African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1051: Development from “need”

Hermes continued: "To improve the taste of food, you don't necessarily have to follow conventional routines. For example, tofu curd. Some people like sweet, some salty, and some spicy. There is a huge market for various tastes. , but not many people paid attention to it in the past. This is an opportunity for our city’s food processing enterprises.”

"Take the flour mill as an example. We rely on the flour mill to develop a biscuit factory. In order to produce more flavors of biscuits, the demand for sugar, salt, dried fruits and other things will naturally increase. Then I will add We can develop factories that supply raw materials.”

Randall and others carefully thought about the scene described by Hermes, and had to admit that it made sense.

Randall said: "We can make a preliminary attempt, and if the effect is significant, we can develop supporting industries step by step."

Hermes: "I dare not say that in other places, but there is absolutely no problem in the entire area. Of course, if it only meets the needs of the people in this city, the scale does not need to be too large. It is enough to establish small and medium-sized factories."

This is actually the establishment of local food processing enterprises, which is relatively common in East Africa. However, at this stage, the categories produced by East African food processing enterprises are too single, and Iringa City plans to create its own food products from the perspective of meeting different "needs". industry.

Hermes continued: "The food processing industry is only a very basic industry. We should make full use of the wheat in our city to realize the layout of related industries."

"There is actually a resource in East Africa that has been neglected for a long time. If it can be utilized, I think our city's light industry can definitely be vigorously developed."

Hermes did not sell out, he said directly: "And this resource is labor force. At the beginning of this century, our country's population has reached more than 80 million. East Africa is actually not too lacking in the field of population, and these labor forces Utilizing resources and developing processing and manufacturing industries can make up for some of our city’s disadvantages.”

"For example, the textile industry does not necessarily have to be established near cotton-producing areas. Nairobi, Bulawayo, Gezira, and Mogadishu are all typical strong textile cities that rely on cotton cultivation."

"But Germany and the United Kingdom, which are strong countries in the textile industry, rely almost entirely on imported cotton. Our cotton spinning industry in New Frankfurt in East Africa also relies on railway transportation hubs."

"This shows that the development of the cotton textile industry is indeed inseparable from raw materials, but it does not necessarily have to be close to the place of production. The cotton textile industry is a typical labor-intensive industry, and labor factors and market factors have a great impact on the cotton textile industry."

"Take Germany as an example. Germany has a very high population density, a large labor force and a vast market. This is a prerequisite for the development of the German cotton textile industry."

Germany's area is less than one-twentieth of East Africa, but its population is nearly 50 million, nearly half of East Africa's. Therefore, even for East Africa, Germany is a very populous country.

The three characteristics of large population, developed industry and high income determine that the German textile industry has a vast domestic market, and the rich labor force provides convenient conditions for the development of the textile industry in Germany. It can be said that compared with East Africa, Germany has Conditions other than cotton cultivation were more conducive to the development of the textile industry.

It is reflected in its labor force, technology, capital, and market advantages over East Africa. In addition to its own market, Germany has strong consumption levels in neighboring countries. German textiles are also very popular in the international market.

“It can be seen from this that our Iringa City does not have the conditions to develop the textile industry. Although our city is not a major cotton producing area, it is not far from the cotton producing areas of Lake Malawi and Lake Solon Province. ”

"As for the labor force, the level of urbanization has increased and the agricultural population has moved to cities, so it is not a problem for us." Randall interrupted: "But other cities in the cotton textile industry are also developing well. How can we compete with those cities? Competition from large state-owned factories?”

Hermes explained: "This involves the demand I mentioned before, which can also be understood as the market."

"The cotton textile industry is a very large industrial category, involving many industries. Whether or not we can create value ultimately depends on selling the products. The geographical location of our city and the situation of domestic cotton textile products are destined to have a strong domestic market. Great potential.”

“After more than ten years of development in East Africa, there is always a serious problem in our country, that is, the single category of industrial products cannot meet the needs of everyone. Just like the people who read "Hamlet", there are a thousand people in the hearts of a thousand people. Hamlet, everyone’s taste is different.”

"And the end products such as clothing and quilts downstream of the cotton textile industry are the most likely to reflect this result. There are very few types of clothing in East Africa, which means that domestic people have few choices. Does less choice mean less demand from the people? ? The fact is just the opposite. It’s not that people don’t want to choose, but they don’t have a choice.”

"Take my daughter as an example. Last week, my eldest daughter bought a skirt made in Dodoma City, but the skirt was ugly, so with the help of her mother, she sewed many patterns on the skirt. ”

"Then this skirt is ugly. Why does my eldest daughter still buy it? Because she feels that the skirts in state-owned stores are not the ugliest, only uglier. Of course, my daughter's aesthetics may be different from others, but is this the same? If there is a dress that my daughter likes on the market, she doesn’t need to modify the dress she bought.”

"So when our city develops light industrial products, it should provide more diversified products based on the needs of its people, so that market sales will not be a problem."

"We don't necessarily have to develop the upstream cotton textile industry. We can fully develop our efforts in end-use industries such as ready-made garments, tablecloths, curtains, etc. that require fabrics."

"Raw materials can be imported from other cities, and we are processing and improving them according to market demand. This creates a perfect closed loop and drives the development of the city's light industry."

"This is also reflected in other industries. For example, in the ceramic manufacturing industry, we can win the market through innovation and create good-looking products. We do not necessarily have to judge the quality of the product by whether it is resistant to falling or whether the materials are solid."

Hermes' words can be said to be a lesson to the government officials of Iringa City. Industrial development must ultimately sell products, and if you want to sell products, you must ultimately look at the needs of customers, and this demand does not It must be quality and price, but it may also differ due to personal aesthetics.

Mayor Randall said happily: "Hermes' words can be said to be enlightening to me. Next, our city's industrial investment must follow this idea. As Hermes said, only the people who produce Needed commodities are the secret to our city’s industrial development.”

"And through this form, we can also form differentiated competition with other cities and accelerate the development of our city's industry. Our city's development in heavy industry is indeed easily restricted, including talent, education, mineral resources, transportation, industrial base, etc. , and light industry is our magic weapon to not fall behind other cities, and the development of light industry must pay more attention to market demand. "

"Our city is not a coastal area, so we must pay more attention to the domestic market, use the domestic market as the foundation, vigorously develop the food processing industry and other labor-intensive industries, provide our country with more light industrial product categories, and meet the diversified needs of society."

In the final analysis, if a town like Iringa wants to make a breakthrough in the industrialization stage, it must be based on light industry. From a global perspective, light industry occupies a dominant position, and East Africa is not a strong country in light industry. Therefore, those cities that can seize the opportunity at this stage can It can occupy a place in the East African industrial system through light industry, even surpassing some heavy industry cities.

(End of chapter)