NANNING, Sept. 20 – A South African businesswoman has returned to the China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) with remarkable success stories to share. The previous expo brought her numerous orders, enabling her employees to earn higher wages, with one employee's child now having sufficient funds to attend university and pursue aviation studies, fulfilling a dream of becoming a pilot.
On September 19, at the 22nd CAEXPO in Nanning, Guangxi, Azande Ndebele, a merchant from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, shared this uplifting news.
Guangxi established ties with KwaZulu-Natal Province in 2010, signing a memorandum of understanding to establish friendly provincial relations. This marks Ndebele's second participation in CAEXPO through the "Guangxi International Sister Cities Join CAEXPO" initiative.
At her exhibition booth, Ndebele enthusiastically promoted local specialties from her hometown to visiting audiences. When discussing Durban, her eyes filled with pride: "It's a place rich in culture and diversity, warm and vibrant, where young people and women work together in unity to build our community. We also have beautiful oceans, and everyone lives in tolerance and love."
A special photograph hangs at Ndebele's booth – her product that won a silver award at last year's CAEXPO exhibition competition. This year, she continues to showcase handcrafted leather bags that embody Durban's culture.
"Durban has a tradition where men present cattle when proposing marriage to thank the woman's family. I want to integrate this culture into my products," she explained, pointing to the colors on the handbags. White represents purity, red symbolizes love, green signifies life and energy, while blue represents the ocean and peace.
Ndebele revealed that her participation in the 21st CAEXPO last year generated substantial orders for her company, enabling rapid business growth and creating numerous job opportunities for women and disabled individuals in Durban. Employee incomes increased, bringing new hope to their lives.
Looking ahead, Ndebele expressed strong confidence in the Chinese market. "I will recommend CAEXPO to people in my hometown, encouraging more South African enterprises to come here and seek opportunities."
Currently, Guangxi has established 132 sister city relationships with 40 countries worldwide, including 61 partnerships with ASEAN nations, ranking first in China. Since the inaugural CAEXPO in 2004, Guangxi has annually invited sister cities to participate, leveraging the expo platform to deepen economic and trade cooperation.