Young professionals educated in China are set to fuel the workforce of the most progressive companies in Africa, says Norbert Haguma, chief executive of Kiziga.com.

With the world looking to Africa as the growth opportunity of the future, the 31-year-old Rwandan has spent the last five years helping connect students in Africa with Chinese universities - ensuring that the specialized workforce required to take the continent forward will be in ready supply.

"Africa is very appealing right now. Apart from Chinese companies, many Western companies want to hire China-educated Africans," he says.

"It's kind of a unique niche - they can work in Africa and also have the China knowledge."

Haguma decided to launch Kiziga.com in 2009, after seeing first-hand the need for specialized China knowledge on the African continent.

"During that time I had many potential projects that could have really benefited Africa and the companies involved, but they didn't go through because of a lack of human resources," he says.

In Beijing, he has also launched the student organization Young African Professionals and Students, known as YAPS, to help form a network for African students to share knowledge and experiences both in the classroom and when joining the workforce. Haguma says the most important role YAPS plays is providing support for those who need it.

This can be in the form of helping people find jobs or assisting in job applications by hosting CV workshops. At other times it comes in the form of something less tangible, but more substantial.

"For example the South Koreans are so well organized in the online forums that when they have a major problem with a program, the next year you will see fewer South Koreans applying to that university. As a result universities are extremely careful about how they treat South Korean students.

"It's becoming the same now through Kiziga and YAPS."

The son of a Rwandan diplomat, Haguma first traveled to China in 1995 at the age of 12, when his father became the ambassador.

During his time in Beijing during the early days of the city's development, he remembers being completely shut out from the "real" China.

"It was a very different China at the time. We didn't interact with the Chinese people at all. The diplomatic community was completely cut off and I didn't have a single Chinese friend," he says.

It was the words of his father that spurred him to forego a chance to study in France and return to China.

"My father, who has incredible insight, told me in 1994 that the 19th century belonged to Europe, the 20th century to the US, while the 21st century will belong to China," Haguma says.

Shortly after graduating, he began working for the Rwandan embassy in Beijing, but left after just six months.

"I realized quickly that diplomacy was not my cup of tea," he says.

But his time at the embassy allowed Haguma to take part in the First Forum on China Africa Cooperation, and realizing the potential of trade between China and Africa, he set up the AfrOrient trading company. Experiencing success over the course of two years, his desire to trade came to a sudden halt after a high-volume customer decided to cancel the order after the products were already purchased. It left Haguma without any money and little desire to continue with the business.

"I lost all my money in one deal," he says.

Switching from trade to investment, his first entrepreneurial enterprise was to start a school. Experiencing success in his first foray into education, he turned his efforts toward creating a bridge for students from Africa in 2009 by founding YAPS and beginning his work with Kiziga, just as Sino-African trade began experiencing heavy growth.

"The idea was that these relationships were becoming important and that there was a large number of Africans here and we needed to get them organized," he says.

With more than 3,000 members in YAPS, Haguma's efforts have been more than successful.

toddbalazovic@chinadaily.com.cn

Norbert Haguma leads a workshop for members of Young African Professionals and Students in Beijing. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 04/13/2014 page5)