Latest news with #YU7
IOL News
15 hours ago
- Business
- IOL News
How a Chinese fintech founder learned to build for Kenya's reality, not its potential
Nairobi, Kenya. Long's Africa story began rather fortuitously, says the author. Image: Tedd_ M on Unsplash "Three weeks in Beijing and Shanghai," I tell April Long before the mics come on for our podcast chat. "When?" she asks. "2011," I reply. "Oh," she laughs, "different country." No kidding. I wasn't a car person then, and I'm still not now, but I couldn't help but be floored by Xiaomi's recently unveiled YU7 SUV. Long gets it, though. She's spent 12 years watching East Africa transform, but her journey from a 'no-name Chinese town' (her words, not mine) to co-founding an Africa-focused fintech called Pyxis tells quite a story about transformation. Listening to her share gave me a fresh appreciation for what it must be like building in Africa while Chinese, and what locals might tend to overlook in our own backyard. Presidents and pictures Long's Africa story began rather fortuitously. She was 23, fresh from a master's in Guangzhou - the pulsing Chinese tech hub of 19 million people, nearly three million more than Zimbabwe's population. An International Student Exchange Center (ISEC) exchange program plonked her in Tanzania for what was supposed to be a brief stint. Two weeks in, she's somehow playing tour guide for President Xi Jinping's state visit, her face sneaking into a corner of a photo seen by millions back home. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ "Zero chance that happens in China," she tells me, and her parents' utter shock was probably audible from Dar es Salaam. In Guangzhou, she was nobody special. In Tanzania, she was receiving presidents. But Long says she stayed because at 20, reading Eric Simanis's 2012 Harvard Business Review article "Reality Check at the Bottom of the Pyramid" during a previous Taiwan student exchange, she'd decided she wanted to "make money and make a difference." Most people say that. Long actually meant it enough to turn down some prestigious appointments at Ogilvy China, twice (albeit gigs with relatively uninspiring remuneration attached). Humbling times Fast forward to 2021. Long, now married to a Singaporean named George Chan and fully rooted in Kenya, co-founds Pyxis with him (with her at the helm). Named after a southern constellation visible from Nairobi but faint from Beijing, the company aimed to tackle the $286 billion Africa-China trade gap. How apropos. Their first move? A platform for Nairobi SMEs to pay Chinese factories in yuan. "I made an MVP in two, three months and thought it was going to be a game-changer," she recalls ruefully. It flopped spectacularly. They found no demand for the product despite Long spending six months embedding herself in Nairobi's wholesale markets - Gikomba, Luthuli, River Road - chasing interest that never materialised. The onboarding friction was too high, ticket sizes too small. "My cost didn't justify my LTV [customer lifetime value] at all." But after struggling to raise money to burn through the problem as was the fashion at the time, she pivoted. Hard. Following the money She reckons the market taught her something uncomfortable: "We sometimes want to build the future…but we forget we are in the present tense." When she went to wholesale markets, traders would shout, "China, China, what are you selling?" The demand wasn't for payment rails but for access to suppliers. So she tried e-commerce, even partnering with Alibaba for dropshipping. Another lesson: small-volume imports doubled or tripled costs. She realised it came down to economies of scale. As she puts it: "90% of African trade is still happening in a more traditional way." The reality stung. SMEs weren't ready for her vision of social commerce. Infrastructure, consumer habits, and economics didn't align with her Silicon Valley-inspired dreams. So Pyxis shifted to serve Chinese bulk traders shipping containers to African distributors, handling currency exchange and settlement. Long admits being unhelpfully stubborn. "I was like, no, we have to work with SMEs." Because, of course, 'impact'. But the numbers didn't lie: 10% of her time on bulk traders sustained her team, while 90% on SMEs drained cash. Mirror reflections Long's story reflects our tech scene's growing pains. We do love our fintech fairy tales. Unicorns, million-dollar raises, Silicon Valley playbooks transplanted to Lagos, Nairobi or wherever. But Long's experience cuts deeper. She flipped from chasing an aspirational middle class to