African Entrepreneurship Record

In September, after the central government dispatched some engineering teams from the south to the Northern Province and the construction of the new port of Mogadishu finally started, the Northern Provincial Government officially invited Austrian businessmen interested in agricultural product processing to Mogadishu through the Hechingen Consortium. Visit and inspection of Shashi.

“Everyone, our Northern Province has the largest tropical crop planting area closest to Europe. Mogadishu has been the leader in the fruit and vegetable export trade in northern East Africa over the years. I think with this advantage, if you choose to invest in Mogadishu, , that can definitely get quite rich returns." Kranis said to the Austrian businessmen who came at the cocktail party.

"Mr. Mayor, I see that your port has just started construction. Can you guarantee that Mogadishu Port will operate normally before we invest?"

"This is easy to say. In two months' time, during the off-season, we will recruit a group of temporary workers from surrounding rural areas to speed up the progress of the project and ensure the normal completion of the Mogadishu New Port by the end of the year."

"But there are many problems to be solved when building a factory in Mogadishu. For example, coal is needed to start the machine, industrial workers are needed to maintain the operation of the machine, and there are also a series of problems such as transportation, lighting, and water supply."

"Mr. Claire, let's put your question aside for a moment. We in Mogadishu City will naturally consider what you mentioned. This has to mention the Mogadishu New City Plan approved by our city government. In order to take care of Mogadishu, In the Disha New Port Vision Plan, our city plans to learn from Dar es Salaam and build a new main city in the south of the city on the scale of the existing city to accommodate the introduction of industries," Kranis said.

"You are planning to build a new city, but will this conflict with your port construction? You don't know when the port will be completed now. Isn't the so-called new city a temporary pie that you can eat? arrive."

"You don't have to worry about this, Mr. Claire. Our new city plan will definitely not delay you in making money. You can build factories. We in Mogadishu City also prioritize the construction of tap water, power plants, and roads. Of course, water and electricity There will definitely be a fee, and if any of you are interested, you can also invest. As for the manpower issue, we in East Africa are a big country of immigrants. As long as there is support from the central government, Mogadishu’s shortcomings in this area will soon be filled.”

Although the scale of immigrants from East Africa is not as large as before, it is only relative to the whole country. A little leakage from the East African government is enough to fill the mouth of Mogadishu.

"How can Mogadishu solve the problem of industrial workers? Workers are not just farmers who come out of the land and become workers overnight."

"This problem will be easier to solve. We in East Africa implement compulsory education. There are a large number of students in Mogadishu. In previous years, the arrangement was to farm directly after graduation. If you can invest and build a factory here, it can be solved. Employment issues for a group of secondary education graduates.”

There is an overall surplus of education in East Africa, especially for middle school students. The East African industry cannot arrange for so many students, so they can only send these students back to continue farming. This is not without benefits. Farmers also need to supplement their knowledge, so that in the future, East African farmers will have more knowledge and knowledge. The level of knowledge makes it easier to accept new agricultural concepts such as mechanization and scientific planting.

"Then how many students can you provide?" Austrians have no specific concept of compulsory education in East Africa. After all, East Africa is not an open country, and outsiders don't know much about East Africa.

"Last year, the number of middle school graduates in Mogadishu was more than 300. Only more than 100 entered the factory. We can supply you with the rest. And this is only Mogadishu. The number of middle school students in the entire Northern Province should be around 400. About a thousand or so.”

"How many middle school students do you have in East Africa?"

"Of course, but it's not what you think. Schools in East Africa are still very different from those in Europe. Our students have fewer classes, fewer courses, and looser management, so the knowledge corresponding to their academic qualifications may not meet the standards. But this is A middle school degree will definitely teach you more than a primary school degree in Germany,” Kranis said.

This is the same as Tian Ji's horse racing. Compared with students with European academic qualifications at the same level, the average level of East African students is definitely very low. But if I compare middle school students with European primary school students, the situation is reversed.

Moreover, the exaggerated middle school penetration rate in East Africa means that the number of middle school students in East Africa is quite large, which is very attractive.

"If that's the case, that's acceptable, but can we check out the local schools?"

Although what Kranis said is very moving, you must know that a high school education is considered a talent in Europe. Generally, you can work your way up to the management level in a factory. Therefore, seeing is believing and hearing is believing. Austrian businessmen still remain cautious. They did not believe that this level of education existed in East Africa.

"Of course there is no problem. I know this is not very credible to you, but that is the fact. East Africa can be said to be the highest among the big countries in the world in promoting education. However, the level of education is too uneven. Qi, this is related to the shortage of teachers in East Africa, but with the continuous accumulation of talents in East Africa, this problem will become smaller and smaller in the future until it is on par with European middle schools." Kranis said.

Although the overall level of education in East Africa is low, the best of the best are selected. Positions such as teachers must be filled by normal school graduates with excellent academic performance. If this continues to accumulate, one day East Africa will get rid of the shortcomings in teaching staff.

However, Kranis also understands these Austrians. In the situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is somewhat unable to universalize compulsory primary education nationwide, let alone universalize secondary education on a large scale.

Nowadays, European middle schools can be said to be very valuable. In addition to regular courses, they cover a wide range of subjects such as painting, music, religion, Latin and other foreign languages. Unlike the textbooks in East Africa, which only have German, mathematics, politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry and biology, they cover a wide range of topics. Plus physical education classes.

Therefore, the contrast between East African middle schools and middle schools in Austrian perception is huge, and it can even be said that they are not the same thing. Of course, this also puts forward higher requirements for the level of European students.

Ernst has no doubt that European middle school students are much more valuable than college students in the 21st century. European college students in the 19th century were synonymous with the elite.

The Austrian businessmen were dubious, so the next day the city of Mogadishu specially organized them to visit the only middle school in Mogadishu, Mogadishu No. 1 Middle School.

Here, Austrian businessmen finally figured out the nature of East African middle schools, which were “beggars’ version” middle schools, and they were highly biased, with special emphasis on cultivating science students.

This would definitely not be considered a "talent" in Europe. After all, if you don't even have the ability to appreciate art, how can you be considered a "middle school student".

But this already makes them very satisfied. After all, they are here to invest in factories, not to need artists, and the "beggars' version" middle school is also a middle school, and the learning content is not comparable to that of ordinary German elementary schools. Some Austrian businessmen have even begun to think Is it possible to introduce such "cheap" middle school students from East Africa to work in Austria? Although the gold content is not high, the quantity is sufficient to quench our thirst!