African Entrepreneurship Record

For example, in the Far East Empire, East African goods find it difficult to enter the commercial zones of the UK and France, after all, the UK, France, as well as the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain have been operating in the Far East for far longer than East Africa, having built stable networks and relationships with many fixed partners.

The Huaihai Economic Zone in East Africa could succeed largely because the original local consumption capacity was not significant, not to mention per capita purchasing power, and when East Africa entered the Far East market, the local population was not large due to war and disasters.

This is also the reason why East Africa could easily construct the northern trade system centered in Jiaozhou, as other countries did not see the value. Of course, thanks to over thirty years of joint efforts with East Africa, the Huaihai Economic Zone is no longer the poorest and most underdeveloped area of the Far East as it once was.

But this is also well-deserved for the East African government, as they invested a great deal of effort and financial resources locally, enabling East Africa to secure a foothold in the Far East Empire’s trade and to run neck and neck with the United States, the UK, and France.

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”The development of the western economy cannot thrive without trade support, and among the Atlantic coast countries, there are developed nations like the UK, the United States, and France, as well as less developed countries like Spain, Portugal, and Argentina, along with large but equally significant countries like Brazil.”

”Among these countries, the focus of our mid-to-low-end industrial product expansion should be on the industrially underdeveloped markets such as Spain, Brazil, and Argentina.”

Spain is quite an important country for East Africa; it is the gateway for East Africa’s West Coast into the Mediterranean. After all, Portugal and the United Kingdom (Gibraltar colony) both have less favorable relations with East Africa.

And the eastern Suez Canal is under British control, with British colonies near the Mand Strait. In such a scenario, if the United Kingdom were to cut off the eastern sea route between East Africa and the Mediterranean, Spain’s importance would further increase.

Of course, the likelihood of this happening is almost zero unless Britain is prepared to lose global supremacy in a mutual defeat with East Africa.

But as long as there is any possibility, the East African government must consider this. Therefore, Spain has always been a key ally for East Africa, as its geographical location affects East Africa’s commercial trade strategy and security.

At the same time, Spain’s level of economic development is relatively poor compared to other European countries, especially in the industrial sector; both Spain and Portugal missed opportunities due to historical reasons, which means East Africa can have more chances.

Similarly, the emergence of East Africa is also a new option for Spain, as Spain competes and cooperates with the UK and France in the region. After the Spanish-American War, Spain’s relationship with the United States deteriorated, creating an opportunity for East Africa to replace US interests in Spain.

Argentina is a premium market, boasting various advantages; Argentinians’ purchasing power ranks highest among South American countries, even exceeding the average level in Europe and America, and most importantly, Argentina’s own industry is very underdeveloped, unable to produce many industrial products for itself.

Thus, Argentina in the early 20th century was like those Middle Eastern oil-rich countries from previous lifetimes; East Africa cannot ignore such a prime trading partner, moreover, Argentina is located on the South Atlantic shipping route, making the transportation between East Africa and Argentina quite convenient.

Brazil naturally needs no further explanation; though currently, Brazil is just a mess, East Africa doesn’t expect to make big profits from Brazil; in East Africa’s strategy, Brazil is more of a raw material supplier than a market.

Before West African mining is developed, Brazil is the only external country that can provide relatively affordable raw materials to East Africa’s West Coast.

”Meanwhile, the United States and Western Europe are the primary destinations for our country’s western agricultural products. Divided by the Tunisia Strait, the Mediterranean is split into two zones, acting as an important geographical boundary for our country’s trade with Europe across the eastern and western coasts.”

East of the Tunisia Strait is the Eastern Mediterranean, and to the west is the Western Mediterranean. In East Africa’s trade with Europe in the past, Central, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East regions were East Africa’s most important global markets.

As the West Coast economy develops, it will facilitate East Africa’s trade with Western and Northern Europe through Atlantic routes.

The most important aspect is that this trade route faces little threat; it doesn’t involve geographically constrained areas like the Suez Canal, the Mand Strait, or the Malacca Strait.

For instance, in past trade between East Africa and France, it was primarily conducted via the Red Sea route, but now it only requires passing through the Atlantic from the East African West Coast to France.

The same goes for Nordic countries; previously, East Africa’s maritime trade with Nordic countries required passing through the Mand Strait, the Suez Canal, the Tunisia Strait, the Gibraltar Strait, and the English Channel, but now it only needs to use the Atlantic route via the English Channel.

In summary, East Africa’s West Coast, particularly the coastline along Angola, has strategically opened up East Africa’s maritime trade lines, with significant economic implications for the entire nation, especially its industrial growth.

This greatly expands East Africa’s commercial trade reach, covering almost all major global areas, significantly reducing barriers to direct international trade.

Now the only conduit that could block East Africa’s maritime trade with major global economic zones is the Malacca Strait. However, East Africa can bypass the Malacca Strait, considering that East Africa is primarily situated in the southern hemisphere, making the Malacca Strait not as critical for East Africa as it is for intra-European trade.

East Africa can proceed directly through the East Indies and toward Australia, then head north. Within the British colonial system, Australia lacks the ability to block trade routes like India; at least, it cannot hope to block a power like East Africa, let alone attempting to block East Africa might even cause the British to be permanently expelled from the Australia region.

And the East Indies are mostly controlled by the Dutch, who aren’t likely to undertake such thankless tasks.

Sivert continued: ”If the Atlantic economic zone could reach half of the Indian Ocean’s economic volume, the increase in our national economic scale would be significant, turning into a new growth pillar for East Africa.”

The Indian Ocean economic zone mainly covers East Africa’s homeland, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, accounting for over eighty percent of East Africa’s foreign trade.

Besides East Africa itself, the Atlantic economic zone can connect to West Africa, Europe, South America, and North America, equally as important as the Indian Ocean economic zone.

Its sole limitation is having fewer usable ports and coastlines compared to the east, but given the economic zones it connects with, if the West Coast of East Africa can be developed, without impacting eastern foreign trade, East Africa’s foreign trade should increase by at least thirty percent.

This greatly appeals to East Africa, which is why East Africa was determined to secure the Angola region at all costs.

The advantages of being a nation between two oceans are evidenced here; like the United States, with its trade primarily linked to the Atlantic for Europe, and the Pacific for the Far East, East Africa operates under the same logic.

Thus, building up the West Coast industry and economy is the most straightforward way to achieve results with the highest success rate, and ensures the safety of East Africa’s trade; the West Coast draws on raw materials and markets from Atlantic coastline countries, presenting a shortcut to bolstering East Africa’s national industrialization in a short period.