African Entrepreneurship Record

The United States is naturally aware of East Africa's plans. The two countries have begun to show their talents throughout Latin America, and the Caribbean has become the forefront of interaction between the two countries.

Under the "care" of the United States, conflicts continued in the Caribbean, and the entry of East Africa made the local situation suddenly tense. Under this tense situation, East Africa focused on Venezuela.

Maracaibo.

December 3, 1914.

Shortly after the East African fleet arrived in Venezuela, the subsequent East African government immediately made relevant arrangements there.

Endel, manager of the Venezuelan branch of the East African Petroleum Company, was complaining to the consulate staff.

East Africa has set up a separate consulate in Malakaibo City, Venezuela, which is also the only diplomatic embassy in Venezuela.

Manager Endel: "Consul Kewell, we have reached a deal with the local Tres family to purchase a large amount of land in Lake Maracaibo as an oil smelting plant. However, although we have reached a deal, the local gangs But they are looking for trouble for us.”

"They come to cause trouble as soon as our construction site starts. We have promised to give them some protection money, but they reneged on our promise."

"The obstruction of local gangs has delayed the construction of the project. This is a huge loss for us, so we can only come to the embassy for help."

Kwell asked: "Have you not negotiated with the Maracaibo city government before?"

Endel said with a face full of righteous indignation: "The Maracaibo Municipal Government is a group of people who only take money and do nothing. Not only do they not take action, but they shirk responsibility from each other, otherwise I would not ask you for help..."

Kewell frowned after listening to Endel's complaint. He said with a serious face: "Don't be nervous about this matter for now. Everything is done with the safety of our expatriates in mind. I will find a way to deal with it."

Kewell also has a deep understanding of the virtues of the Maracaibo municipal government. It is said that the temple is small and the devil is strong, but the water is shallow and there are many fools. This is the case for many backward small country governments.

When it comes to ways to make money, they have a variety of ways to do it. As for managing and operating the business environment, it's nothing to do with themselves.

As a diplomat, Cromwell is well-informed, not to mention the unique geographical location of the Malay Kaibo Lake area, which makes the Venezuelan central government have relatively weak control over the area.

"The Venezuelan government has signed an economic cooperation agreement with us before, and our navy was here for deterrence two months ago."

"So, this is definitely not the idea of ​​the Venezuelan government. It should be some young people hiding in the dark to cause us trouble." Kwell comforted Endel.

What kind of gang, Kwell guessed it was a local gang or other force, trying to make a big profit from East Africa.

East Africa has been able to deploy in Venezuela for many years and has surpassed the United Kingdom and the United States to become the largest investor in the country. Therefore, local forces want to get a share of the pie from East Africa.

If they were local dignitaries, that would be fine. For example, the Tres family, which cooperates with the East African Oil Company, would dare to extort money from East Africa. It was simply a matter of life and death.

Kewell is very clear that the state-owned enterprises in East Africa are very different from those in Europe and the United States. The East African Petroleum Company has a semi-official status. If it offends the East African Petroleum Company, it is basically equivalent to offending the East African government.

Local forces are ignorant and think that the East African Oil Company has the same background as those private companies, which is a big mistake.

"You don't need to worry. We have plenty of means to deal with the bed bugs in the stinking ditches. You should not conflict with them in the next few weeks. We will make plans after I notify you."

Endel sighed and said: "Time is money. Due to the war in Europe, the cost of various local materials is relatively high, so it is best to solve it in a short time. Moreover, this is the first time our company has built an oil refining plant in Venezuela. The factory is also the first to be built in East Africa, so it is considered a bad start.”

Kwell said: "Don't worry about this. If everything goes well, we will be able to reply to you within a few days. It is conservatively estimated that it will not take a month. We are not without trump cards in Venezuela."

As a manager of a large state-owned enterprise, Endel can talk directly to Kwell. Although the state-owned enterprise and the diplomatic department where Kwell works are two different systems, the cooperation between the two parties overseas is relatively close.

After seeing Endel off, Keweil also had a look on his face. As the highest official representative of East Africa in the Maracaibo Lake region, his power is not small. After all, Lake Maracaibo is an important part of the East African government's planning. region, a separate consulate is set up here.

Although the East African Embassy in Venezuela is in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, the Malay Consulate in Kaibo can bypass the embassy and contact the East African government directly under special circumstances.

Soon, Kewell came to the press room of the consulate and reported the situation here to the senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

And Endel will definitely report this matter to the headquarters of East African Petroleum Company. As a state-owned enterprise directly under the jurisdiction of the East African government, East African Petroleum Company is obviously one of the important components of the East African government.

While the two were waiting for news, the Laidani gang was also holding a rally in the southwest corner of Malakaibo City.

In this era, Maracaibo City was just an ordinary small city straddling the Gulf of Venezuela and Lake Malacaibo because its oil resources had not yet been fully developed.

The origin of the name of Venezuela is also closely related to Lake Maracaibo. Among the Europeans who discovered Lake Maracaibo, there was an Italian named Amerigo Vespucci.

When he first saw Lake Maracaibo, he thought of his hometown, Venice, and called the place "Little Venice", which is pronounced Venezuela when translated into Spanish.

Of course, things began to change in 1908. First, a group of state-owned enterprises in East Africa purchased land in Maracaibo in the name of investment.

At the same time, a large number of East African oil and gas companies, including East African Oil Company, East African Petrochemical, Oil City Company, Western Great Lakes Province Oil Company, and East African Liquefied Gas Company, began to conduct exploration work in the local area.

In 1909, East Africa developed the first oil well in Lake Maracaibo. So far, East Africa has controlled more than 260 oil wells and a large number of oil and gas field resources in the local area.

In the past, East Africa would directly ship the oil back to its own country for processing, but the quality of Venezuelan oil is not very good, and there are many impurities, so the East African Oil Company decided to build an oil refinery here to remove some impurities and then ship it back to East Africa for further processing.

With the development of the oil and gas resources of Lake Maracaibo, Maracaibo has also become a place where East African companies gather.

And this so-called Ladani gang is the largest gang in the local area, and it existed long before East Africa invested in the local area.

Its leader Carmen is the leader of the local underworld. It can be said that doing business in Maracaibo cannot avoid the Ladani gang.

Before East Africa came, the Ladani gang was thriving. As the local underworld leader, Carmen also cooperated with many local powerful families, and was considered to be both black and white.

This is also the main reason why Endel asked the local government for help, but the Maracaibo government blamed each other. No one wants to offend Carmen for East Africa, and they also want to test the quality of East African companies through the Ladani gang.

In recent years, with the exploitation of oil fields, East African enterprises have developed in the local area. It is not necessarily that no one wants to pick peaches. After all, East Africa is an outsider, and there are always people who can't weigh the importance of it.

The official level certainly cannot take direct action. After all, East Africa is a powerful country. If a direct conflict occurs, ordinary people cannot afford it. If a diplomatic conflict is triggered, I am afraid that the Maracaibo City Government will be sold directly to East Africa by the Venezuelan government, and it will not end well.