African Entrepreneurship Record

For the French involved in investment or trade activities in East Africa, they consider the economic vibrancy there to be quite promising, and the opportunities encountered among compatriots are immense.

”Hey, Boli, you went back to your country last month; I thought I wouldn’t see you for a long time!” Kross said in surprise when he saw a familiar figure.

”It’s you, Mr. Kross. I certainly can’t stay away for too long. After all, we have long-term business with East Africa. However, I reported some situations to the company last month.”

Boli is the East Africa business manager of a French machinery company. With East Africa’s recent policy of eliminating backward industries in the central and eastern regions, there is a lot of equipment technology upgrading, and the import of related foreign products has increased significantly. Under this premise, Boli negotiated a big deal with East African manufacturers, attracting the attention of the company’s headquarters.

”I really envy you guys in the machinery equipment business. Recently, many factories in East Africa are replacing equipment, and many old machines in Dar es Salaam City are dismantled, then transported by rail, and more advanced international equipment is purchased. Your company must have made a big profit this time!”

Kross asked enviously. Dar es Salaam City is one of the key cities for industrial upgrades in East Africa, mainly eliminating a batch of outdated equipment brought in during the 1970s and 1980s, some of which can be traced back to the 1950s and 60s.

During the economic crisis of the 1970s, when East Africa was forming its domestic industrial system by introducing industries from Europe and America, the equipment requirements were not high.

After all, at that time, East Africa was a zero-base agricultural country, and the industrial start from scratch did not have high standards and requirements for technology and equipment, with more emphasis on price.

Moreover, since education and industry in East Africa were not yet developed, and related talents were lacking, many of the introduced machines had significant ”problems,” simply put, they were somewhat deceived or misled.

This time, the elimination of backward industries in East Africa and the industrial upgrade in the central and eastern regions will not follow the old path.

On the one hand, East Africa’s own industrial level has improved, and many things can be independently manufactured. On the other hand, due to compulsory education, East Africa has cultivated a large number of qualified industrial workers and technicians, so they are no longer novices in the technical field.

Of course, another undeniable reason is that East Africa is not as affluent as it was in the 1970s. During the 1970s economic crisis, European and American industrial products were unsalable, so prices were low, and with Ernst’s early preparations, the introduction of industries was quite generous.

But today, more than a decade later, there are not so many favorable opportunities, and with recent engineering construction expenses being significant for the East African government, they are more frugal in spending on equipment technology introduction.

The demand is high, yet unwilling to spend more money, which naturally is unlikely to favor East Africa. However, unlike more than a decade ago, the East African economy today is far more significant, and the government’s fiscal revenue has naturally skyrocketed. Agricultural development alone has trebled East Africa’s fiscal revenue.

Also, as this industrial upgrade is limited to the central and eastern two regions, the East African government can still manage it.

Although it’s just an industrial upgrade in the central and eastern regions, the profit within it is already a considerable number for European and American businessmen. As for how to obtain orders from East Africa, naturally, every country has its ingenuity, and Boli’s company is the winner in this round of competition.

”Well, actually, in the past three months negotiating with East African manufacturers, I almost talked myself hoarse. The other party was too tough, not offering high prices and nitpicking about our company’s products. If you experienced the hardship, you’d probably not envy me.”

Although Boli was complaining, one could tell from his expression that he made quite a bit of money this time; his mouth was almost turning up to the sky.

Boli wasn’t lying about this, as he described the objective situation. Even if the earnings were less, that is only relative, as East Africa is by no means third-world, being one of the world’s top ten industrial nations with bargaining power, so as a buyer, East Africa’s bargaining ability remains considerable.

Boli continued: ”Moreover, I think you merchants purchasing East African agricultural products are the most enviable ones. The prices of East African agricultural products have been falling in recent years. All you need to do is to trade back and forth, and you can earn more than before. It’s truly infuriating to compare people to people.”

As an agricultural country, the primary income source for the East African government remains agriculture, and in recent years, the planting scale of various agricultural products in East Africa has been expanding. Plus, East Africa urgently needs to obtain funds from agriculture to develop its industry, so the East African government has offered discounts to various countries in selling agricultural products.

Of course, East Africa won’t suffer a loss just to make good publicity, and with the transition in agricultural planting, tropical cash crops are now the leading export products of East African agriculture, such as tea, rubber, cotton, and so on.

Moreover, East Africa also has strategic considerations; by lowering the export price of agricultural products, it can further suppress its competitors like Brazil, Southeast Asia, and India, so the pros outweigh the cons, and naturally, East Africa wants to do so.

Kross did not deny Boli’s statement. The decline in prices of East African agricultural products over the past few years is naturally a good thing for a trader like him.

He and Boli are both French. France, as an industrialized nation, has a relatively high demand for agricultural products, especially cash crops.

Although France is a major agricultural power in Europe, with farmers earning quite a good income, this is limited to grain crops and a small amount of cash crop planting. Other agricultural products mainly rely on imports.

And East Africa, as a major producer of cash crops, naturally can form a certain complementarity with France. As for the colonies opened by France, although their scale is large, development still requires time and cannot replace East Africa, the world’s top tropical cash crop nation.

Take the French West African colonies, for instance. Although the land is not small, many have only been incorporated into colonial territory in recent years, and the Black population in West Africa isn’t actually substantial, being carved up by several foreign countries.

After all, West Africa was historically the main location for the slave trade; of the 100 million people lost in Africa over the years of the Black Slave trade, at least 70 million were from West Africa.

Though the base in West Africa was better than East Africa, the impact was not too severe, but due to overly backward civilization, the overall natural growth rate of the Black population was not high.

The population explosion seen in African nations in previous centuries basically occurred after the mid-20th century when increased productivity levels indeed brought population growth. However, Western colonizers haven’t yet had a chance to boost West Africa’s productivity, and the specific effects will take at least another twenty years to manifest.

Additionally, because of being squeezed together, the colonies in West Africa are in a fragmented state, preventing effective integration.

For instance, Portugal’s Vida colony is tightly nestled between British and German colonies, according to the original history, it should have been occupied by the French as early as the year before last (1894).

In reality, after losing Angola and Portugal, Portugal’s attention to the Vida colony has been unprecedented. Instead of losing the colony, they have expanded it several times in size, eventually annexing the Kingdom of Dahomey (today’s southern Benin).

Of course, Portugal’s success can’t be divorced from British support. After all, during the South African War, Portugal fell too heavily alongside the UK, so there was an element of compensating Portugal; anyway, after the South African War, Portugal became the UK’s most loyal follower.