Every international business manager I have met from northern Europe spoke excellent English.

Something business researchers found out is that people doing business L2 to L2 (second language) had far more effective business dealings than those working L2 to L1 (native speaker). Issues of trust, but also being able to share a common vocabulary. English is the lingua franca of business, like it or not.
Japanese is worth learning, as I have met several Japanese business men who only speak Japanese. Spanish would be another good choice as it is the worlds third language.

That's going to depend a lot on the region I think. East Asia has gone down the English route.

It'll depend if a country is anglophone or francophone, very little English being learnt in Central Africa for instance, business or otherwise. If a country speaks French, the French speaking world is large enough for it to rarely stray outside of it.

Lusophone countries in some respects, have abandoned Portuguese in favour of French or English (or Chinese) not only in business but in governance, depending on their nearest geographical superpowers.

This is because Portugal doesn't have much to offer in the world of business anymore.

If you're in a FSU country Russia and it's businessmen still have a lot to offer, so cross boarder business is likely to be done in Russian.

Anyway, business is conducted in English or French mostly at this present time, with Chinese possibly being a third language in future, much of the world is in preparation for it.

Any Chinese person that can speak any other second language apart from English is going to stand out from the crowd career wise, currently and particulary: an African language, French, German, Spanish. Languages other than these would still be worth learning as it would put them in a niche

niche is another word for pigeon hole. dont want to get pigeonholed to working in countries with bad govt and poor economy. wouldnt recomend it. in africans who do business worth doing cross border will speak fr ger eng

Small holes-big rewards. Wasn't so long ago china had a poor economy. Those that had the guts came in early made (are making) a fortune. They were learning chinese whilst it was the norm to learn french, german, spanish. With lesser known countries wanting to to get out in International markets learning a niche language can give you a ticket to the world - pigeons fly

yeh yeh yeh we ll let you have the last word again magnificent one

But definition of bad government and poor economy is somewhat subjective to begin with.

You don't have to choose a corrupt low-income country if you look to benefit from a niche language.

For example take any Nordic country (Norway, Sweden, etc). Economy is not that good now, but they have cradle to grave social welfare system and at least government is quite transparent and free of corruption.

Another thing to consider is that some of these countries have used to offer publicly funded tuition-free higher education for anyone who qualifies, including Chinese nationals.

@Vicar

Unless you're volunteering in some very remote village I can't see how learning an African language is going to put you at any advantage.

Almost all the African nations will speak either Arabic / French or English. If you're in International business that's the language of the continent. Chinese are selling to African businessmen who speak those languages. These businessmen, or probably people even further down the line are then dealing with the non Arabic/French/English speakers.

Sub Saharan Africans are very skilled linguists, often managing 3/4 languages (orally) is common and those who don't speak a second language have absolutely no immediate need for imported Chinese goods.

My gardener and maid speak English, pretty much fluently, and they're cutting weeds and spreading sheets, far from the cusp of international business. Quite who you'd end up dealing with if you limited yourself to speaking only Shona or Ndebele I have no idea, but it wouldn't be profitable, you'd more than likely be working as a volunteer, not a businessman.

In fact in Africa it's the other way round. The Africans will cater to the Chinese as there are Chinese coming to Africa with poor English skills, but having something to offer. Therefore (and this is why I was sent to China many moons ago) the Africans are doing the leg work and learning Chinese to get the advantage.

Vicar
" Wasn't so long ago china had a poor economy.". But you can't compare the likes of China with countries like Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, etc.

China is and always has been huge. Huge population and huge potential for natural resources, at that time untapped. In short, huge potential. A country that was closed for so long, it needed people coming in to do business to speak Chinese. Guess what, they don't need that any more. There are more Chinese learners of English than there are English Native speakers.
As Napoleon and others point out. Those Africans who do not speak other languages have the lowest potentiality, in business terms. Even in Zim, those black people who speak Shona are at an advantage, but as for outsiders (non Zimbabweans) only at the lower end of the business scale, or for novelty value. A bit like the 'big nose' Mandarin speaker wheeled out for special occasions in the 'good old days' in China. Maybe Uncle Bob has his performing Shona speaking murungu, wheeled out for big dinners, be they white or yellow.

Natural resources are why China is investing heavily in Africa the continent with the highest growth prospects in the world. Knowing a language is not merely communication but getting to know a culture hence that competitive edge and enhanced credibility. Napoleon Your idea of a local African language being useful only in a small village is way off mark so I'll give you you an example Swahili is 1 lingua Franca of the African continent spoken by millions as a second language and in many countries. Another is Arabic. Yes, they can speak French and English but so can the Chinese. It's not all about mere understanding or translation