Chapter 628: Introducing Foreign Investment

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 formally invited Austrian businessmen interested in agricultural product processing to visit and inspect Mogadishu through the Hechingen Consortium.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our Northern Province has the largest tropical crop planting area closest to Europe. In recent years, Mogadishu has always been the leader in the fruit and vegetable export trade in northern East Africa. I think with this advantage, if you choose to invest in Mogadishu, you will definitely get very rich returns." Kranis said to the Austrian businessmen who came to the party.

"Mr. Mayor, it seems that your port has only been under construction for a short time. Can you guarantee that the Mogadishu Port will operate normally before we invest?"

"It's easy. In two months, during the off-season, we will recruit a group of temporary workers from the surrounding villages to speed up the construction progress and ensure that the new port of Mogadishu is completed by the end of the year."

"But building a factory in Mogadishu requires a lot of problems. For example, coal is needed to start the machines, and industrial workers are needed to maintain the machines. There are also a series of problems such as transportation, lighting, and water supply."

"Mr. Claire, let's put your question aside for now. We in Mogadishu have naturally considered what you said. This brings us to the Mogadishu new urban area plan adopted by our municipal government. In order to take into account the long-term planning of the new port of Mogadishu, our city plans to build a new main urban area in the southern part of the city based on the scale of the existing urban area, learning from Dar es Salaam, to accommodate and introduce industries." Kranis said.

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

"Don't worry about that, Mr. Claire. Our new urban area plan will definitely not hinder your ability to make money. You can build the factory, and we in Mogadishu will also give priority to building tap water, power plants, and roads. Of course, water and electricity will be charged. If any of you are interested, you can invest. As for the manpower issue, East Africa is a country of immigrants. As long as we have the support of the central government, we will soon be able to fill the gap in Mogadishu in this regard."

Although the scale of East African immigration is not as large as before, that is only relative to the whole country. Even a slight leak from the East African governments would be enough for the city of Mogadishu to make a living.

“How will the city of Mogadishu solve the problem of industrial workers? Workers are not created overnight by farmers walking off the land.”

"This problem is easier to solve. We in East Africa promote compulsory education. There are a large number of students in Mogadishu. In previous years, they were arranged to farm directly after graduation. If you can invest and build a factory here, it will just solve the employment problem of a group of secondary school graduates."

There is an overall surplus of education in East Africa, especially among secondary school students. East African industries cannot accommodate so many students, so they can only send these students back to continue farming. This is not without benefits, as farmers also need to supplement their knowledge. In this way, the knowledge and education level of East African farmers in the future will make it easier for them to accept new agricultural concepts such as mechanization and scientific planting.

“Then how many students can you provide?” Austrians have no specific idea about compulsory education in East Africa. After all, East Africa is not an open country and outsiders do not know much about East Africa.

"Last year, there were more than 300 high school graduates in Mogadishu, and only more than 100 entered the factory. We can supply the rest to you. And this is only Mogadishu. The number of high school students in the entire northern province should be around 4,000."

“How many secondary school students do you have in East Africa?”

"Of course. But it's not what you think. Schools in East Africa are very different from those in Europe. Our students have fewer class hours, fewer courses, and more relaxed management, so the knowledge corresponding to the academic qualifications may not meet the standards. However, with a high school diploma, one must know more than an elementary school diploma in Germany," said Kranis.

This is the same principle as Tian Ji's horse racing. Compared with European students of the same level, the average level of East African students is definitely far below that of others. But if I compare middle school students with European elementary school students, the situation is reversed.

Moreover, the exaggerated secondary school penetration rate in East Africa has resulted in a large number of secondary school students in East Africa, which makes it very attractive.

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

Although what Kranish said was very moving, one must know that a high school diploma is considered a talent in Europe, and one can usually get promoted to management level in a factory. So seeing is believing, hearing is not. Austrian businessmen still remain cautious, and they do not believe that East Africa has this level of education.

"Of course there is no problem. I know this may not be credible to you, but it is the fact. East Africa has the highest efforts in promoting education among the major countries in the world. It's just that the education levels are too uneven, which is related to the shortage of teachers in East Africa. However, 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." said Kranis.

Although the overall level of education in East Africa is low, the best are selected from the best. For example, positions like teachers will definitely be filled by graduates from normal schools with excellent academic performance. With continuous accumulation of talent, one day East Africa will get rid of its shortcomings in teaching staff.

However, Kranis also understood these Austrians. Given the situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was difficult for the whole country to achieve universal compulsory primary education, let alone universal secondary education on a large scale.

Today's middle schools in Europe can be said to be of very high quality. In addition to the 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 include German, mathematics, politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology and physical education.

Therefore, there is a huge contrast between East African secondary schools and the secondary schools in the Austrian perception. It can even be said that they are not the same thing. Of course, this also places higher demands on the level of European students.

Ernst had no doubt that European high school students were much more valuable than college students in the 21st century, and European college students in the 19th century were synonymous with elites.

While the Austrian businessmen were skeptical, the city of Mogadishu organized a special visit for them to the only middle school in Mogadishu, Mogadishu No. 1 Middle School, the next day.

Here, Austrian businessmen finally figured out the nature of East African middle schools, which are "beggar's version" middle schools with strong bias, especially focusing on the training of science students.

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

But this has made them very satisfied. After all, they came to invest in factories, not to need artists, and the "beggar's version" middle school is still a middle school. The learning content is not comparable to that of ordinary primary schools in Germany. Some Austrian businessmen have even begun to think about whether they can introduce such "cheap" middle school students from East Africa to work in Austria. Although the value is not high, the number is large enough to quench their thirst!

(End of this chapter)