When Mo Haipeng set out to make his fortune in Africa, he staked everything on a pair of plastic sandals. Judging by the frenetic activity at his shoe shop in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, he made a wise choice.
Women traders rifle with manic abandon through boxes of China-made footwear before sauntering outside to sell their prizes in the city’s chaotic streets. Presiding over the frenzy, Mr Haipeng haggles by holding up fingers to make up for his almost total lack of English, pausing only to light his latest cigarette.
