African Entrepreneurship Record

First Town.

Ernst: ”The development of Angola and Mozambique is an urgent issue, but now we are facing a population shortage problem. At the same time, the law and order management of both places has not been completely resolved, with large numbers of Black people displaced during wartime moving about, coupled with poor infrastructure. The government should come up with a charter for the development of these areas, how to utilize and develop them, and resource allocation are all important issues.”

After the capture of Angola and Mozambique, the economic construction of these two places was no longer a regional issue but a nationwide resource allocation problem.

Simply put, East Africa’s investment in every place has been uneven. Like in the sixties and seventies, East Africa focused mainly on developing the eastern coastal areas, in the eighties, it vigorously developed central provinces, especially the Matabele Province, and now Ernst has set the tone, so the economic development priority naturally becomes Angola and Mozambique.

Von der Leyen said: ”Actually, several provinces in the central area still have great development potential. Take the Hohenzollern Province as an example; the forest coverage reaches seventy percent, with large areas yet to be developed. On the other hand, the Matabele Province, which has a typical grassland climate, is slightly better. However, the development of Mozambique will certainly benefit the central area, especially the Matabele Province, whose shortfall is that it is not coastal. Once Mozambique is developed, it can further activate the Matabele Province’s economy and can connect the middle east region into one piece.”

Sivert countered: ”The problem now is how we can invest so much population. In the seventies and eighties, East Africa absorbed a large number of immigrants which allowed the east and central areas to develop rapidly. But since the late eighties, our country’s immigrant numbers have fallen to historically low points. Last year, only a little over two thousand immigrants came to our country, although this was affected by the war, the immigrant population in 1888 was around five thousand, and back then the war hadn’t even begun.”

Von der Leyen: ”This issue is not unsolvable. In the short term, we can rely on the local African populations and the legacy left by the Portuguese to temporarily develop Mozambique and Angola.”

”Moreover, we don’t necessarily have to conduct comprehensive development of both places but focus on key regions, for instance, Northern Angola and Southern Mozambique, which are the essence of the two areas with the richest assets left by the Portuguese.”

”Taking Mozambique as an example, we can completely divide Mozambique temporarily into two major sections, using the Zambezi River as the boundary, namely Northern Mozambique and Southern Mozambique.”

”Under our rule, Northern Mozambique has had many years of history. Since the first East-Portuguese War until now, the population of Northern Mozambique totals over three hundred thousand, concentrated in the northern regions.”

”Currently, Southern Mozambique has a large number of Black people and a small portion of Portuguese. The positioning of Southern Mozambique is that in the future it can be an important agricultural base comparable to the Great Lakes Region in our country.”

”According to the current situation analysis of Mozambique, all the basic conditions in the south are superior to the north. During Portuguese colonial times, all economic activities of the entire Mozambique colony revolved around the southernmost Maputo, so the economy is more developed and the population is concentrated in Southern Mozambique.”

”During Portuguese colonial times, the southern Mozambique area became a plantation and labor source for Portuguese colonizers. The Portuguese colonizers introduced a large number of African laborers and slaves for plantation and mine labor, causing a highly active immigration phenomenon.”

”The size of southern plantations is more than ten times larger than northern ones, and they are more evenly distributed, stretching into the mid-streams of rivers like the Limpopo River, while the north is concentrated in a few coastal areas.”

”Portuguese colonizers established numerous plantations in this region, mainly planting commodity crops such as rubber, coffee, sugar, and cotton.”

”Currently, our army has taken over four hundred and fifty-seven medium and large plantations, but fewer than seventy have been restored to production. Personnel need to be arranged urgently to restore plantation management in southern Mozambique.”

”In this way, we can create many job positions, and it’s easier to relocate populations from the eastern regions. Early on, their main responsibility will be management, and as long as there are no major issues, it can be fully acceptable.”

”Once production is restored in both areas, we can carry out comprehensive transportation and economic construction to link these areas with the middle east region, while transitioning indigenous residents involved in infrastructure development to replace them gradually with national citizens. This way, Angola and Mozambique can gradually be put on track.”

Everyone was largely receptive to Von der Leyen’s words, though realizing that this approach would certainly not quicken the development of Angola and Mozambique, as relying solely on national citizens to immigrate to these places will be a prolonged process.

At this time, Ernst spoke up, addressing the officials: ”The above suggestions are rather conventional, so I’d like to add that the construction of these places should not be limited to the past but should focus on the current era’s progress.”

”In the past, agricultural development and urban construction were a very slow process, but in the industrial era, this situation has fundamentally changed. The advancement of industrialization has greatly enhanced our ability to transform nature; a large number of emerging cities have risen in Europe and North America, especially in mineral-rich areas like Ruhr District, where many directly transformed from small villages or even wastelands into industrial zones with emerging cities. The Great Lakes Region in the United States is a similar case, and domestically, our Matabele Province is a typical example.”

”By the end of the 19th century, the situation changed again, as agricultural machinery development has entered a new stage, besides traditional steam power, internal combustion engine power is also rapidly maturing.”

”East Africa originally is an agriculturally backward nation; our agricultural machinery penetration rate is far behind countries like UK, France, and Germany, so the development of Mozambique and Angola can be completely approached from new technologies, increasing the penetration rate of machinery and replacing some manpower.”

”In this way, we can not only promote the development of these two places but also expand the domestic market, such as focusing on modern large agricultural machinery production in Matabele Province and South Salzburg Province, developing related industries, and promoting them in Mozambique and Angola.”

”Of course, consequently, we must develop large farms similar to the United States in Mozambique and Angola, improving the utilization rate of machinery.”

”Especially the Southern Mozambique plains, where the natural conditions are excellent, the terrain is flat, and water and soil are abundant, we definitely can’t leave such quality farmland unattended.”

”Mozambique, being close to developed regions like Matabele Province and South Salzburg Province, is conducive to the direct industrial interfacing support for Mozambique’s agricultural development from these provinces.”

Ernst plans to develop a batch of large and medium state-owned farms in Southern Mozambique, using machinery to replace a lot of manpower.

This can effectively develop the local area and promote the development of East African machinery manufacturing and automotive industries.

Of course, given the current technical level and production capacity constraints in East Africa, Ernst’s goal certainly cannot be achieved in a short period.

However, the current unrealization doesn’t count as a problem; the development of Mozambique and Angola must not be rushed blindly.

The East African Government must still approach things practically and take multi-pronged measures, in this way a breakthrough can always be made from some aspect, thus achieving effective use and development of these places, continually expanding East Africa’s economic volume.

In this meeting, besides being concerned with the development of Angola and Mozambique, Ernst’s real purpose was actually to further explore East African agricultural mechanization and scaling.