When Nuhu Peter Changawa joined Twyford Tanzania in 2017, he was a warehouse specialist with little experience in modern warehouse management.
Today, he oversees warehouse operations of the Chinese company’s float-glass factory, having risen from specialist to supervisor and then warehouse manager. His career has also taken him to Twyford’s ceramic factory in Zambia, where he gained further experience.
Along the way, he said Chinese colleagues taught him modern warehouse management systems, digital inventory management, material tracking and ways to improve operational efficiency.
“What impressed me most was their strong work discipline, attention to detail, commitment to quality and willingness to share their knowledge with local employees,” Changawa said.
Working at Twyford Tanzania, he said, has not only improved his professional skills but also brought greater financial stability to his family while strengthening his sense of discipline, responsibility and teamwork.
Like Changawa, nearly 1,000 technical workers in Twyford Tanzania have received training in glass production, mechanical and electrical operations, and equipment maintenance.
Tanzanian employees can now independently perform a range of production and maintenance tasks, according to Wan Guanru, manager of the company’s electromechanical workshop.
Changawa’s journey is one of many stories emerging from Twyford International’s factories across Africa, where localized production is increasingly going beyond factory construction to transfer industrial skills, foster local value chains, and expand manufacturing production capacity.
Twyford International began ceramic production in Tanzania in 2017 and later expanded into float glass. Today, Twyford Tanzania operates two float-glass factories and a ceramic factory.
The company employs more than 2,000 people in Tanzania, over 90 percent of them Tanzanians, according to Zhu Kaihong, deputy managing director of the company. More than 90 percent of the raw materials and energy used by its glass factories are also sourced locally, including silica sand, feldspar, dolomite, limestone and natural gas.
“The significance of local procurement is not only about reducing the company’s own production costs. More importantly, it is about enabling manufacturing projects to truly take root locally,” Zhu said.
A similar process is unfolding in Senegal, where Twyford International established a ceramic factory in 2017 and began production in 2019. The factory now has an annual production capacity of 33.5 million square meters and employs 1,892 people, including permanent employees and workers engaged through long-term contractors.
The company in Senegal now works with nearly 300 distributors and exports to countries including The Gambia, Mauritania and Cabo Verde.
Business manager Cheikh Boucounta Diop said the factory has helped reduce Senegal’s dependence on imported products while creating opportunities for mining, transport and distribution businesses.
For employees such as Sandjiry Ba, the factory has also become a place to build a career and acquire skills that can be passed on to others.
Ba joined the company in 2022 and later became an inkjet shift leader in the glaze line workshop after receiving training from Chinese technicians. He now hopes to pass his skills on to new recruits.
“Just as others trained me, I want to pass on my knowledge to other young graduates, young technicians, and young Senegalese,” Ba said.
For local workers like Changawa and Ba, the transformation is personal: opportunities to acquire new skills, take on greater responsibility, and build more stable livelihoods. For the wider economy, such partnerships offer a pathway to develop skilled workforces, deepen local manufacturing capacity, and strengthen industrial value chains. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
