African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 988: The Plan

St. Petersburg.

East Africa was a pragmatic group. Before deciding to poach talents from Tsarist Russia, it had already organized relevant personnel to explore the way in Tsarist Russia, and the first stop was a Russian university.

Tsarist Russia attached great importance to education. Apart from St. Petersburg and Moscow, economically developed and open regions such as Kiev and Warsaw had good higher education capabilities.

Of course, compared with East Africa, Tsarist Russia’s higher education followed a typical elite route, with very few universities, but this also meant that the teaching quality of Tsarist Russian universities was relatively high, at least much better than most universities in East Africa.

The people who led the team to Tsarist Russia to "pan for gold" were East African Deputy Minister of Education Leidel and Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Morrisses.

Leider said: "The education system in Russia is different from our East African system. In Russia, universities are typical aristocratic education. Generally, only the powerful and wealthy can get in touch with them. There are not many ordinary people. But for us, we have to target these Russian college students who have no background and no future. Now that Russia is in economic depression, it is bound to have a series of negative impacts on their employment."

Without a "background", they may be from a declining aristocracy or a middle-class family that places more emphasis on education. There are undoubtedly very few students from the lower classes who can enter Russian universities.

Morrisses also said at the right time: "In addition to college students, some important factories in Tsarist Russia are also our targets. With St. Petersburg as the center, we will split into three groups and go to Moscow, Kiev, and Warsaw to conduct recruitment work. We will pay special attention to the chemical industry, as the country is in urgent need of talents in related fields."

Leder: "It's the same with universities. Our primary target is students majoring in science and engineering, such as chemistry, physics, mathematics, and mechanics."

Morrisses: "Minister Leider and I will only stay in Russia for two months. During this period, the contact center will be set up in St. Petersburg. Of course, you don't have to rush. According to government requirements, this round of talent recruitment will be long-term. In the next year or so, you can slowly carry out your work, but our requirement is that the screening must be strict. Don't recruit some unqualified people. We will conduct another test in Dar es Salaam, so don't muddle through just to meet the target."

Although the economic crisis of 1900 broke out in Russia, other countries, including major countries such as Britain, France, and Germany, would also be affected, so the two senior officials, Morrisses and Reidel, would then go to other countries to "poach" people.

Of course, East Africa has some relatively complete talent introduction processes and organizations in the German region, so the focus of this work is on non-German regions. Countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy are the focus of this East African work.

This is just East Africa's layout in Europe. At the same time, another talent hunting program organized by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology is in the Americas, focusing on the United States and Canada. In addition, some non-key regions such as South America and the Far East have also sent working groups to East Africa.

There is no doubt that the economic development level in South America and the Far East is not high, but in the 19th century, all normal countries would establish some universities and industries. And because of the low level of economic development, many talents have difficulty finding jobs, just like India has trained many talents in the past, but it has difficulty finding jobs in its own country, so it went to the UK and the US for development. East Africa is also working according to this idea.

After all, it is true that East Africa is not as developed as Western Europe and North American countries, but apart from these countries, there are only a handful of regions that are more developed than East Africa.

Of course, the Far East region in East Africa’s talent recruitment is not the Far Eastern countries, but Russia’s Far East. Ernst would not poach talents from the Far Eastern Empire or Japan and other countries.

It was specifically named "The Plan of the Reach" by Earnest, which was taken from the words of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty: "All heroes in the world are within my reach". According to the plan, during the First Five-Year Plan, East Africa will introduce at least hundreds of top science and engineering talents from Europe and the United States.

……

Tomsk, Russia. Tomsk is a city in Russia, located in the southeast of the West Siberian Plain, which belongs to the Russian Far East.

There is no doubt that Tomsk, located in the Far East, is not very prosperous. After all, it is restricted by climatic conditions, but its status cannot be underestimated. It is the main education and scientific center in Russia's Siberia region.

For example, the famous Tomsk Imperial University of Tsarist Russia is located here, which was the Tomsk State University of Russia in the previous life, one of the four famous universities in Russia.

Tomsk Imperial University was founded in 1803 and is the first Russian institution of higher learning in Siberia. Later, with the support of Tsar Alexander III, it was upgraded and renovated in 1888. It has become one of the important academic exchange centers of Tsarist Russia, and Tomsk Imperial University is just one of the most representative universities in Tomsk.

"This is such horrible weather. If I wasn't here to recruit people, I would have thought I was exiled!" said Cowell, head of the East African talent recruitment team stationed in Russia's Far East, wrapped in a mink coat.

The working group members entered Tomsk in October 1900. Tomsk had already entered winter, and the local winter temperature could even reach minus ten degrees Celsius, which was simply hell on earth for the people of East Africa, where most of their land has no winter.

"Mr. Cowell, this is no different from exile. The northern hemisphere is entering winter now. If it were in Europe, the temperature might be acceptable, but Russia itself is relatively cold, not to mention a place like Tomsk located in the heart of Russia. Fortunately, we are not going further east. After all, Tomsk's infrastructure is already the most complete in Siberia." said Anka, a temporary team member.

"I really envy my colleagues who have gone to big cities like St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev. Although St. Petersburg and Moscow are also very cold, the situation is much better than Tomsk. There are surprisingly few people here. I'm afraid that in East Africa, only the northern part has a lower population density than here." Cowell said.

Anka: "Although Russia's population is much larger than ours in East Africa, their territory is also much larger than ours. So in terms of population density alone, East Africa is still higher than Russia, and the population is more evenly distributed. The Congo rainforest and desert regions in East Africa, where the climate is the worst, have a stronger population than the Russian Far East."

Cowell looked at the Russian-style log cabins on the streets of Tomsk and said, "The people of Tsarist Russia were much poorer than us in East Africa. Fortunately, there are more timber resources here, otherwise the poor Russians would probably have a hard time even surviving the winter."

As he spoke, he took his hands out of his gloves, waved them at the air, and quickly retracted them: "The air here is drier and colder than in East Africa. Living here is definitely a disaster."

"No wonder Napoleon was defeated by the Russians. If we were not fully armed, we would not be able to endure this kind of weather for half a day. Only the Russians can persist in this bitter cold. Therefore, if a major power attacks Russia, it must be prepared to face the adverse transportation and climate conditions."

In Cowell's words, Tsarist Russia became a bitter and cold place, and at that time it was less than forty years since the construction and development of East Africa, which also reflects the different development situations of East Africa and Tsarist Russia in the mid-to-late 19th century.

Anka said with a smile: "The mink fur we wear is imported from Alaska. It is really good for keeping warm. Alaska was sold to the royal family by the Russians. Facing this kind of icy and snowy environment, mink fur is really practical and comfortable."

Cowell: "That means he's on a business trip to Russia. Otherwise, there's no consumer market for this clothing in East Africa. But Alaska is too far away from East Africa. It would be even better if Alaska was in Antarctica. It would also be convenient for us to manage East Africa and provide a place for vacation and play."

For a country like East Africa that has no winter, a snowy climate like that of Tsarist Russia has become a resource, just like the Tsarist Russians in the past liked to go on vacation to tropical regions. Many East Africans, especially the new generation in East Africa, have never seen snow in their lives, so it is common for them to yearn for it.

(End of this chapter)