Chapter 257 The Manipulator Behind the Scenes
The hotel’s official opening ceremony was held during the dinner period the next day.
As the investor of this project, Lin Ruoyan spoke briefly and left more speaking opportunities to Hua Mengmeng and Li Yiqi.
Hua Mengmeng, the young and beautiful head of Lin's Real Estate's hotel division, spoke fluently in Mandarin. She confidently presented the group's entire hotel portfolio, particularly highlighting its distinctive domestic business hotels, traditional courtyard-style B&Bs, and boutique hotels in Hangzhou. These beautiful images played on a large screen as she described them, captivating the audience with their ancient oriental charm.
Li Yiqi's main job is still a student and the head of a medical device company, but she has poured a lot of effort into this hotel renovation project. From knowing nothing about architecture to now knowing every successful detail of the hotel by heart, her sense of accomplishment and pride are beyond words.
In addition to describing the hotel's transformation, the company also introduced its products, such as beauty devices and myopia treatment devices, which attracted widespread attention.
This opening was more like a special promotion meeting for the European upper class, introducing the existing special businesses of the Lin Group and Lin Real Estate.
At the same time, guests invited to the opening dinner, including leading figures in the hotel and design worlds, also spoke. They gave fair evaluations of the hotel, praising it while also pointing out some shortcomings.
The next step in implementing these improvements was for the hotel operators, a professional team from Country Y's local hotel brand. They humbly accepted suggestions and expressed a positive vision.
We hope to use this project to showcase our service capabilities and expand into a wider market. For example, are there any opportunities for collaboration in Singapore? Also, Mr. Lin has invested in a number of hotels in mainland China. Are there any opportunities there?
The reason they were willing to take over this small-scale boutique hotel was because they valued Lin’s hotel projects, high-end luxury homes and influence in the mainland.
Lin Ruoyan had originally intended to introduce operational expertise from the international high-end hotel industry and implement localized improvements. She had already established a local property management company for the luxury housing project, but the potential benefits and improvements from introducing international hotel brands remained to be seen. After all, they were coming to the mainland to make money.
Overseas hotel brands are more likely to receive star ratings and international recognition, but they also charge high brand fees. However, after localization, the hard work is done by Chinese people, while the majority of the annual profits go to overseas brands, making it less cost-effective.
Lin Ruoyan reminded Hua Mengmeng of the key points and asked her to go and negotiate with them and stick to the bottom line. Even if the talks fail, they cannot let foreign capital take advantage.
This is just like the cooperation with Hua Na. Before signing the contract, all kinds of issues that may arise in the future breakup were considered. We were not aiming for long-term cooperation.
Most of the guests who came this time had their own family-run businesses. Li Yiqi mainly contacted them for cooperation opportunities related to medical devices, but Lin Ruoyan discovered a corporate representative who had made achievements in the mining field.
Mr. Lamond's family has a long tradition, with generations of ancestors marrying into European royal families. They later amassed a fortune through the development and operation of oil and mineral resources in colonial territories. It's rumored that the company controlled by his family will also invest in the African copper mine.
Mr. Lamond had apparently also heard that Lin Real Estate and Panshi Metallurgy were also going to invest in African mines, and he started chatting with Lin Ruoyan with a certain arrogance of a European aristocrat.
The other party spoke in Y language. Lin Ruoyan called a professional translator to accompany her. After listening for a while, she roughly understood what he meant. The other party thought her hotel was quite good, but it was also because the design was done by outstanding European architects, and the construction, supervision, and subsequent operations were all done by outstanding companies in Y country. This is why it has achieved today's recognition and success.
When it comes to industrial development, Europe still leads in metallurgy, art, and design, while Asian countries lag behind. This implies that African mines should be developed by Europeans for full utilization. If these are left to young companies like Lin's Real Estate and Panshi, with their limited technical expertise, they will be forced to do the work and face a thankless task.
"Your workers are quite good at building roads. I suggest you try to get a chance to build a road from a major city to the copper mine. If we win the bid in the future, we might consider subcontracting some of the work to your company."
This was extremely arrogant, as if the entire project was already in their pocket. Lin Ruoyan listened with an open mind on the surface, but in reality, she was wondering what the other party's confidence was based on. She had to investigate this thoroughly.
That night, Lin Ruoyan told Panshi about the situation, and Panshi also mentioned this company.
Panshi had previously learned through other channels that this company already had other mining projects underway in Africa and had arms deals with the country's ruling elite. If they had close connections with the upper echelons, they might be tempted into submission by offering benefits. People are profit-driven, and even if they appear to be concerned about the public, they still have to consider their own interests.
The arms trade also made Lin Ruoyan think about why the country was in turmoil. Granted, the end result was good—peace reigned, and the rulers were better than before. But what if there had been no war in the first place? Would the locals have been able to develop their economy sooner after independence?
The war has caused the country's development to stagnate or even regress. It has brought suffering to the local people and also enriched a group of arms suppliers.
This ancient European family tried to sell weapons on the one hand and control local mineral resources on the other, trying to act as the local tyrant behind the scenes. If they succeeded, the local managers in front of the stage would be nothing more than agents of capital.
Lin Ruoyan originally wanted to get some information from the system, but she didn't expect the system to be unresponsive and insisted that she select a specific man she was interested in before it could answer her questions in a targeted manner.
So Lin Ruoyan used other channels to obtain the name of a local official who had a good relationship with Lamond's company. Fortunately, it was a man. He was dark-skinned but not very old. When he rose to power with the current leaders, he had just come of age. More than a decade later, he was only in his early thirties and had already become the head of the local energy and mining industry.
Lin Ruoyan said, "What do you think of Jamalani? Judging from the photos, he's a very distinctive local man, young, promising, and powerful. I'm collaborating with him on an African project. Is it worth spending some money on him?"
The prodigal system swallowed its saliva, took a moment to adjust, and then said: [Host is playing with so many tricks now, is it time to try a different species?]
This was a lewd remark. Lin Ruoyan suppressed her anger and patiently followed the system's logic, saying, "Yes, what did Lamond bribe him with? Money, beauties, or the promise of immigration to Europe? And what can I use to convince him to return?"
With a targeted investigation target, the prodigal system was still able to diligently query the man's private information and, after a moment, provided the answer: [Jamalani is the current president's confidant and a powerful figure. In a few years, when he's older, he's expected to become the president's successor. The probability of him immigrating is low, and if his family does, he'll lose his chance to run for president.]
"Oh, it seems the locals have learned their lesson. They've realized that if someone truly cares about the people, their entire family must remain in the country." Lin Ruoyan asked, "So, does Lamond's company have any leverage over him? For example, illegal arms trade, unpaid debts, or any other illicit activities?"
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