African Entrepreneurship Record

There are quite a few people who share Bulls’ views. Among them, Ambassador Lawrence of France wrote in his report to the French Government: ”We must not allow East Africa and Germany to reach an agreement. In any case, we must ensure the East African Government does not side with the Germans, even if they remain neutral.”

Ambassador Zhang Heng from the Far East Empire also reported on this East African military parade. He stated, ”East Africa is among the major powers with a relatively friendly attitude. Its military strength is formidable, its territorial area exceeds that of the Empire, and its population is no less than the countries of Europe. During this time of crisis for the Empire, maintaining friendly exchanges with East Africa is particularly important for our country.”

After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Far East Empire encountered more troubles. Although better than the same period in history by quite a bit, it is still only moderately better, so in the International Community, the Far East Empire has very few genuine allies and many who just want to exploit it. In such circumstances, it’s natural for the Far East Empire to get closer in diplomatic relations with East Africa.

Of course, despite growing closer, East Africa could not help the Far East Empire avoid hardship. After all, relying on others often leads to disappointment, and East Africa’s influence can only intimidate some small countries. Such minor troubles, the Far East Empire can resolve on its own.

Ambassador Wilson of the United Kingdom did not pay much attention to the situation in East Africa. He told his subordinates, ”The United Kingdom’s interests have always been in the seas. Even if East Africa’s army is formidable, as long as they do not expand their navy, there is no threat. Conversely, any naval movements by East Africa will not be tolerated by us.”

According to Wilson, it is likely that over the next five years, there won’t be much conflict between the United Kingdom and East Africa. After all, during these years, East Africa has no intention of expanding its navy or venturing out to claim more colonies, so it is unlikely to encounter significant issues overseas.

However, what happens after five years is beyond East Africa’s consideration. At that time, Ernst is certainly going to strengthen naval power, and the United Kingdom probably won’t have the energy to find trouble with East Africa.

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After the founding ceremony concluded, the Rhein Empire government continued its work with little impact. Meanwhile, in the new century, the East African Government’s Planning Commission began the formulation of the first official domestic industrial plan.

Sivert said, ”In the past few years, we have already conducted preliminary attempts. The proposal for the five-year industrial plan is generally feasible. Over the past five years, East Africa’s industrial growth rate has been extremely high, with the industrial scale more than doubling. Especially the southeastern coastal region, which has seen significant development.”

”A new southern economic development hotspot centered around Bela City has formed. This area is inherently close to industrially developed regions such as the east and Bohemia (Zimbabwe), hence the fastest construction speed.”

”Multiple railway constructions have further facilitated the development of the Mozambique region. It can be said that Mozambique is an extension and expansion of the eastern coastal economic belt and the central Bohemia and Lorraine industrial provinces.”

”In Mozambique’s Bela City, Tete City, Pemba City, Nacala City, Kilimane City, Xinde City, Maputo City, Shao Kui City, and Inhambane City, rapid development has occurred in population, infrastructure, industry, and agriculture, achieving a leap in growth, filling in the developmental gaps between New Hamburg Port City and Mtwara City.”

”In the new five-year plan, which is our Planning Commission’s first formal compilation of a five-year plan, I have decided to focus on the West Coast centered around the Angola region.”

”Although West Coast development has not been weak, compared to Mozambique, it has not received much support. We have only optimized and partially expanded on the integration of Portuguese legacy assets. Angola’s geographical advantage is evidently more significant than Mozambique, so its development should be prioritized to make it one of East Africa’s most economically developed regions.”

Sivert’s words are evidently ambitious. It is worth noting that in previous times, Angola’s prolonged wars led to the near-destruction of colonial-era industrial remnants, making it one of the world’s least industrially developed countries.

Without oil resources as a cushion, Angola in previous times might have become one of the poorest countries, potentially faring little better economically than Tanzania.

Therefore, East Africa’s objectives for the Angola region are clearly quite high. Of course, Angola’s current situation is significantly better than in previous times, at least with much better foundations.

In the 1890s of the 19th century, East Africa made substantial investments in the coastal region of Angola, mainly including energy, minerals, agriculture, and fisheries.

The East African Government directly invested in three refineries in the energy sector, two in Cabinda and one in Luanda. It is worth mentioning that the main raw materials for the current oil industry in these two places come from the United States across the ocean.

Although Angola is rich in oil resources, they have yet to be developed and explored. Therefore, to preemptively layout the local oil industry, Ernst deliberately positioned Cabinda and Luanda as East Africa’s oil industrial centers.

The advantage of this strategy is that when East Africa develops oil in Angola, there is already an established industrial base and considerable experience, avoiding chaos. Additionally, East Africa’s West Coast is forming a large market, and the demand for oil will eventually align with that of the central and eastern regions, so early planning has no harm.

In the mineral sector, Angola is relatively resource-rich, especially its diamond mines, which are major export minerals. East Africa integrated mines and workshops from the Portuguese colonial era, making the West Coast East Africa’s diamond processing and sales center in the Atlantic region.

Additionally, resources like iron, copper, manganese, lead, tin, zinc, tungsten, and gold are distributed in Angola. However, because East Africa occupied Angola relatively late, developing these resources will necessitate surveying and analysis.

In agriculture, Angola’s crops mainly include sugarcane, cotton, peanuts, corn, cassava, rice, wheat, beans, etc., which are essentially continuations of Angola’s agriculture under the Portuguese colonial system.

Leveraging local agricultural characteristics, East Africa established a batch of sugar factories, oil mills, textile mills, etc., on the West Coast.

During the Portuguese colonial period, Angola served as the closest material source to Portugal; these agricultural products were generally sent to Portugal, processed for added value, and then sold.

However, after East Africa’s investment in the area, these agricultural products complete various processing procedures locally, directly becoming commodities, and finally sold through the Atlantic route to Western Europe, North America, and South American countries.

Fishing resource development ranks among the top in the entire East African nation. However, due to the Benguela Current’s influence, the best fishing grounds are along the coast of the Southwest Province (Namibia), so Whale Bay Port is very likely to become one of East Africa’s future fishing centers, especially once the Whale Bay Port railway is completed.

Therefore, currently, East Africa faces a fairly favorable condition in the Angola region. Despite early impacts from the South African War, it has undergone ten years of stability and rapid growth.

Of course, the focus of this development, besides Angola, also includes the Southwest Province, Ubangi Province, and the eastern and western Azande Province regions (primarily including Angola, Namibia, Congo, Central Africa), which is the entire western part of East Africa.

The Southwest Province is constrained by terrain and climate factors and requires little investment, whereas Ubangi Province is second only to Angola among all provinces. Though inland, Ubangi Province borders Belgian, French, and German colonies, which is its geographical advantage.

However, the most important focus remains the development of the Angola region. The East African Government hopes it can become a competitive economically developed area alongside the central and eastern areas in a short time, especially since East Africa has already moved its capital to Rhein City. If the West Coast does not develop, it cannot form the core economic zone bridging the two oceans envisioned by Ernst.