Chinese home interior deco gains popularity in Kenyan town

Chinese curtains are gaining popularity in Nakuru, Kenya's fourth largest town identified by UN-Habitat in 2011 as the fastest growing town in East and Central Africa.

The town provides leverage for elegant and high quality products such as the China material products due to its growing middle class.

At the Dong Fang Curtain shop at the Westside Mall in Nakuru town, local customers troop in to shop for the home interior decoration textile.

"The curtains here vary in prices. Each customer has a variety to choose from," a salesman at the shop who preferred to remain anonymous said on Thursday at the shop.

A silk type curtain sells at 10.8 U.S. dollars a metre and a heavy cotton-polyester goes for 9.8 dollars similar size.

While a heavier cotton-polyester costs 13.8 dollars a metre and the equal size of the heaviest type of material sells at 21.8 dollars.

The salesman said since they opened the shop in 2014, an increasing number of the local customers have been purchasing the curtains.

"We are hopeful of receiving many more local customers because we sell high quality curtains," he said.

The shop is located in a high end mall where the town's high profile and middle class people do their shopping including those working in the county government and universities.

In the recent years, Kenya has become a principal trading partner with China allowing for increased trade exchanges including import of fabric, mobile phones and construction materials.

Significantly, Kenya has continued to enjoy cordial bilateral relations with China with the trade exchanges currently standing at 5 billion dollars, representing a 53 percent increase from 2013.

According to the economist, Professor Tom Nyamache, increasing trade exchanges indicates expansion of economic opportunities benefitting both China and Kenya.

"However, it is significant to note that these economic opportunities should be mutual so that they benefit Kenya and China in equal measure," said Nyamache.

He said China is technologically advanced and the skills can be shared with the Kenyan youth to create employment for themselves.

Unemployment levels among the youth in Kenya remain as high as 55 percent with the government hoping to reduce the rates through promotion of enterprises utilizing technology. Endite