African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 355: Chapter 34 Indian Ocean Capital - Dar es Salaam

August.

Dar es Salaam.

Today, the whole of Dar es Salaam is as bustling as usual, even though most ships choose to head directly to the Far East via the Suez Canal, posing a serious challenge to the strategic positioning along the East African coast.

However, the Suez Canal also shortens the distance for Europe to reach the East African coast directly, coupled with the launch of ships under the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company, allowing routes along the East African coast to remain prosperous.

With the five pivots of the Far East, Middle East, Mediterranean, Central Eastern Europe, and East Africa, the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company has grown into the world’s leading major shipping company.

Grain, industrial raw materials, industrial products, and immigration are the four major businesses supporting Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company to become the largest shipping company in Germany and even the world, with four independent large shipyards (including the Trieste Shipyard, Hamburg Shipyard, Venice Shipyard, and the newly commissioned Bajamojo Shipyard), a fleet of seventy-three ocean-going vessels, and two hundred fifty-four sailboats, surpassing most countries in terms of tonnage alone.

Although the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company should be split into two parts, one belonging to Germany and the other to Austria, its real service target is East Africa.

The civilian shipping sector in East Africa is basically zero, making the Heixinggen royal enterprise a dominant organization with overdeveloped monopoly characteristics.

Most monopoly enterprises in the world are just forming now, such as the American Standard Oil Company established last year, with a complete breakout occurring after the historic 1873 economic crisis. The Heixinggen consortium became a unique existence due to its monopoly in East Africa and also dominating German trade with the Far East.

Actually, the Heixinggen consortium has a predecessor, the British East India Company, quite similar but Heixinggen is more comprehensive.

From its establishment to the present, the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company hasn’t actually earned much money and sometimes even suffers losses—on one hand, from continuous investment in shipbuilding and acquiring vessels, on the other, from operating at a loss driven by immigration needs in East Africa.

However, without a doubt, there would be no East African Kingdom today without the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company. Even the reason East Africa can be a commercial leader for Germany in the Far East is because of the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company.

A large number of German merchants connect with the Far East government through the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company, allowing German capital to rapidly develop in the northeast of the Far East.

After all, the Heixinggen consortium still has local development needs in East Africa, focusing mainly on East Africa since the Far East market would eventually fall, so it’s better for their own people to grasp the market.

Austrian merchants are the most proactive, and this gets Ernst angry when he thinks about it—at first, when they were asked to invest in East Africa, they were quite stingy, with the Northern Industrial Belt investing only in a few small factories, mainly in Mombasa. Only one medium-sized textile enterprise settled in Nairobi, and the fantasy of East Africa driven by Austria in the Northern Industrial Belt plan was almost extinct, ultimately taken over by the Heixinggen consortium itself.

But regarding the Far East, their attitude shifted immediately. Everyone knows the Far East is a great place, but unfortunately, the Austrian government lacks the capacity, energy, and willingness to support its merchants in developing the Far East.

So when East Africa secured its footing in the Far East, many Austrian merchants gathered around the Heixinggen consortium, and when needing official support, they would first choose the East African Embassy as the Austrian envoy was in Japan with his presence hardly noticeable.

The Germans are similar. Although Germany values the Far East, its interests there are too small, making it difficult to compete with the British, French, American, or even Dutch.

In the Far East, many Germans come from the original Northern German states, forces being scattered, but now with Germany unified, they finally became a whole.

This is also the reason why the Heixinggen consortium has become the leader in the Three Kingdoms’ commerce in the Far East, with foreign investments in the Huaihai Economic Zone jointly funded by the Three Kingdoms’ commercial entities.

The Heixinggen consortium’s actual share is less than twenty percent, with the Far East government and its civilian entities holding forty percent, and the remaining roughly forty-five percent divided between Austria and Germany. Austrian merchants alone hold more than thirty percent, making them the largest investment group in the Huaihai Economic Zone.

During the self-strengthening movement, the Far East government actively invested in government-run enterprises predominantly along the Yangtze River and the southeast coastal areas, while in the north, under the pressure of the East African Kingdom, had to establish the ”Huaihai Economic Zone.”

In fact, the northern condition is best in the Zhili region, with economic, population, and transportation advantages over the Huaihai Economic Zone, but being a crucial area, not even the British or French can squeeze in now.

...

With the completion of city renovation, the entire city of Dar es Salaam looks brand new. Though due to changes in the main world shipping routes, many merchants do not pass through Dar es Salaam anymore, yet due to consumer habits, some sailors and merchants active along the Western Indian coast still opt to spend in Dar es Salaam, sometimes even inviting others to join them.

Besides the beautiful environment, the most important aspect is the highly developed infrastructure. The Dar es Salaam casino has also gained unanimous praise from gamblers for its fair and impartial reputation, guaranteeing that gambling here avoids being cheated. Additionally, the responsible attitude of the police station ensures the personal safety of most winners.

