The Chinese enterprise has set up shop in a major way in Kigali. What we are yet to see is the invasion of the Chinese hawker. Many are betting that he is coming, as has happened in many towns in Kenya. A picture circulated widely on the internet, to the surprised amusement of many, shows a Chinese man seated on the pavement by a busy Kenyan road roasting maize for sale. Roasted maize is a popular snack bought on the go, mostly by pedestrians.To the admission of many local "jamaa wa mahindi”, as they are often referred to in the city estates,  roasting maize "can be quite adequate” at affording one a decent living, including "paying school fees for the children”.And if there is "something” to be made, it is hardly surprising that a hapless Chinese would want in on the act. But it has raised some alarm.A noisy demonstration by hawkers in Nairobi against the emergence Chinese hawkers was recently featured in the evening news catching many by surprise. According to one media report, some Chinese vendors have for some time now been spotted doing a brisk business selling assorted items in a Nairobi suburb and elsewhere.Others were said to be engaging in small-scale farming in western Kenya, specifically in Kisumu, Kisii and Kuria Districts. According to the report, they are also engaging in fishing in South Nyanza. The emergence of the Chinese small trader or small-scale farmer in the local towns is being perceived by some as threat to the livelihood of many, and therefore is a problem that should be routed before it spreads. But to do so would probably be ill advised.Let’s take the Chinese hawker as a metaphor for all foreign hawkers. The link between him and a host country going out of its way to offer all sorts of incentives to attract foreign direct investment may not always be obvious. To take the larger picture, foreign investment has often provided a source of new technologies, capital, processes, products, organizational technologies and management skills, and as such can provide a strong impetus to economic development. The hawker may not be this lofty, but he is part of it. There is what may seem a simplistic argument that says from the foreign investment a section of the population may be earning their living. It may also follow that the proliferation of the hawkers is essentially to serve the segment of the population indicating that an economy has reached a certain stage. Note that in the more developed economies the place of hawkers has been taken by some chain stores selling the same cheap goods.Competition is also healthy, and need not necessarily come to grief. We may recall the Kenyan saying that goes, "when the cows graze, they never finish the grass for each other.”     On the principle of mutual reciprocity, the same argument goes for the Kenyan or Rwandan who makes a living in a foreign country, or frequents China for cheap goods and makes a killing when he gets back home.  It plays both ways, and as the much used saying cautions, you do not throw stones when you live in glasshouse. And for that reason the Chinese hawker may assuredly be coming to a town near you.