African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1106 Open Market

Looking back at past lives, any capable country would almost always work hard on agricultural technology. For example, in the past, the United States was not only the country that used the most pesticides and fertilizers in the world, but also used more than 40% of genetically modified technology in agriculture, and the breeding industry was the hardest hit area for the use of various drugs.

Therefore, it is natural that East Africa will consolidate its advantages in the field of agriculture. In addition to mechanization, various related agricultural technologies are the current focus of East Africa.

This makes East Africa the world's third largest agricultural research and development center after Europe and the United States. Moreover, as the world's only tropical power, East Africa's research focus in the agricultural field is very different from that of Europe and the United States.

Taking staple food as an example, European and American countries will definitely tend to study temperate agricultural products such as wheat, while East Africa will focus on (sub)tropical agricultural products such as rice.

Andre said to He Bo and others: "Before hybrid rice technology is fully mature, as long as we do our job well, we will definitely be able to open up new growth points for East African agriculture in the future."

"I like the drought tolerance of lepidium rice the most. Among the major rice-growing countries in the world, East Africa has relatively little rainfall. Although my country has greatly improved its agricultural irrigation conditions through large-scale water conservancy project construction, some areas are destined to be beyond the reach of water conservancy construction alone."

"For example, the natural climate west of Dodoma City, where there is less rainfall, cannot be changed by human power. If we can cultivate relatively drought-resistant rice varieties through hybridization technology, it can greatly improve agricultural planting conditions in arid or semi-arid areas of our country."

Following Professor Andre's explanation, He Bo and other members of the Luanda Agricultural Research Institute also realized the significance of the work they are doing.

After all, East Africa's natural agricultural endowments are the best in the entire African continent, but if it wants to narrow the gap with Europe and the United States, it ultimately depends on technological level.

Andre said to them earnestly: "Nowadays, my country's industry and science are developing very fast, and knowledge is updated and iterated quickly, so you have a lot of new knowledge to learn. So you should pay more attention to relevant research at home and abroad, so that you can go further in the future."

……

Harare City.

With the implementation of the Third Five-Year Plan, Harare, East Africa's most industrially developed city, is quietly changing.

As for Mbeya, the original heavy industrial center of East Africa, it began its transformation as early as the 1990s. Now it has become one of the research and development and academic exchange centers in East Africa. Moreover, with the change of industrial investment structure, Mbeya has completely become a comprehensive city similar to Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, with almost no shortcomings.

Harare, East Africa's most important heavy industrial city, is now facing the pressure of transformation. As the development of light industry becomes a national key strategy, cities like Harare, which are seriously unbalanced, have obviously become the focus of East Africa's economic transformation.

In 1911, the first step in Harare's reform was to liberalize some light industrial investment areas.

It is worth noting that the fact that East Africa is a planned economy does not mean that there is a small gap between the rich and the poor in East Africa. In order to control national resources, East Africa provides quite high compensation for those who have made contributions there.

These people include government officials, scientific researchers, military personnel, retirees, martyrs' families, nobles, and so on.

In the past, East Africa's compensation for these personnel was mainly achieved through high allowances and social benefits, such as various forms of subsidies, stable salary sources, distribution of material rewards, etc.

Therefore, this group of people actually controls a considerable amount of social wealth. However, in the past, East Africa almost monopolized most of the means of production, and their wealth could not be spread to the social level in the form of investment. Now that East Africa has begun to experimentally open some investment markets, this provides them with opportunities.

Not only that, in addition to the "nobles" in East Africa, ordinary people in East Africa actually have quite a bit of savings. The wage level in East Africa is not low in the world. As long as they budget carefully, many families generally have a certain amount of savings.

According to the Harare City Government Announcement on September 1911, 9, many people saw opportunities. According to the announcement, Harare City will relax investment restrictions on more than 2 industries such as catering, accommodation, and garment manufacturing, allowing private participation in industrial business activities on the announcement list.

Berlin State Hotel, Harare.

"Anka, do you really want to quit your job and start your own business? You know, your skills are not that good. If they are not well received by the market, you will lose your job and you will not have a stable salary."

In the kitchen of the Berlin State Hotel, Pruss Wang said to his little apprentice Anka.

Anka: "Master, I still want to give it a try. Although it is said that state-owned restaurants are guaranteed to make money regardless of drought or flood, I believe that as long as I can provide better service, I will be able to quickly open up the catering market."

The catering industry in East Africa is just like the Soviet Union or the Far East Empire during special periods in the past. It is a very strange existence. Due to policy restrictions, private catering business in East Africa almost did not exist before.

This has led to a lack of competition in East Africa's catering industry. The service attitudes of various state-owned hotels or restaurants are extremely poor, and the quality of their dishes is perfunctory, but ordinary East Africans have no extra choices at all.

Now that the city of Harare has relaxed investment restrictions on the catering industry, Anka sees this as his opportunity. Due to his many years of work, Anka was not optimistic about his future in a state-owned hotel.

Just as his master Pruss Wang said, he was not very skilled and was not outstanding among the apprentices that Pruss Wang had taught him, but ordinary people's pursuit of taste was not that high.

The fact that Anka was able to work at the Berlin State Hotel also proves that Anka has a good foundation in cooking. After all, the Berlin State Hotel is one of only ten restaurants in Harare. Those who can work in the kitchens of these state-owned hotels, no matter how poor their skills are, are much better than ordinary people.

Years of work experience have also given Anka a clear understanding of the poor service attitude in the catering industry in East Africa. Anka believes that this is a breakthrough point. If he can use service and price as the main selling points, he will definitely be able to gain a foothold in the market. As for the poor taste of the food, many people do not have the ability to judge that.

Prus Wang: "Okay! Since you have made up your mind, I won't persuade you anymore. If I were ten years younger, maybe I would be as adventurous as you young people."

Anka said to the Master, “Thank you for your understanding.”

Then Prus Wang asked, "Since you have decided to open your own store, do you have enough money? Many materials in the market are still scarce. Even the simplest tables, chairs and benches may need to be purchased through special channels."

Anka replied, "I have some concerns about this, but now that the economy has been liberalized, many carpenters have chosen to return to their old jobs. An old carpenter near my home is planning to open a carpentry shop. I can get goods from him. As for the funds, I have saved a little over the years, which should be enough to support the initial preparations."

Prus Wang nodded and said, "Very good. If you really need money, you can tell me. Your master has saved a lot over the years. Even if you encounter some troubles, I can help you solve them."

As the head chef of the Berlin Hotel, Pruss Wang had a relatively high salary and knew many dignitaries in Harare.

Anka was somewhat touched by the Master's concern. He said, "Master, don't worry. I know what to do. If I really encounter a problem that I can't solve, I guess I can only shamelessly come to you for help!"

Prus Wang said to Anka, "What nonsense are you talking about? There is an old saying in my hometown that a teacher is a father for life. You are my apprentice, so it is natural for me to take care of you. However, I also hope that after you go out to start your own business, you will not forget your original intention. It would be even better if you can continue to promote our Huai cuisine in Harare."

(End of this chapter)