By Yang Yulai, SFC, 21st Century Business Herald

At the 139th Canton Fair, a Chinese woman talking fluently with foreign buyers in English caught the attention of SFC reporters.

Her name is Susan Li Xia, an entrepreneur who did not finish junior high school. Leading a team of around 30 people, she built a new energy enterprise with annual output value of tens of millions of yuan and a factory valued at over 100 million yuan. Her company has so far exported more than 2.6 million solar lights to Africa. 

She even got invited to attend the Davos Forum in 2024 and was selected as a key partner of the World Bank Lighting Global Program, gaining wide recognition from international institutions.

Following Susan, reporters visited her factory in Shenzhen and met her African partners who traveled a long way. Susan is now pushing forward the construction of a factory in Nigeria, transforming her business model from product export to localized operation in Africa.

What will the future hold for this cross-border cooperation? What are the challenges China’s entire manufacturing industry is facing as it evolves in the global industrial chain?

Chief Producer: Zhao Haijian

Supervising Producer: Shi Shi

Editor: Shi Shi, Li Yingliang

Reporter: Yang Yulai

Video Editor: Li Qun

Photographer: Xiao Hang 

Poster Design: Wu Huaikuan

New Media Coordination: Ding Qingyun, Zeng Tingfang, Lai Xi, Huang Daxun

Overseas Operations Supervising Producer: Huang Yanshu

Overseas Content Coordinator: Huang Zihao

Overseas Operations Editors: Zhuang Huan, Wu Wanjie, Long Lihua, Zheng Quanyi 

Produced by: Southern Finance Media Corp.