Bennett Oghifo
Uzochukwu Bobby Marcy is a Nigerian business man from Ngor Okpala Local Government Area in Imo State. He is married to a Chinese and they jointly opened a cosmetic factory near Jinhua in Zhejiang Province – China. Their cosmetics products, such as face powder, eye shadow, soaps and lip glosses have gained international recognition, and are sold in West Africa and Central America.
During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Uzo’s company, Aibaoni Cosmetics, experienced a huge staff turnover necessitated by lockdown in that country. This measure by the Chinese Government seriously affected foreign trade and impeded the operations of the factory. In order to turn the tables, Bobby and his Chinese wife sacrificed time and money to inject life into the factory. Their resilience and hard work yielded results as they were recognised by Sino African cross-cultural documentary house to promote the factory, which made the Chinese government to give the factory an award for resilience, integrity and promotion of Nigeria-China bilateral relationship.
The short film, titled “Bobby’s factory”, is aimed at showcasing the indomitable spirit of this young Nigerian to African audience in Africa and to Asian audience during Chinese Lunar New year 2022.
The documentaries are on cultural exchanges between China and Africa. Bobby’s factory has novel themes, the growth version and drama version. The versions show the audiences a Nigerian who has worked hard in China for many years through three parts, China-Africa trade under the epidemic, African bosses and Chinese employees and the impact of home values.
“Some people will experience personal and economic growth in this pandemic, and many others will struggle and become impoverished. I think with resilience spirit, we can make it through,” Bobby said.
The outbreak of the pandemic has brought adverse impacts to all countries in the world. Bilateral trade and personnel exchanges have been badly affected to varying degrees. Bobby’s factory in Zhejiang- China has become a microcosm of numerous transnational trade enterprises under the epidemic. In order to ensure the normal operation of the factory, Bobby had to face the difficulties and make new attempts and adjustments in products design and employee structure. In this small factory, despite different nationalities, Bobby led the workers to work together to resist the cold winter and harsh conditions. It is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Zhang Yong, the Director of the film, said he hopes that the story of Bobby’s factory, will impact the African audience and the world could see the experience of ordinary people and Africans in China during this era of pandemic, and cause watchers to reflect on the diversity and richness of cultural communication, and showcase the most real appearance of the deep communication between the Chinese and African people.
In November 2021, “Bobby’s factory” won the first prize in the second national film and television anthropology collection. In the future, China-Africa cooperation will expand to a wider range of fields, including people to people and cultural exchanges.
Bobby said, “Whether you are an African, Chinese or an American, I think the love for our families and countries are the same.”
As an African who grew up with his grandfather in the East and aunt in the Northern part of Nigeria, Bobby speaks Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and Chinese fluently. Living in China, his love for Africans and food has never changed. Often times, he will bring seeds from his hometown to China to sow, and will share the delicious food with his wife and in-laws.
Despite the differences in skin colour and race, Bobby is just an ordinary father and husband, who understands the wisdom of seeking common ground while reserving differences in his life.
The ‘Bobby’s factory’ documentary is showing on STARTIMES television at 11:30GMT beginning 1st February, 2020.
Bobby has a warehouse and cosmetics shop in Lagos.
