries. Less attention is paid to Chinese private enterprises. This study fills a knowledge-gap by evaluating characteristics and motivations of Chinese private firms in Africa, and assesses their development impacts. Key findings are that the Chinese private firms have followed their own paths to Africa, and the primary factors driving private investment are African market opportunities, competition within China and the presence of a strong entrepreneurial spirit. An effective mechanism bridging a gap between China's African Policy and its implementation in terms of private sector engagement is lacking. To maximise development gains, a top-down and bottom-up 'two-way street' approach to Chinese public-private sector relations is necessary. This is a mutual learning process for the Chinese public and private sectors and also China-Africa relations. These are fluid relationships with each adapting to and shaping the other.Cet article e´value la part croissante du secteur prive´chinois en Afrique. Actuellement l'attention se porte sur les entreprises publiques chinoises qui investissent dans le secteur minier et peu d'inte´reˆt est accorde´aux entreprises du secteur prive´. Cette e´tude comble ce manque en e´valuant les caracte´ris-tiques et les motivations des entreprises prive´es chinoises et leurs impacts sur le de´veloppement. Les principaux re´sultats montrent que les entreprises prive´es chinoises suivent leur propre voie et les facteurs de´terminant l'investissement prive´sont les opportunite´s offertes par les marche´s africains, la concurrence intra-chinoise et un fort esprit d'entreprise. Il manque un me´canisme efficace qui pourrait relier la politique africaine de la Chine et sa mise en oeuvre par l'interme´diaire de l'engagement du secteur prive´chinois. Afin de maximiser les gains en termes de de´veloppement, une approche des relations chinoises publiques-prive´es qui soit ) top-down * et ) bottom-up * et fonde´e sur la re´ciprocite´est ne´cessaire. Il s'agit d'un processus d'apprentissage mutuel pour les relations publiques-prive´es chinoises ainsi que pour les relations Chine-Afrique. Ce sont des relations fluides qui se forment et s'adaptent l'une a`l'autre.

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