vice president of overseas at united imaging healthcare: investing in the african market is a long-term value investment
2024-09-07
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"the expansion of global business is at a very critical moment. compared with 2000, globalization is more difficult now." as a "veteran" in overseas business, huang zhaolin, vice president of the overseas business department of shanghai united imaging healthcare co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "united imaging healthcare"), expressed his deep feelings. investing in the african market is a long-term value investment. although it may be difficult to see returns for a while, you will see returns in the next two to three years or even five years if you start investing now.
in 2018, after announcing its full globalization, united imaging healthcare selected the united states, europe and japan as the key regions in the first phase. it also began to expand into africa and other emerging market countries, and established regional headquarters and subsidiaries in dubai, uae, casablanca, morocco, and pretoria, south africa.
washington hospital in ethiopia is using ct equipment from united imaging healthcare.
according to the 2024 semi-annual report recently released by united imaging healthcare, in the first half of the year, the company's international market revenue reached 933 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.94%, accounting for 17.49% of its revenue. so far, united imaging healthcare's products have entered nearly 80 countries and regions including the united states, japan, italy, south africa, and india.
huang zhaolin said that although many people think that going to africa faces challenges, such as currency depreciation, disease epidemics and public security issues, the economic and medical markets in africa have shown a rapid growth trend in the past few years, and the market potential is huge and worth cultivating. "africa's economic development stage is similar to that of china 20 to 30 years ago, and the locals are trying their best to develop the economy. although the market capacity of africa is not as large as that of china, it has a population of 1.4 billion and has great potential," huang zhaolin said.
however, huang zhaolin also pointed out that investment in the african market may not bring significant returns in the short term for high-end medical equipment. it may take two to three years or even five years to see returns. most end customers in africa still have a distrustful and skeptical attitude towards china's high-end manufacturing and medical equipment, and trust and brand awareness need to be established.
huang zhaolin admitted that talent is a key challenge in the process of overseas expansion. when united imaging healthcare rapidly expands its overseas market, it often faces the problem of cross-cultural communication. especially in terms of work pace, foreign employees often find it difficult to adapt to the efficient and intense working style of chinese companies.
in addition, the initial market expansion costs are unavoidable. the first is the cost of brand recognition and service. many customers are more familiar with european and american brands, but less familiar with chinese brands. secondly, in the process of expanding overseas markets, the costs and challenges of localization vary from place to place, and choosing high-quality and suitable partners is particularly critical. especially in the agency industry, the cost of service is particularly important. huang zhaolin said that the trial and error cost of high-end imaging equipment is very high, and customers will compare united imaging medical's equipment with other system suppliers, expecting to obtain the same or even more competitive services.
how to develop the african market? huang zhaolin said that the core is still product technology, coupled with long-term strategic decisions and competitive overall service solutions. huang zhaolin pointed out that there are several very important points for chinese medical companies to take root in africa. the first is to set up local teams and regional subsidiaries; the second is to establish cooperation with local medical institutions, industry associations and professional talents; the third is to build a systematic service training center; the fourth is to actively participate in local mainstream industry exhibitions and exchange activities; the fifth is to make a long-term localization layout. for example, since its first cooperation with washington hospital (whc) in ethiopia in 2022, united imaging healthcare will continue to support the construction of its phase ii hospital.
the paper reporter yu yan and intern wang chun
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