African Entrepreneurship Record

Turkana Province, Jima City.

When East Africa initially occupied the southern Ethiopian Plateau, the main goal was to ensure the safety of the water source of the Omo River upstream of Lake Turkana.

With East Africa’s occupation here, not only was the Omo River secured, but also the water security issues for the Shabelle and Juba rivers and others were resolved, making it the ”little water tower” of northeastern East Africa.

And now, the trade between East Africa and the Abyssinia Empire has made Turkana Province the most important land trade port in East Africa, with the Abyssinia Empire also being East Africa’s largest land trade partner.

Mainly because the Abyssinia Empire is large, and among the countries and regions bordering East Africa, Abyssinia Empire and Egypt have the largest populations.

Unfortunately, Egypt’s core region is too far from East Africa, and the area in between, the Sultanate, is too barren, plus Egypt is now a semi-colony of the British, a market that East Africa can only watch eagerly.

”This batch of woodcarvings can only be exchanged for three Rhine Shields, because the woodcarving market isn’t booming, especially your kind of woodcarvings. Though they have their own cultural characteristics, they are seen as worthless in other countries.”

”Mr. Hans, these woodcarvings were meticulously crafted by the most renowned art masters of Nigmet City over several days. Look at the patterns, and the texture of the wood. Not to mention the craftsmanship, even the value of the wood itself is not cheap.”

It must be said, East Africa inherited a trait from Germany, which is that there are too many people named Hans. If you call out on the street, probably six or seven people will turn their heads. However, immigration from the Far East greatly enriched the diversity of East African names and surnames.

”Then how much do you want?”

”At least twenty Rhine Shields!”

”That’s too much, your batch of goods isn’t worth that much money. Just as I said before, your culture is ultimately different from Europe’s, or even Arab countries. So blindly promoting your own traditions might not be well received by the market. I told you before, it would be better to make according to the samples we provide, as this would help open up the market.”

The woodcarving samples provided by Hans were naturally customized for Europe, primarily using religious and cultural factors as templates. After all, Europeans willingly paid tithes and indulgences, so buying some cultural products to support ”God” wouldn’t be excessive.

Of course, mainly it was because Abyssinian carpenters are skillful, and many religious figures can be vividly represented, which seems to be an innate talent of Africans.

Hans continued to haggle: ”Look at this texture, such good wood is wasted. I’d say the decent quality wood itself is worth more than three Rhine Shields, plus the craftsmanship could fetch five Rhine Shields. It’s because you acted on your own that even three Rhine Shields is a high price now.”

Kale was clearly convinced by Hans’ words, but is it really because of his own decision that this batch of woodcarvings was devalued?

”Mr. Hans, what if we take this batch of woodcarvings back and redo them? Slightly reducing their size might recover some value.” Kale asked tentatively.

How could it be possible when the meat is already at his lips, Hans naturally didn’t want to let it go. As for previously devaluing this batch of woodcarvings to nothing, business is business! Everyone understands, it’s just a mutual process of discounting.

However, what Hans said is also true, for woodcarvings like those from the Abyssinia Empire, if they aren’t modified according to European aesthetics, they really don’t sell well. But not selling well doesn’t mean there’s no market, especially among artists who are very interested in such woodcarvings with a primitive wild beauty.

European artists, known for their generous spending, form a select circle. Yet, consumer products also remain a major focus for East Africa, which is why Hans asked their counterpart to produce items incorporating European religious and cultural elements.

Thus, Hans said, ”Forget taking them back to modify, as the back and forth not only takes more time but also affects our next trade. This time, I’ll take a hit and purchase them at the price of four Rhine Shields.”

East Africa’s massive procurement of handicrafts from the Abyssinia Empire is, in fact, out of necessity. Because the Abyssinia Empire itself doesn’t have significant mineral resources, agriculture is its pillar industry. Meanwhile, East Africa is also an agricultural powerhouse, so in trade between the two, East Africa has to think of ways to make it affordable for the Abyssinia Empire.

Take the woodcarving industry, for example. East Africa previously could produce them itself, but the craftsmanship of its indigenous people could hardly compare to that of a civilized ancient nation like the Abyssinia Empire.

Moreover, the labor cost in the Abyssinia Empire is much lower than in East Africa. East Africa has a relatively small population compared to its land area, while the Abyssinia Empire has an opposing situation. In recent years, the Abyssinia Empire’s land area has been gradually reducing while its population increased, further lowering labor costs.

Thus, items like woodcarvings and carpets are outsourced to the Abyssinia Empire, though it’s limited to these handicrafts.

East Africa prioritizes industries rather than handicrafts, as currently, there isn’t a country that can rival the Far East Empire in craftsmanship. Many handicraft products for consumption in East Africa are directly imported from the Far East Empire.

The handicrafts purchased from the Far East Empire are mainly for domestic consumption, whereas those from the Abyssinia Empire are mainly for re-export to other countries and regions. In essence, East Africa acts as a middleman in these trades.

In reality, Turkana Province can also leverage the Abyssinia Empire to develop its own industry, which is quite rare in the East African interior.

The approach is straightforward; Turkana Province has a relatively small population in East Africa and isn’t particularly rich in resources, especially basic industrial materials like coal and iron.

Turkana Province is vast and certainly has these minerals, but lacks the population to exploit them. Therefore, one strategy for Turkana Province to develop its industry is to turn the Abyssinia Empire into its raw material supplier and market through trade advantages.

Not to mention, all of the iron ore and coal for the border city of Jima City in Turkana Province are imported from within the Abyssinia Empire.

Furthermore, Jima City is an important market for gold trading because the Abyssinia Empire has substantial gold reserves and a relatively mature industry. Jima City uses various industrial products to exchange for the wealth of the Abyssinia Empire, like gold.

Naturally, the most famous trade between the two countries is still in arms. The Abyssinia Empire pays an annual fee to purchase arms from East Africa, a long-term business since, surrounded by three countries, East Africa, Italy, and Britain (Egypt), none are easy to deal with.

Situated among these three countries, the Abyssinia Empire naturally feels anxious, so East Africa’s arms trade with Abyssinia ensures its state does not collapse.

For East Africa, a complete Abyssinia Empire is advantageous because of the complicated situation here. If the Abyssinia Empire were to fragment, with various factions backed by different countries, it would turn into a tangled mess.

As a cohesive entity, the Abyssinia Empire’s strength has already been weakened by East Africa, and its future potential greatly diminished, given it no longer has the same landmass as in the past. The future population of Abyssinia can only maintain in the tens of millions.

Most importantly, the current import and export trade of the Abyssinia Empire is essentially monopolized by East Africa, being East Africa’s first actual raw material supplier and fully open market, so East Africa naturally needs to ensure the stability of the current Abyssinian government.