Personal needs can also be greatly satisfied here, with Japanese cabarets and foot massage parlors in abundance, though whether they are legitimate is another question.

The only shortcoming is that no stimulants are sold here, but sailors can bring their own, as long as they stay within the foreign trade zone (formerly the open area) and do not distribute to the East Africans, no one cares.

In a previous life, it was said: ”The most profitable businesses are written in the constitution.” Dar es Salaam got involved in two of the most profitable industries at once.

Apart from the above industries, the barber industry in Dar es Salaam is a unique feature of the Indian Ocean. After Ernst realized the backwardness of Europe’s barber industry, he specifically developed hand clippers, which are one of the two patents registered by Ernst himself (Gillette razors).

Moreover, East Africa conducts daily cleansing and disinfection of incoming immigrants, which includes hair grooming.

Therefore, the barbers in East Africa are highly experienced, and with the help of advanced tools, the barber industry in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa has become very developed. Sailors on the Indian Ocean, every time they come to East Africa, would specifically visit barber shops to have their hair and beards done.

The barbers of Dar es Salaam have become recognized by Indian Ocean sailors as world-class Toni&Guy stylists, with expertise far surpassing that of Europe and America.

At the same time, Dar es Salaam is also the capital of goods along the Indian Ocean coast, gathering a complete range of goods, catering to every aspect of life.

People from neighboring regions and countries, such as the French colony of Madagascar, the British colony of Cape Town, the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, and the Sultanate of Zanzibar, choose to shop in Dar es Salaam or Mombasa.

The dining, lodging, and hotel services in Dar es Salaam city are also the highest and most quality along the Indian Ocean coast.

Gathering Eastern and Western cuisines, with fully European-style architecture, comprehensive and top-notch living conditions, and elegant services, it attracts many wealthy Arab merchants and colonial dignitaries to gather here.

Taverns are also one of the most popular places in Dar es Salaam, offering white wine, yellow wine, red wine, and East African specialty banana beer. Dar es Salaam’s white wine includes vodka from cold regions, as well as oriental wines like Fenjiu and Huadiao (Daughter’s Red, Scholar’s Red), as well as brandy and whiskey... The red wine is mainly from Austrian and Southern German brands, and the types of beer are relatively few.

The wide range of liquor and numerous taverns make Dar es Salaam a veritable wine capital along the Indian Ocean coast.

However, this also increases the frequency of police dispatches and the workload of health wardens in East Africa. Drunks and empty bottles and barrels lying all around have become a feature of Dar es Salaam.

The tourists who come to Dar es Salaam city to spend are generally of low quality, with trash pools left unattended everywhere, and garbage like fruit peels and bottles thrown onto the streets. East African cities have the world’s highest density of public toilets, but that does not stop people from urinating and defecating everywhere.

Because it is an open trade area, the East African government cannot forcefully stop this. After all, they are all here to contribute to the East African economy; as long as they spend money, they are ”lords.” Hence, more work falls on the sanitation personnel.

Fortunately, Dar es Salaam city is beachfront, with straight roads paved with large stones and a well-constructed drainage system on either side. With just one heavy rain, stains and dust flow into the sea along the drainage system.

So, no odors linger on the streets, and fresh air is the norm. Coupled with good city greening, even though the tourists have low quality, Dar es Salaam city still becomes a garden city along the Indian Ocean coast.

Apart from these, Dar es Salaam city is also a communication center along the Indian Ocean coast. The main service target is the Europeans in the Western Indian Ocean. In Dar es Salaam city, they can use the telegraph to contact their European families faster and cheaper.

The most outrageous thing is that the Mozambique colony also contacts Portugal mainland through East Africa’s telegraph system. Though the telegraph fee is quite expensive, it is still much cheaper and more convenient compared to sea vessel communication.

The above advantages are just a part of Dar es Salaam city. For example, it is also a financial center, trade center, and shipping center along the Indian Ocean coast...

All these conditions combined make Dar es Salaam city, with a permanent population of only over eighty thousand, the most developed city along the Indian Ocean coast.

And the fact that Dar es Salaam city becomes the most developed city along the Indian Ocean coast is inseparable from its geographical advantage.

For instance, the main competitor of Dar es Salaam city is Mombasa. Compared to Mombasa, Dar es Salaam city is directly across from the Sultanate of Zanzibar, where Arab merchants are quite affluent and have strong spending power, as well as the European colonial countries south of the East African kingdom, which are closest to Dar es Salaam city. Their consumption is also concentrated in Dar es Salaam city.

You could say Dar es Salaam city is the only truly international commercial city south of the Sahara and also a financial and taxation stronghold for the East African government.