Feature: Chinese work culture inspires young Ugandans

As dawn breaks, 27-year-old Daniel Okwir readies himself for work. He locks up his single roomed house and heads to Namanve Industrial Park about 15 km east of the capital Kampala.

In a big warehouse, Okwir carefully winds a transformer coil under instructions from his Chinese supervisor.

About 5 km away from Okwir's workplace, Brenda Namugolo, a single mother of two children is busy sewing mattress covers at a big Chinese mattress factory.

Apart from both working for Chinese owned factories, Okwir and Namugolo agree that the Chinese are largely hardworking people.

Chinese firms in Uganda are perceived as companies that deliver work swiftly and efficiently with little or no excuses.

Like many other youths in Uganda working for Chinese firms, Namugolo and Okwir argue that this work culture has taught them a lesson to avoid self-pettiness.

"I have to work hard to ensure a better livelihood of my children," Namugolo said.

Experts argue that Ugandan firms and employees should emulate this Chinese attitude towards work if they are going to boost production.

Madina Guloba, a Research Fellow at Uganda's Economic Policy Research Center told Xinhua in a recent interview that local firms and government departments need to develop strong monitoring and evaluation units.

"Their monitoring units are critical, they will hold you accountable on delivery. If we can create labor units like that, then that will be good," she said.

Like the Chinese, for a company to be awarded another contract, that must depend on how prompt and effective the firm has finished the previous work.

"There should be a stick and carrot approach whereby someone has to deliver as agreed," she said.

Critical among others in boosting production is the increase in the number of semi- and skilled labor force.

Guloba argues that government should play a central role in increasing the number of skilled people in the country.

"We need to think more futuristic than right now," she said, noting that even when the Chinese are long gone, local employees or firms must be able to handle big projects and deliver on time.

Because of the lack of enough skilled manpower, Chinese firms in Uganda had to fly in laborers from China.

This, however, put them on a collision course with the local authorities and some government departments.

Now, the Chinese firms, especially those in the construction industry, have resorted to training local manpower.

They argue that although it creates some delays in project implementation, they are proud because they are leaving behind a skilled labor force with a right work attitude.

"Fortunately, now most of the local laborers have the skills and experience to work on the site," Zhang Weidong, a general manager of a Chinese construction company, told Xinhua in a recent interview. Endit