African Entrepreneurship Record

Nowadays, in the German talent market, graduates with a major in chemistry are in high demand, so it is not uncommon for East African students like Charlieran to be poached by German companies; it is a widespread phenomenon.

The German chemical industry did not actually start very early, most of it began after the sixties and seventies, with the rise of the German chemical industry occurring in recent years, and German higher education entering the chemical industry only started to become common after the seventies.

Therefore, education in the field of chemistry in Germany is actually lagging behind the development of the chemical industry, resulting in a ”supply not meeting demand” situation in the talent market.

At this time, German chemical companies have turned their attention to the vast group of East African students, and currently, the largest number of international students in Germany are East Africans, especially after the eighties, with more than four thousand East African students going to Germany each year.

In contrast, the number of Japanese students going to Europe and America during the same period was only a little over a thousand, reaching just over two thousand by 1890.

And this is just the number of East African students in Germany. Adding the East African students in Austria-Hungary, Sweden, France, and the Netherlands, the number of East African students in 1892 alone exceeded ten thousand, with only seven thousand domestic university students in East Africa at the same time.

It means that much of East Africa’s higher education is realized through foreign higher education, which is unavoidable; East African higher education talents who can serve as faculty are inevitably the elite of the elite in any country of this era.

At the same time, the number of university students in Germany had already exceeded thirty thousand, not including some technical colleges. Of course, a significant part of Germany’s higher education (including technical colleges) consists of East African students, accounting for an astonishing 4.5% or so.

Thus, East Africa’s investment in education is exceedingly extravagant, but high investment represents high returns. Without talent cultivation, East Africa would not be able to quickly chase international standards in emerging industrial fields and some traditional industrial areas, or even achieve a leading level.

Moreover, East African students are mainly concentrated in the fields of science and engineering, which makes German companies’ efforts to poach East African students even more pronounced, with nearly a fifth of the student group staying in Germany each year.

It should be noted that the East African students who can be valued by German companies are obviously not mediocre, showing true skills and knowledge while still in school.

In essence, East African students have propelled Germany’s industrial development, so the German government is very welcoming toward the East African student group; aside from generating revenue for higher education institutions and localities, it can also be utilized for their own benefit, a win-win situation, with Charlieran being an East African young man who stayed in Germany under such circumstances.

”Germany truly got a bargain!” Borland exclaimed after learning about Charlieran’s experience, noting that East Africa’s investment in the student group is not merely financial but includes time and effort costs, not to mention the astounding cost of ten years of compulsory education alone.

However, this is unavoidable, as Germany and Europe are far more developed than East Africa now. East Africa cannot forcibly repatriate these talents through hard means, so it is better to win them over; at least Germany’s openness in many educational fields towards East Africa has obviously improved.

Additionally, this has improved East Africa’s reputation in Germany; the overall quality of East African students in Germany is generally high, and with a semi-”kindred” feel, they are naturally well-received. This reflects the high level of German education and its strong cultural appeal.

Overall, East Africa has not lost out; at least 80% of the students still choose to return home to develop. East Africa adopts a ”widespread net” strategy, and there will always be talent to drive great development in various sectors.

For instance, in the chemical industry, the proportion of returning talents is only about 40%, but it has greatly enhanced the chemical industry in various industrial zones in East Africa.

Indeed, East Africa’s industrial zones and coastal cities also have chemical industries; however, due to a short development history, they cannot compete with Europe and America, which have decades of advantage.

This is also an important reason for East Africa and Germany’s cooperation in the chemical industry. In the chemical field, England and France still have strong powers, the United States is also hugely powerful, and, like Germany, is a latecomer with DuPont, an old giant in the chemical field.

Germany started the latest among the four but already has a trend of surpassing the UK, France, and Germany, with the success of Germany owing in no small part to its talent cultivation mechanism.

The reason East Africa’s chemical and materials heavy industrial fields are currently lagging behind is mainly a matter of timing; East Africa’s chemical industry only began in the late seventies, which means it started nearly twenty years later than Germany.

Previously, East Africa’s investments were mainly focused on steel, railways, power, etc., with relatively low investments in the chemical industry, which is a highly capital-intensive sector.

For example, BASF is currently developing a new dye, which directly consumed over a thousand Marks and is still ongoing, while BASF’s current market value is only less than twenty million Marks.

Therefore, for East Africa to develop its chemical industry, besides talent cultivation, it needs to continue investing heavily, and results may not be seen in the short term; similar to the machine tool field development, there are no tricks, only continuous investments of time and money to achieve qualitative improvements.

Subsequently, Borland began introducing Bela City’s location advantages to the members of the inspection team. Everyone spoke German, so there were no language barriers.

”Do not look at Bela City as inferior to Mombasa and Dar es Salaam now, but in the past three years, our government’s investment in Bela City has ranked first, surpassing other cities nationwide.”

”Just wait for another two months, and the Harare-Bela railway will be fully completed. I think Mr. Charlieran should be familiar with Harare City; it is currently the second largest industrial city in East Africa, next to Mbeya, and Matabele Province, where Harare is located, is the foremost industrial stronghold in East Africa, equivalent to Germany’s Ruhr District, gathering the foremost in steel, metal smelting, railway equipment manufacturing, mechanical processing, chemicals, and materials industries.”

”While at first glance, Bela City seems unrelated to Matabele Province, it is actually the most convenient seaport for the province. Once the railway is open, it will only take a day to travel from Bela to Harare City.”

”You can see with the naked eye the speed of Bela City’s development; three years ago, it was still a desolate bay, formerly under Portuguese control, with no development. Thus, if BASF’s subsidiary plant is established in our city, the maximum benefit can be achieved.”

”Of course, I know Nairobi is the biggest textile city in East Africa. Your company’s main business is closely related to the textile industry, so Mombasa is very attractive, but East Africa’s second largest textile city is in Bulawayo, Matabele Province, also an enormous, undeniable market, and Bulawayo’s textile industry scale is expanding rapidly. In a few years, it might rival Nairobi.”

”By that time, Bela City will be the main export channel for Bulawayo’s textiles. With the central government’s emphasis, Bela City will also foster a batch of textile companies. In this respect, our Bela City has an advantage over Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, as new textile industries are more likely to collaborate with your company; cities like Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, due to their early development, have some path dependencies and may not fully utilize your company’s products.”

”Also, you have many competitors; many companies from Germany and Austria are eyeing major cities like Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, such as your competitor, Bayer Company.”

”Thus, by choosing to establish a factory in Bela City, I can offer you the most convenience. For example, in terms of plant construction, cities like Dar es Salaam and Mombasa cannot provide you with the best locations due to their decades of development and large land areas, meaning you would likely be situated in relatively marginal areas…”

To promote Bela City, Borland continually undermined other cities without feeling any guilt, especially since other cities would undoubtedly use similar methods when promoting themselves, particularly Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, East Africa’s ”Twin Stars,” which almost ignore other East African cities, only having eyes for each other.