grappling with price-sensitive realities. That humility: admitting she misread demand, unlearning her assumptions, pivoting when data contradicted vision. To me, that's the real crux of the story. "It has been really, really hard for me the past two years," she admits. "Every day I have to remind myself of my mission to keep myself going." Her willingness to admit missteps, unlearn assumptions, and rebuild from scratch - perhaps more so in Africa than elsewhere - separates builders from dreamers. Nevertheless, Long hasn't ditched her vision. "I still believe SMEs will dominate," she says. "Pyxis will help make that happen." Playing by today's rules while eyeing tomorrow. Note to self Impact often starts exclusively before it scales. Awkward? Sure. I would know. At 630 000+ plays and counting after over a decade, The African Tech Roundup Podcast hosting my conversation with Long isn't mass media, but it's carved out something sustainable by leaning into specificity rather than chasing radio's democratised reach or the internet's alluring promise of hyperbolic audience scale. Long's pivot to bulk traders isn't sexy, but it's real revenue funding her SME dreams and creating room to establish whether there might be VC-backable venturing worth pursuing. The 12-person team she indicates spans China, Kenya, Australia and Singapore isn't the next unicorn, and she isn't claiming it will be. But her willingness to evolve, admit failure, and rebuild from first principles is admirable. For now, Long's relying on the bulk traders, the aggregators, the messy reality of how trade actually flows to deliver interim sustainability. But, make no mistake, her eyes are trained firmly on the horizon where SMEs drive the next wave. Andile Masuku is Co-founder and Executive Producer at African Tech Roundup. Connect and engage with Andile on X (@MasukuAndile) and via LinkedIn. Image: File. Andile Masuku is Co-founder and Executive Producer at African Tech Roundup. Connect and engage with Andile on X (@MasukuAndile) and via LinkedIn. ** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL BUSINESS REPORT
Mint
16 hours ago
- Automotive
- Mint
China's smartphone champion has triumphed where Apple failed
Ever since he co-founded Xiaomi in 2010, Lei Jun, the chief executive of the Chinese tech giant, has pulled off feat after feat of salesmanship. A decade ago he earned a Guinness World Record for selling 2.1m smartphones online in 24 hours. These days, though, he is not just flogging cheap phones. Last month Xiaomi sold more than 200,000 of its first electric SUV, the YU7, within three minutes of bringing it onto the market. Xiaomi's rise over the past few years has been vertiginous. Only Apple and Samsung sell more smartphones worldwide. The company also peddles a vast array of devices that connect to its handsets, from air-conditioners and robo-vacuums to scooters and televisions. After a slump in 2022, which it attributed to 'cut-throat competition" in China for consumer electronics, Xiaomi has roared back to growth, with its revenue increasing by 35% last year. Since the beginning of 2024 its market value has nearly quadrupled, to HK$1.5trn ($190bn; see chart). With the successful release of the YU7—its second electric vehicle (EV) after the SU7, a sporty sedan launched in March last year—Xiaomi has pulled off a feat that eluded Apple, which ditched plans to make its own EV after burning billions of dollars on the effort over a decade. Xiaomi, which announced its carmaking ambitions in 2021, has put more than 300,000 of its EVs on Chinese roads over the past 15 months, and has a backlog of orders that will take more than a year to fill. Although its EV division has lost money so far, Mr Lei has said he thinks it will become profitable later this year, an impressive feat in China's brutally competitive car market. Xiaomi now has its sights set on world domination. Over the coming years it intends to open 10,000 shops abroad, up from just a few hundred last year, which it will use to show off its sleek new cars alongside its consumer electronics. Can anything stop its stunning ascent? Xiaomi's success in EVs is partly down to being in the right place at the right time. China these days is awash in carmaking know-how; Mr Lei was able to nab top talent from a number of other companies. Prices for parts and machinery have plummeted, given the oversupply of both. Getting a factory approved and built can be done far more quickly in China than most other places. But Mr Lei also deserves plenty of credit. Insiders note that, unlike Apple's Tim