China Square has been on the lips of Kenyans in the past couple of weeks. The shopping mall owned by Chinese national Lei Cheng brought to life the erstwhile forgotten Unicity Mall along the Thika Superhighway.
The fair pricing of its products has seen customers throng the Kenyatta University owned mall creating unimaginable traffic to a premises that struggled to attract tenants. Boda boda riders and matatus plying the route have also registered increased business from Kenyans eager to get the best bargains at China Square.
Here is the story as told by WoK.
Lei Cheng
The 37 year old businessman first came to Kenya in September 2022. He was surprised to find Chinese products on supermarket shelves heavily overpriced. This ignited a business idea that gave birth to China Square.
He went back to his home country and talked suppliers into setting shop in Kenya. The store became a reality on January 29, 2023 and they made sales worth Ksh20 million in their first two weeks of operation adding that they now sell goods worth Ksh10 million on a rainy day.
“We opened this store on January 29 this year. We are barely a month old. In the first two weeks in business, our sales turnover was Sh20 million. Nowadays, on a bad day we sell goods worth Sh10 million,” Mr Cheng told the Saturday Nation.
Employees
City Square has a total of 130 employees.
Tiff with Govt/Local Traders
Mr Cheng’s success story has not been received well by Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and a section of traders who were planning a protest to have China Square shut down.
In one of his tweets, the CS stated that he had “given an offer to Prof. Wainaina the VC Kenyatta Uni to buy out the lease for China Square, Unicity Mall & hand it over to the Gikomba, Nyamakima, Muthurwa & Eastleigh Traders Association. We welcome Chinese investors to Kenya as manufacturers not traders.
He went on to question the decision by former Interior CS Dr Fred Okengo Matiangi decision to issue work permits to the Chinese traders.
In another tweet, the CS offered to assist the City Square “to set up a manufacturing plant in Kenya and work on a distribution partnership with Gikomba, Nyamakima, Eastleigh, Kamukunji, Muthurwa and River Road Traders.
Closure
The unrelenting onslaught by the CS has led to closure of China Square. Defending himself, the International Trade graduate from a South African University said he had complied with all the laws of Kenya to do business.
“My business is legal and is centred on healthy competition. We have cooperated with all government directives for opening a business in Kenya and we are here to break the monopoly. The people who are fighting us feel threatened because Kenyans now know we exist and we are not exploiting them in pricing,” Mr Cheng told Nation.
