Taizhou businessman appointed chief in Nigeria

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-12-03

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Koji state in Nigeria recently grants a chieftaincy title to a Chinese trader, Gan Jiaxuan from Wenling county, Taizhou, for his remarkable contributions to local economic development. [Photo/taizhou.co.cn]

Koji state in Nigeria recently granted a chieftaincy title to a Chinese trader, Gan Jiaxuan from Wenling county, Taizhou, for his remarkable contributions to local economic development.

Gan vowed to play a positive role in strengthening the relationship between his people and the people of Nigeria.

"This is my 10th year living in Africa, so I feel it is my responsibility to boost communication and common development between the people of Koji and China," he tweeted on WeChat, China's version of Twitter, on Nov 3, a day after the ceremony.

Gan, 33, arrived in the state of Koji in Nigeria in 2009 after working in Beijing as an electronic products trader for several years.

Gan went to Africa to sell mobile phones after being informed by a client that mobile phone markets were lucrative in African countries.

Three years later, he shifted his business focus to the import and export of timber and agricultural products, which was of highly profitable.

In early 2016, Gan established two companies in Nigeria and Hong Kong, selling redwood furniture produced in Koji to Dongyan in Zhejiang province and Zhongshan in Guangdong province.

The decision proved to be a success.

The company in Koji hired more than 200 local employees and six armed police in its second year of operation, generating 1,000 jobs in logging and transportation.

The Chinese businessman is respected and welcomed by locals, as the salaries of his employees are double those elsewhere in the region doing the same work.

Gan also dug a well for local villagers to help them solve their drinking water shortage.

Gan is the second Chinese businessmen from Zhejiang to be named a chieftain after Mike Zhang received the title in the state of Kano in April.