GGT, China Daily Africa host dancing competition

University of Nairobi students participate in the GGT dancing show held in Nairobi, Kenya on May 26. Edith Mutethya/China Daily

Global Good Trust (GGT), a Chinese consumer goods company in partnership with China Daily Africa, today hosted a dancing competition at the Confucius Institute of the University of Nairobi.

The show, named after the company's brand of "fofas", attracted many young people, including university students and neighborhood secondary school children, who showed their dancing flair and were greeted with cheers.

Speaking during the event, Kimingichi Wabende, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi department of literature/performing arts and one of the dancing competition's judges, applauded GGT for providing the opportunity for the young people to showcase their talent, noting that many corporations look down on arts as something that is not crucial to economic growth.

"The creative industry contributes a lot to growth of a country as seen in United States and other developed countries," he said.

Wabende said many performers exhibited great potential that needs a little guidance. "Next time, students should register early so that they can be helped in structuring their performance in the right way so that they can gain from the skills of those already in the field," he said.

"I was, however, impressed by the winners because some performed Chinese dance and others African dance, meaning they had a sense of variety and depth in their performance," he said.

Wabende said GGT is doing a great job of fostering the relationship between Africa and China, giving Kenyans an opportunity to learn from exchanges.

Juliah Ngugi, one of the winners, said she was excited for being given such an opportunity. "The judges were fair, and given another opportunity I would definitely participate in a better way," she said.

Gorreti Mirera, the 2016/1017 Miss University Kenya, who emceed the event, praised GGT for giving the young people a platform to showcase their talent.

"Initiatives like GGT's is what we are looking for. We don't have to only focus on white collar jobs but also other activities that can bring income. Talent is growing fast and should be promoted," she said.

Mirera said the performance and the number of contestants was good and surpassed expectations.

She said the initiative promote talent development.

"Most companies are only focusing on building their brands, sales and customers. While that is important, the companies should try to give their customers an opportunity to express themselves through events like the dancing show. This way you understand them better and they feel valued," she said.

Liu Yuncheng said his company was not only interested in selling its products and growing its market share, but also growing young people's talent.

"We have been organizing similar events in Angola and Liberia. This is the first one in Kenya and we will be holding more," he said.

China Daily Africa awarded the first five winners of the competition a free one-year subscription. It was in addition to other GGT's sanitary products. The top winner also received 10,000 Kenyan shillings as a scholarship.

edithmutethya@chinadaily.com.cn