African Entrepreneurship Record

That’s right, the economic scale of the Far East Empire, when viewed globally, is only surpassed by the United States and England, positioning it as large but not strong.

This can be glimpsed from military spending, as the size of the Far East Imperial Navy is notable worldwide, and this is achieved despite its weak industrial foundation.

Therefore, the population advantage is vividly reflected in the Far East Empire. Even if East Africa is formidable, it is impossible for a ratio of one to seven; in 1890, the Far East Empire’s population was seven times that of East Africa. The industrial level of East Africa is generally weak, although stronger than the Far East Empire, still limited. Therefore, the Far East Empire remains economically stronger than East Africa.

However, East Africa’s population growth is rapid, and coupled with the accelerated industrial process, it is expected that the positions between the two may switch within a few years.

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”By 1900, our major urban areas should achieve comprehensive access to water, electricity, and roads — the Three-Link Policy. The next fifty years, from 1900 to 1950, should see nationwide electrification, including electricity, safe drinking water, and roads in all rural and remote areas of East Africa.”

Currently, over two million households in East Africa are electrified, which seems substantial but is actually less than five percent of the national population. This has nonetheless established East Africa as the world’s leading power industry country; the power scale of the United States is only about forty-seven percent of East Africa, with Germany in third place.

East Africa, the United States, and Germany are in the leading tier of the global power industry, far ahead of other countries, including England and France.

”As of May this year, over 1,700 power plants have been built nationwide, with a power generation of 3.9 billion kilowatt-hours. Seventy-nine percent of it is used for lighting, while the industrial field, such as aluminum electrolysis, are major consumers, with electricity industry workers and related employees exceeding seventy thousand people.”

In contrast, the United States has about thirty thousand, and Germany just over twenty thousand. So from the number of workers in the electric sector, East Africa surpasses other countries, with professional electricians numbering over twenty thousand.

The global electric industry has developed rapidly, evolving from nothing to an expansive growth in just thirty years, with East Africa as one of the pioneers indisputably leading the world in this area.

Electricity, automotive, and petroleum are also industries where East Africa is at the forefront, whereas in comparison, it lags slightly behind in steel, rail, and textiles, although it still ranks among the world leaders, barely fitting its status as a major power. Its performance in chemicals, equipment manufacturing, and steam engines is more backward, but these industries, although not strong, do exist, and East Africa is not entirely at a loss.

East Africa’s investment in emerging industrial fields distinguishes it fundamentally from other latecomers like Japan, instead resembling Germany and the United States in surpassing England and France in these fields.

Of course, Germany and the United States have strong foundations, so categorizing them as latecomers is somewhat unfair. Previously, despite Germany’s division, the economies of German states were not bad, and as for the United States, its economy might even be considered the ”world’s largest” in terms of scale.

”The electric power and internal combustion engine industries will continue to be key areas of national investment, especially relevant to production sector promotion. Electricity is the easiest to benefit the public, enhancing citizens’ happiness as a vital welfare project, thus making electricity coverage very important.”

This is easy to understand; naturally, East Africa cannot presently equip every household with a car, but installing electric lights for all is far more feasible.

Of course, this feasibility is relative, as indicated by East Africa’s power plan, which states that nationwide electricity coverage of major urban areas could only be achieved by 1900.

Currently, East Africa’s urban population should be over ten million, with just over two million using electric lights—this is the result of over thirty years of effort by the East African government.

However, once the electricity coverage rate reaches five percent, the speed of expansion will double, as previously seen in countries like the United States.

This is why East Africa can confidently declare its ambition to achieve nationwide electricity coverage of major urban areas by 1900. The reason for targeting major urban areas is the constant possibility of new town developments within East Africa.

Especially the development of the ”Three Divisions” areas and resource exploration will foster new industrial towns. These new cities cannot possibly synchronize entirely with the rest of East African towns in terms of electricity coverage.

Therefore, the Three-Link Policy mainly targets the major urban areas of Central, Eastern, and other regions of East Africa, with electrification being the most challenging to achieve.

In contrast, achieving access to water and roads is much simpler, as road access is already completed in most regions, and water access depends on sufficient water sources; if not on this basis, new water plants and pipelines are established.

”The Three-Link Policy is not solely based on economic data but is also a significant welfare project aimed at rapidly catching up with Europe and America to close the gap.”

In reality, East Africa’s Three-Link Policy extends beyond this, as no European or American country has fully achieved it, nor do their electric industries match East Africa’s. Those in European society that use electricity are typically not ordinary people.

After all, electricity is currently a scarce and monetary resource. While East Africa also differentiates electric accessibility by social class, it still benefits some ordinary citizens, especially in developed urban areas of East Africa, where many ordinary residents enjoy electricity-related benefits. This is why East Africa has become the world’s largest electricity-producing country.

With the implementation of the Three-Link Policy, East Africa’s electricity coverage is expected to benefit over twenty percent of the population in just a few years.

This is the fundamental difference between East Africa’s state-owned electricity enterprises and Europe and America’s private electricity enterprises. The former does not prioritize profit but fulfills a certain social responsibility, whereas the latter prioritizes profit.

Of course, not all enterprises in East Africa are like this. For example, the Heixinggen Electric Company, a Heixinggen Royal Family business, is no different from American and European electricity companies.

However, as one of the global electricity giants, Heixinggen Electric Company mainly operates outside East Africa, especially in Europe, holding a domestic market share of less than twenty percent.

Even so, the twenty percent share is not insignificant, capable of surpassing any country including Spain, except for the top major powers.

Previous European countries, like Italy, developed their electric industries well, but in this timeline, Italy’s re-division hampered its progress due to lack of monopolistic organization like East Africa, the United States, and Germany—mainly due to market scale.

Once the Three-Link Policy is initially completed, the gap between East Africa and other countries in the electric sector will widen further unless a rapid-growing country like the Soviet Union emerges. Even in such a case, East Africa’s accumulated accelerated growth makes it difficult to be surpassed immediately.

Currently, even the United States reaches only half of East Africa in the electric field, illustrating the rapid development speed of East Africa’s electric industry, and the most astonishing aspect is that East Africa’s population continues to grow rapidly, signifying a continuous acceleration in the scale of its electric industry.