Cook, he took personal control over his company's carmaking project. Success required deep changes to how the company operated. Prior to its foray into EVs, Xiaomi did not own factories; like Apple, it outsourced the production of its phones and other devices. Yet it chose to build its own EV factory in Beijing, which it is currently expanding, in order to ensure strict oversight. It is now adopting the approach elsewhere in its business: last year it began producing smartphones itself at another facility in Beijing, and is building a plant in Wuhan where it will make other connected devices, starting with air-conditioners. Xiaomi's marketing strategy—which relies heavily on Mr Lei's cult following in China—has also aided its expansion into EVs, much as adoration for Steve Jobs helped Apple sell its first iPhones. Wuhan University is said to have enjoyed a surge in interest thanks to Mr Lei's attendance there some 30 years ago. 'Mi Fans", as diehard Xiaomi customers are known, collect company memorabilia and race to get their hands on every new product. Xiaomi has even managed to sustain the excitement around its EVs despite a horrific accident in March in which three university students were killed in an SU7 that was being piloted down a motorway by the company's autonomous-driving system. The episode led to criticism of Xiaomi's safety standards and a temporary sell-off in shares, but they did not quell demand for the YU7 when it was launched three months later. It also helps that Xiaomi has a vast customer base to which it can hawk new products. At the end of last year it claimed 700m monthly users across its devices globally, up by about 10% from the year before. Many of them play games purchased on Xiaomi's app store and view ads sold by the company (these generate a half of the company's total profit, according to Bernstein, a broker). And a sizeable share of users buy their Xiaomi products directly on its app. The company has already proved adept at persuading them to upgrade to more expensive phones. It needs only a small fraction of them to buy a car for the endeavour to be a huge success. Many of Xiaomi's Chinese customers were in their early 20s when they bought one of its first smartphones a little over a decade ago. They are now in their mid-30s, the target demographic for Xiaomi's EVs. Mr Lei is looking beyond China, too. Nearly half of the revenue the company makes from smartphones and other connected devices comes from overseas, primarily in developing markets such as India and Indonesia. Mr Lei wants Xiaomi to start selling its EVs abroad by 2027. These will probably not enjoy the kind of rapturous reception they have at home: Xiaomi does not command anything close to the same brand loyalty in foreign markets, and few overseas customers will have heard of Mr Lei. That helps explain why Xiaomi is investing in building a vast network of bricks-and-mortar shops abroad, which should raise its profile. At the same time, the company plans to continue expanding into new lines of business. It has developed its own humanoid robot, CyberOne, and in May unveiled an advanced three-nanometre chip it had designed itself. Roughly half of its staff work in research and development, spending on which grew by 26% last year, to $3.4bn—more than the company generated in net profit. The thinking within the business is that by developing technologies from the ground up, it can identify efficiencies and raise barriers to competition. Perhaps the biggest risk for Xiaomi is that it is fighting on too many fronts, considering its many products. The price war among Chinese EV companies continues to intensify, and despite its growth, Xiaomi remains a small player. It currently sells around 20,000 cars a month, compared with more than ten times that for BYD, the market leader. Competition in smartphones is also heating up as Huawei, another Chinese tech giant whose handset business was hobbled by American sanctions in 2019, makes a comeback. Still, Mr Lei's salesmanship is not to be underestimated.
Economist
a day ago
- Automotive
- Economist
China's smartphone champion has triumphed where Apple failed
Ever since he co-founded Xiaomi in 2010, Lei Jun, the chief executive of the Chinese tech giant, has pulled off feat after feat of salesmanship. A decade ago he earned a Guinness World Record for selling 2.1m smartphones online in 24 hours. These days, though, he is not just flogging cheap phones. Last month Xiaomi sold more than 200,000 of its first electric SUV, the YU7, within three minutes of bringing it onto the market.
