Are the Chinese in Africa More Innovative than the Africans? Comparing Chinese and Nigerian Entrepreneurial Migrants' Cultures of Innovation

The remarkable influx of Chinese migrant entrepreneurs in West Africa has been met with growing resistance from established African entrepreneurs. Whether the former have a competitive edge over the latter, e.g. because of distinctive sociocultural traits is open to question. The question will be explored by a comparative study of Chinese and Nigerian entrepreneurial migrants in Ghana and Benin. Apparently, the cultural stimuli of migrant drivers of change are not restricted to inherited value systems or religions, such as a Protestant ethic or Confucianism. Rather, they are continually adapted and invented anew by transnational migration networks in a globalized world. Trading diasporas have a generally enhanced innovative capacity vis-à-vis local entrepreneurs, regardless of the national culture in which they are embedded. In addition, the rivalry of Chinese and Nigerian migrant entrepreneurs in African markets does not necessarily lead to the often suspected cut-throat competition. Often the actions of each group are complementary to those of the other.