African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1050 Industrial Exploration in Iringa City

  Iringa City.

As an ordinary city with little presence in East Africa, it was relatively difficult for the Iringa Municipal Government to explore the development of industry during the Second Five-Year Plan period.

There are almost no special resources in Iringa City. Although there are some small minerals in the territory, they have no development value at present.

Therefore, the Iringa city government has no idea how to develop industry. For this reason, Mayor Randall held a special meeting to find the city's industrial development path.

Randall first set the tone and said: "Now the national industrial construction is in full swing. During the First Five-Year Plan, our city made great achievements and established the most basic industries such as flour processing, cotton spinning, and oil extraction. However, during the Second Five-Year Plan, , It is impossible for us to continue to achieve results on this track, because almost all cities and towns across the country are based on these primary industries.”

"This also enabled the rapid development of my country's industry during the First Five-Year Plan, because the gaps in many fields were filled during the First Five-Year Plan, and doing so during the Second Five-Year Plan is obviously not conducive to the competition between this city's industry and other cities."

"The funds of the municipal government are limited. Most of the country's industrial construction funds are invested in central or provincial state-owned enterprises, concentrated in big cities. Without strong support from the central government, we in Iringa can only prioritize development. Some of the industrial categories that we are good at have low barriers to entry.”

“The main crops in our city are wheat and tobacco, and other crops are almost negligible. However, these two crops are too common in East Africa. Iringa City is not a major industrial and mining city at the same time, which means that the industrial development of our city is difficult. Especially for heavy industry, our city’s foundation is quite weak, so everyone is thinking of ways to continue to increase our city’s industrial scale on the basis of the First Five-Year Plan.”

Regarding the mayor's words, Iringa city government officials also feel a headache. Industrial development during the First Five-Year Plan was relatively easy. As long as the plan is followed, most towns can achieve good industrial development achievements.

However, the Second Five-Year Plan is obviously different from the First Five-Year Plan. One thing to be clear is that before the First Five-Year Plan, most cities in East Africa also had industrial accumulation. During the First Five-Year Plan, the central government took the lead, and each town realized the industrial resources of its own city. integration.

Some towns lack important resources for industrial development, but no matter how bad the conditions are, there is still no problem in developing primary food processing and agricultural product processing.

During the First Five-Year Plan, the resources of these industries have been integrated to a certain extent, which has greatly increased the industrial scale of East Africa. However, this also requires that industrial development must find new solutions during the Second Five-Year Plan.

Following Randall's speech, Iringa city government officials were all lost in thought, and this obviously had a certain effect.

Hemes, director of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Iringa City, said: "Mayor, I have a little opinion on industrial development. We may have fallen into a misunderstanding of industrial development resources."

Hearing what Hermes said, of course aroused Randall's interest, and he said: "Speak freely, as long as it can help improve the industrial level of our city, no matter what the idea is, you can use it as a reference."

After getting Randall's approval, Hermes clarified her thoughts and then said: "In the past, when we thought about industrial development, we paid too much attention to the support of higher-level governments, or too much to the city's favorable resources. But the problem is The reason is that Iringa is not necessarily ranked high among East African cities, even within the province. Therefore, the development of our city cannot rely too much on policies and support. At the same time, Iringa lacks mineral resources for industrial development. This also means that we cannot rely on mineral resources for development like other cities."

Among the more than 600 cities in East Africa, Iringa City's industrial level can only be ranked in the middle and upper reaches, which is almost more than 200. Therefore, it is difficult for Iringa City to attract the attention of the East African government, but Iringa City can be ranked relatively high. The location is due to its early development history and its location along the Central Railway. Hermes continued: "So the development experience of other cities in East Africa, especially those with strong industrial power, is not necessarily suitable for us."

"Take transportation conditions as an example. Although our city is connected to railways, and they are trunk lines, our city is just an ordinary city on the Central Railway, not a transportation hub. Therefore, the distance between New Frankfurt City and Dodoma City, our provincial capital, is The development path is obviously not suitable for Iringa. At the same time, our city is not a coastal city and is destined to be more restricted in economic development. "

“Not to mention mineral resources. Our city has no coal mines or iron ores, and also lacks other more important minerals. Therefore, industrial and mining cities such as Mbeya developed based on mining resources and became the earliest heavy industry base in our country. "

"So if our city wants to develop, we can't take the conventional path. We can't compete with those cities."

Randall nodded and said: "What you said, of course we also understand. The question is how to develop without taking the conventional path?"

Hermes said unhurriedly: "In the past, our country attached great importance to the development of heavy industry and defense industry, and light industry has never been taken seriously. Although the development of light industry has made great progress during the Second Five-Year Plan, in my opinion, it has great potential. , there is still a lot of room for growth.”

"Hemes, you mean to develop light industry, but the central government also did this during the Second Five-Year Plan period. Isn't this the same? Our city has already laid out the layout of light industry during the Second Five-Year Plan period. For state-owned flour mills, Cotton textile factories, cigarette factories, etc. have been upgraded,” someone asked rhetorically.

Hemes shook her head at other people's doubts and said: "This level of industry is completely insufficient. Light industry cannot be solved by just a few factories related to food, clothing, housing and transportation."

"Take flour mills as an example. I have learned about flour processing companies in this city. They can only produce the most basic flour products, but there are many flour-related industries. This is most typical in Europe. For example, in Europe, Bread workshops, large and small, and other items such as biscuits, snacks, etc. are inseparable from flour. Some factories have been able to achieve large-scale production, so we can completely rely on flour mills to extend other light industrial categories. Bread may not be able to do this, but biscuits and some other items are easy to store. For snacks, related factories can be set up.”

Bread is the most important staple food for Europeans, but it has undergone major changes in East Africa. In East Africa, daily pasta types are diversified. Bread, steamed buns, sesame cakes, pancakes, scones, etc. exist at the same time. Therefore, Hermes is very concerned about bread production. Not very interested, at least in the East African market it is not as easy to sell as in European and American countries.

"In this way, the industrial chain will increase, and the industry will naturally increase at the same time. Take biscuits as an example, the market prospect is quite good, it is durable in storage, easy to transport, and tastes good. Our city can definitely establish Related food companies, and the investment doesn’t need to be too big.”

Randall nodded and said: "It makes sense. We also have biscuit manufacturers in East Africa. However, there are few biscuit varieties and quantities in the general market. There is indeed a certain room for development, so the biscuit industry is indeed a relatively safe industry. "

Hermes said: "That's it. Now our country's industrialized food processing field is concentrated in the primary stage. Many agricultural products are directly sold abroad after initial processing, but the field of terminal consumer goods is still a blue ocean. If our city can focus on this This is very beneficial to the industrial development of our city.”

"People's needs are diverse, and everyone has different preferences. However, my country's food industry is relatively homogeneous. If our city can develop products that meet the needs of its people based on the needs of its own market, then sales will naturally not be a problem. By improving If the food ingredients and taste are better, our products will be more popular, and we will be able to occupy more markets and promote the development of the city’s industry.”

(End of chapter)