Business Insider
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
Tesla's rivals in China are launching a wave of new Model Y killers to take on the best-selling SUV
China may not care about Elon Musk's politics, but that doesn't mean things are going well for Tesla there. Despite Tesla's sales in China rising in June amid upbeat sales of the refreshed version of its Model Y SUV, the electric vehicle giant is stuttering in its second-largest market. Tesla sold 129,000 vehicles in China during the second quarter of 2025, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association, down nearly 12% from the same period last year. Sales of the Model Y, Tesla's most popular car and China's best-selling SUV, have been flat since 2022 — and it's now set to face a new wave of competition. Last month, smartphone giant-turned EV maker Xiaomi launched its YU7 electric SUV, which amassed more than 240,000 preorders in 24 hours, while EV startup Xpeng debuted the G7, its Model Y rival, a week later to strong early demand. Both cars are priced below the Model Y, and are set to be joined by Nio's L90, another electric SUV that will go on sale later this month. Lei Xing, an independent analyst covering the Chinese auto industry, told Business Insider that Tesla has weathered attempts to dethrone the Model Y before. But, he added, Elon Musk's automaker has never faced a challenge quite like the YU7, which has taken China by storm. "I think it's the Model Y killer. There's been a lot of rivals that have come before it, and the Model Y has been very resilient, but the YU7 seems to be the one that can overtake it," he said. Xiaomi's EV revolution Xiaomi scored a massive hit with its first EV, the SU7, selling more than 200,000 since it launched in March 2024. The company faced a crisis earlier this year when an SU7 was involved in a fatal highway crash, but the sedan has continued to sell well. Lei Xing said that Xiaomi's cars had proved extremely popular with women and young people. In comments posted on social media last week, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that the average age of YU7 preorder holders was 33, and around 30% came from women. Lei Xing added that the company had successfully tapped into a massive, tech-obsessed consumer base of "fanatics" that already own multiple Xiaomi products. He said one of the earliest SU7 buyers in Shanghai told him he owned around 300,000 yuan ($41,000) of Xiaomi products in his home in addition to the company's first EV. "Xiaomi over the last 15 years has expanded their product lineup to all sorts of devices. They've built this home-car-human connection. And now that last missing piece is the car," said Lei Xing. Snow Bull Capital CEO Taylor Ogan, whose Shenzhen-based firm invests in the EV and battery industry, told BI that Xiaomi's tech ecosystem had handed the company a major advantage in China's ultra-competitive market. "My home has over 15 Xiaomi devices, my TV is Xiaomi, my bed is a Xiaomi. This is very common in China — once you're in the ecosystem, it's really hard to get out of," Ogan said. Losing ground on tech Lei Xing said that while Tesla was still the "benchmark" for many Chinese automakers in terms of tech, the US firm was now behind on some key features, such as advanced driver assistance systems. Musk has previously said that Tesla's attempts to launch its Full Self-Driving system have been hampered by Chinese rules around data sharing. The company launched a limited version of FSD in China earlier this year, but it charges Tesla owners around $8,000 to access it, unlike many of its rivals, who have begun offering similar systems for free. "On ADAS, because of some of the regulatory restrictions, Tesla is behind in China," said Lei Xing. "These features are becoming commoditized. The BYD Seagull offers highway ADAS as standard. Customers have come to expect these kinds of things," he added. Ogan said that Tesla still has a good reputation in China, but the company's ageing product lineup and tech have left it vulnerable. "Tech-wise, there are probably 10 companies that have better tech. Xiaomi definitely has better tech than Tesla. It has better motor tech, it has better infotainment, and it actually makes a lot of its own tech," Ogan said, who is an investor in Chinese auto giant BYD. "Tesla is just refreshing the bumpers and their headlights and adding an LED strip in the car. That might work enough in Western markets, but it's not enough in today's market here," he added. Ogan said that Tesla's previous tactic of lowering prices to fend off competition would likely be less effective now that many of its rivals offer cheaper models, and said that some Tesla showrooms had turned to new tactics to boost sales. "The one that's nearest to me, almost every night they're hiring street performers to perform outside of their showroom to try to drive traffic," he said. 'They're nowhere to be seen' One thing that might help Tesla fend off the threat of the YU7 in the short term is the painfully long delivery times for Xiaomi's new EV. The company's website is advertising delivery times of up to 60 weeks for the YU7. Lei Xing said some customers unhappy about the prospect of waiting over a year for the high-tech SUV might instead turn to the Model Y. Xiaomi CEO Jun himself backed that idea, telling his social media followers they should consider buying rival models like Xpeng's G7 and the Model Y if they're in a "hurry." In the long run, however, that is unlikely to solve Tesla's main problem in China: a lack of new products. "They haven't launched a new product in years," Tu Le, the managing director at Sino Auto Insights, told BI. "The reality is that Tesla doesn't face an Elon personality challenge in China like it does in the rest of the world. It is a lack of competitive products in the Chinese market that is causing Tesla problems," he added.
