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corporate social responsibility, but also R&D, research and de-velopment. Hopefully, we can contribute to the development of African society and grow our business simultaneously. Hr: Toyota Tsusho Corporation is a trading company of the Toyota Group. What is business in Africa like from an auto-mobile dealer’s point of view?Ht: We did start selling new Toyota cars by setting up official service networks in the early ’60s; however, now 90% of ve-hicles in the African market are secondhand, imported from outside. We had to take that 90% into account and create an opportunity for profit there. We established a new company to sell used cars, of course, and we started sourcing general parts that can be used with various models because genuine parts are not affordable for these customers. Another project was to launch a sales finance section that developed a car loan system for used car customers. Hr: For another course on Africa, we organized a study tour entitled “Learning from Africa” in cooperation with the Catho-lic University of Central Africa in Cameroon, a partner institu-tion of Sophia University. Participating students have said that they saw the reality of African society and developed an affinity for the continent even after only a two-week stay in Cameroon. Y: Being concerned with business in Africa is sometimes apt to be treated as an issue for African culture lovers or those who have some specific interest. But the African market is ac-tually growing and will become a large player in the global market. Though you might not be interested in Africa, you may very well end up being involved with African business if you want to be a real global market player. In the context of education, the African Development Bank launched a proj-ect called “Education for Sustainable Development in Africa” in cooperation with 20 Japanese and 15 African universities. What it does is to develop master’s course programs under joint efforts between Japanese and African researchers in three categories: urban development, agricultural develop-ment, and mining development. Hr: It is indeed a good example of reciprocal programs be-tween Japanese and African universities. Y: There are three directions for a Japanese university to con-tribute to the development of Africa. One is to nurture African students who can contribute to development in Africa. Ac-cepting African students and offering knowledge of technol-ogy or business to them in Japan supports that. The second is to form partnerships with African universities to develop educational programs. The third is to nurture non-African students, including Japanese and other countries’ students in Japan, encouraging interest in Africa by providing applicable information. Hr: Clearly, operating a business in Africa is tightly linked to contributing to the development of Africa. In order to manage both successfully, could you give some advice to students who would be interested in working in Africa?Ht: First of all, communication skills are important. If you are dispatched to work at a branch of your company in an African country, your term of service there might be four or five years. You have to build and run a team with local people. If you would like to make your project sustainable, the local mem-bers of your team have to play principal roles because you will leave in four or five years. In order to do that, you need to know how to connect to a different culture. You need to recognize what is different and respect it. Y: When you go to another country, I recommend visiting local supermarkets or places where local people do their shop-ping, of course paying due attention to safety. You can see the quality of goods and prices and see what is sold or not, com-pared to Japan or other developing countries. That experience can help you gain insight into consumer tastes and behavior, local culture, and business opportunities. If the infrastructure is underdeveloped, you might feel life there is inconvenient. However, I would like young students to know that a problem or a shortfall can be viewed as an invitation to another busi-ness opportunity, because there should be potential demand to improve the situation.Ht: Along those lines, I would say when you work in a devel-oping country, things do not necessarily work or operate as you expect. At those moments, the important thing is to be optimistic. I suppose pessimism comes from one’s emotions, but optimism can be willed. In other words, one can make a conscious decision to be positive. This ability, mental strength, is required if you work in Africa.Contributions tothe Development of AfricaWhat It Takes to be a Business Pioneer in Africa28Cooperation