African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 592 - 270: East Africa Model

"Moreover, immigration still needs to focus primarily on the inland Matebel Province, so we cannot make major changes strategically, especially considering that immigration to the eastern regions is still too large compared to other areas."

Ernst said so, but in reality, the eastern regions do not have a large population. Even excluding the arid regions of Somali and Kenya, the east still possesses nearly two million square kilometers of land, making the population of less than twenty million seem very sparse.

"Matebel Province is an industrial province with a strong demand for industrial workers. However, due to its inland location, the province has a relatively small population. And now, with the immigration market down, the government must exercise subjective initiative in work distribution to facilitate the spread of East Africa’s population from the east to inland and other regions."

The large government is convenient in this regard. The East African government controls national resources and uses these resources to mobilize the populace. This is very reminiscent of the former Soviet Union, assigning jobs in Siberia, where people have to go whether they want to or not.

As the key developing industrial and agricultural province of East Africa, Matebel Province also has the most job opportunities, hence many positions.

The only drawback of Matebel Province is transportation, which is a major issue. Although railways pass through Matebel Province, the cost of rail transport is higher than that of water transport, and the overall development of inland river shipping in East Africa has innate disadvantages. This cannot be easily changed by manpower and policy. In contrast, lake shipping is thriving, with the development of shipping on the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), Soron Lake (Tanganyika Lake), Malawi Lake, and Turkana Lake doing quite well.

Speaking of East African railways, only 1,500 kilometers of new railways were built this year, mainly because the East African government had too many things to handle this year, leading to reduced funding for railway development.

However, Ernst considers this a good thing. The railways and navy of East Africa were built in a very short time by pouring a lot of money into them, a practice that is unsustainable.

As a late-developing country, East Africa actually has quite limited funds. However, because East Africa is vast and rich in resources and with a population of nearly fifty million (including Black people), the current fiscal revenue is quite substantial, more so than most countries in the world.

This is also because Ernst is very restrained. Numerous state-owned enterprises have been established in East Africa, focusing not only on profit, differing significantly from royal enterprises, which are the private enterprises of the Hohenzollern family, operating like those in most countries with profit as the aim. Although they sometimes aid East Africa, the accounts are kept separate.

In recent years, Ernst has focused much of his energy on East Africa, leading to a conservative approach to the development of the Heixinggen consortium. However, the Heixinggen consortium has already reached the upper limit of what an enterprise can achieve; it is hardly an exaggeration to say it supports millions of logistics and workers.

The main role of the Heixinggen consortium now is investment and channel control, acting as a link for technology, capital, talent, and markets between East Africa and Germany.

Especially in the technical domain, East Africa has yet to encounter any technological barriers thanks to the Heixinggen consortium, which holds many patents.

High-end industries have not easily entered the East African development scene, so the focus remains on conquering medium and low-tech industries. Of course, East Africa is also laying the groundwork for some emerging industries in advance, particularly in the power and automotive sectors, which Ernst is optimistic about.

However, more haste results in less speed; the automotive industry has yet to emerge, and Ernst is merely allowing the Heixinggen Energy Power Company to continue making technological advances and gain experience.

Of course, if possible, Ernst definitely wants both the power and automotive industries to be launched simultaneously, but the premise is having sufficient funds, which East Africa currently lacks, with too many areas requiring financial investment. Hence, Ernst is focusing on improving East Africa’s infrastructure conditions first.

"To get rich, build roads first; have fewer children and plant more trees." This was the development experience from the previous Far East, which Ernst is also following. Moreover, Ernst believes that doing the supporting services well first will make the future development of the automotive industry in East Africa smoother.

As for when the automotive industry in East Africa will be launched, Ernst has decided to wait until truck technology is relatively mature before promoting it in East Africa. As for cars, factories should be established in Europe.

Trucks and tractors significantly help improve productivity, whereas cars were a complete luxury item when they first appeared, with not much practical function, serving more the wealthy and the powerful.

Therefore, starting the automotive industry in East Africa first does not seem very cost-effective to Ernst, though it is not entirely off the table. East Africa could promote the automotive industry on a small scale, primarily to meet government and foreign trade needs.

Of course, Ernst also has a small plan regarding "branding," drawing on his previous life experience, he places strong emphasis on brand effects. Although East Africa will not heavily develop the automotive industry for now, it is important to establish a presence.

Consider this, by the 21st century, having a "century-old automotive" brand immediately elevates its prestige and vibe, and cars are comparative commodities, accessible to both commoners and the affluent. Therefore, even if East Africa isn’t concentrating all efforts on the automotive industry now, it needs to make its name known.

That’s why Ernst plans that the world’s first commercial car should certainly be assembled in East Africa to earn the title of being the world’s first.

As for test vehicles, the Heixinggen consortium has long produced them in Europe, but efforts are still being made to boost performance and cut costs, ready to occupy the market immediately upon launching and directly outpacing future competitors.

Aside from these reasons, East Africa is currently not suitable for commercial vehicle promotion, as its economic system is akin to a semi-planned economy, which is sometimes sluggish in responding to market demand changes, unfavorable for automotive industry upgrades and development.

As for developing the automotive industry in Europe, there’s no issue with that, just that the profits will go to the Heixinggen consortium.

East Africa still focuses on improving productivity, so many investments do not consider cost issues, making do for now, as this development model currently suits East Africa quite well.

East Africa is actually quite similar to a watered-down Soviet Union, and the Soviet model has evident advantages in developing heavy industry, which East Africa profoundly appreciates. Unless the third technological revolution comes, East Africa doesn’t have to worry about problems arising from this model.

A major distinction between the East African and Soviet economic models is that East Africa places significant emphasis on import and export trade, following a complementary economic development model that leverages strengths to offset shortcomings.

This is in the 19th century, where there’s no so-called bipolar structure or one supremacy among many strengths, but a diversified world structure, which was the early pursuit of the former Far East Empire.

Thus, East Africa doesn’t need to take sides and can navigate among various powers without worrying about being stuck on a single track. For example, even though Japan was targeted by East Africa, it could choose to cooperate with Britain and the US, and Russia could also navigate between Britain, America, Germany, and Austria.

The same goes for East Africa, except that East Africa strategically collaborates with the Far East Empire, despite its numerous shortcomings, it is enormous in size with many advantages, making many countries around the world covet the appetizingly juicy piece of meat that is the Far East Empire.

But East Africa can lower its stance or is more willing to exchange sincerity for sincerity, gaining advantages in the Far East Empire that other great powers do not. After all, obtaining things by standing upright is undoubtedly better than kneeling, and countries that cooperate with East Africa certainly feel more comfortable than with other countries.

This is also a drawback of the East African economic system, very similar to the Soviet Union, except Ernst does not have the habit of splurging, and East Africa earns every penny it deserves, with even intimate relations like those between East Africa and German-Austrian countries being no exception.

Unlike the Soviet Union, which didn’t understand this principle, leading to few countries that split from the Soviet Union or Soviet bloc singing its praises, though the Soviet Union did indeed contribute significantly. On the contrary, the Soviet Union’s contributions to its allies and member countries were vast.