2015-01-27   Hong Kong time and Africa time

Hong Kong people are hard-working and efficient. In Hong Kong "time is money". In Hong Kong 95% of people show up on time for an appointment.

But in Africa, where I've been the past few weeks, people are more "laid back". Showing up on time is not a widespread disease (I'm being cynical). It's almost expected that people will come late, sometimes very late, for appointments.

This is very frustrating for people doing business. It's probably one of the reasons why Chinese firms doing projects in Africa import workers from the Mainland rather than use local labor.

Life in Hong Kong is fast, maybe too fast. As soon as one returns to Hong Kong, one's metabolism speeds up. But life in Africa is too casual. Africa's development is being held back by "time is not important" thinking.