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First Post
08-07-2025
- Automotive
- First Post
Will fallout with Trump hurt Musk's business in China too?
Local competitors like BYD and Xiaomi have made major gains in the Chinese EV market while the country's authorities have pulled back privileges granted to Tesla earlier. Musk's fallout with Trump is also turning out to be bad for business read more US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to reporters as they sit in a red Model S Tesla vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House. File image/AP Tesla is facing a tough road in China, and CEO Elon Musk's souring relationship with former President Donald Trump may be making matters worse. After years of rising sales and favourable treatment, Tesla's position in the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) market is under pressure. The company's market share in China has dropped steeply, falling from 11 per cent in early 2021 to just 4 per cent as of May 2025. Local competitors like BYD and Xiaomi have made major gains, luring buyers with better pricing, more features, and vehicles tailored to Chinese consumers' preferences. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China pulls back privileges The change is not just about better competition. Chinese authorities have started pulling back the incentives and regulatory support that helped Tesla grow when it first entered the country. Most central government EV subsidies have already been phased out. Now, only a limited trade-in scheme remains for consumers. Tesla's previously warm relationship with Beijing is starting to look much cooler. Meanwhile, Tesla's sales in China are shrinking. Vehicle deliveries fell 11.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, ending a streak of growth. To maintain volumes, Tesla has been offering steep discounts, zero-interest loans, and other promotions. Delivery wait times have shortened, suggesting demand is weakening. Xiaomi's YU7 SUV, launched in 2025, is one example of what Tesla is up against. The new electric model received nearly 300,000 orders within an hour of launch, directly competing with Tesla's Model Y. BYD, another homegrown giant, continues to expand its lead in both domestic sales and export volumes. Tesla in trouble, Musk makes it double Now, political trouble is adding to Tesla's difficulties. Musk has become increasingly critical of Trump, once a key ally. Their falling out is having consequences. Trump has threatened to end federal EV subsidies, which could cost Tesla more than $1 billion in annual profits. That uncertainty is unnerving investors and may be shifting Beijing's calculus as well. Tesla's share price is down 22 per cent so far in 2025. Some investors blame the political risks around Musk, while others are more focused on weakening global demand and rising competition. Either way, the company's stock is under pressure. Musk's vocal political stances have also begun to alienate potential buyers in the United States and Europe. China was once the cornerstone of Tesla's global growth. Now, it is becoming a source of worry. Musk's standing in Beijing was never just about Tesla's cars. For years, he was seen as a valuable link to American power and business. With that political access now in question, his value to Chinese decision-makers may be diminishing. The trouble in China comes as Tesla is also battling falling sales in Europe and a series of high-profile executive departures. A recent 11 per cent rise in Chinese EV sales in June offered a brief moment of optimism, but analysts caution it may be too early to call it a turnaround. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Tesla is not the only foreign automaker struggling in China. But few are as tied to their CEO's personal brand as Tesla is to Musk. As his clash with Trump grows louder and more unpredictable, that personal brand is starting to look like a liability, both at home and abroad.
