African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 436: Malicious Competition

When the Little Rhine was being managed in East Africa, Vienna actually also widened the Danube. However, compared to East Africa's governance for governance, Vienna's reason was more special, that is, for the 1873 World Expo held in Vienna, so it was a political achievement project. .

 The World Expo started in May, but Ernst did not join in the fun. On the one hand, he had a lot of schedule, and on the other hand, the Vienna World Expo was too chaotic.

Although Ernst had not participated before, the World Expo serves as a showcase for world commodities, so the Hechingen Foundation actively participated in it.

The Hechingen Consortium’s exhibits are divided into three categories: “European scientific and technological and industrial products, East African specialties, and the Hechingen Consortium’s participation in trade goods between the Far East and Europe.”

 Technology and industrial products are the products of various companies under the Hechingen Consortium, mainly focusing on three aspects: electricity, light industry, and medicine.

East African specialties are mainly concentrated in East Africa’s cash crops, which are high-quality industries in East Africa. Grain agriculture and dairy livestock agriculture are strong industries in Europe and the United States.

 Hence, under the influence of the economic crisis, East Africa's commodity grain exports to Europe have almost stagnated, and only continue to retain its advantages in regions that are not suitable for agricultural development, such as the Middle East and North Africa.

On the other hand, tropical cash crops are completely different. If we only discuss cash crops, the United States is not bad. However, after all, most of the United States belongs to the cold temperate zone, with some subtropical climates, but not at all in the tropics (it has not yet annexed Hawaii).

If it were possible, Ernst had of course thought about Hawaii, but he could only think about it. This place was not like Alaska, a land of ice and snow, and it was located in the center of the North Pacific. Its strategic position was too prominent, not to mention the United States. , even Japan, Canada, the Far Eastern Empire, Britain, and Tsarist Russia could not reach East Africa.

East Africa can block Alaska and delay its development, but it cannot use the same trick on Hawaii. It is the foothold of passing ships and cannot be avoided. However, it’s okay to think about it sometimes, and you won’t lose a piece of meat.

 In addition, East Africa’s main competitors in tropical cash crops are the Caribbean islands, whose main development area is the sugar industry. For various reasons, Western colonists obviously paid more attention to the Caribbean coast than South America, such as Haiti and Cuba.

South America is less interesting. Ernst thinks it may be because the South American suzerainty is relatively poor, and the South American countries are stronger after independence. Brazil and Argentina are both quite large in area and have a relatively small population, so they are not easy to control.

 The advantages of the Caribbean include fertile land, abundant rainfall, and its location on the main transportation route between North and South America, not far from Europe.

The advantage of the East African Kingdom compared to the Caribbean lies in its proximity to Europe, especially the two markets of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. At the same time, it has higher organizational capabilities and production efficiency, a larger land area, and the plantation industry pays attention to planning and gives full play to its own advantages.

At the same time, the geographical environment of East Africa is also more diverse than that of the Caribbean. There are tropical rainforest climates, savannah climates, tropical desert climates, alpine plateau climates and other tropical climate types. Moreover, the savannah climates vary greatly within the climate and are divided into plateau climate types (East African Plateau). ), plain climate types (Coastal Plain of East Africa), rainy climate (Great Lakes Region), drier climate (South Africa), double rainy season climate, single rainy season climate, long rainy season climate, short rainy season climate.

Therefore, although East Africa is dominated by a savanna climate, the savanna areas in the East African Kingdom are very different from the temperature and precipitation levels, providing a richer space for the development of different crops.

At this Vienna World Expo, the main East African specialties launched by the Hechingen Consortium include sisal, cloves, Somali bananas, mosquito coils (pyrethrum), asparagus (a kind of fruit), East African gum (gum arabic), tea, coffee, East Africa There are 237 tropical cash crops grown on a large scale, including rubber.

At the same time, there are more than 40 animal specialties such as horn specimens of East African bighorn cattle (Watusi longhorn cattle), lion skins, ivory, and crocodile leather goods. Seventeen kinds of high-quality wood carving craft samples including African teak, African neem, and African red walnut.

 There were also some interesting scenes that took place at the expo:

“Why does your so-called East African rubber look exactly like our Brazilian exhibit?”

"Don't be slanderous. This is a rubber tree species that our company dug in the East African Kingdom. It is an excellent local rubber tree species that was discovered after going deep into the hinterland of Africa." In the suspicious eyes of the Brazilian exhibitors, the employees of the Hechingen Company were righteous. He said rhetorically: "Africa is an unexplored continent, and it is not surprising to find anything."

Others don’t care whether the rubber tree species in East Africa are stolen. They directly ask for the price and buy the one with the lowest price. Although rubber planting in East Africa started late, the planting volume is larger than that in Brazil, so it is very competitive.

 At the banana exhibition area.

In order to compete maliciously, the Hechingen Consortium specifically compared bananas from the Americas with bananas from East Africa. Everyone can taste the differences between the two bananas, and the origins of the two bananas are clearly marked.

 “Thin skin, thick flesh, big and sweet, ahead of its peers.”

“Irrigated by high-quality river water from the Shabelle River originating from the Ethiopian Plateau, nurtured by twelve hours of sunshine, carefully taken care of by farmers, and one-on-one tutoring by individual people and trees, the quality is better, the taste is sweeter, and the aroma is richer.”

Faced with the vicious competition from Somali bananas in East Africa, the Caribbean region, especially the Boston Fruit Company in the United States, is very unconvinced.

“You must have selected the worst products from the Caribbean to compare with your best bananas, and we are not convinced!”

“Whether you accept it or not, let the facts speak for itself. Only after everyone has tasted it can we feel which of the two bananas is the king of bananas!”

“Then we can’t compare with the samples you provided. With the bananas we brought from the production area, we are absolutely sure to win.”

 So with the support of the melon-eating crowd, the banana competition started on the spot.

“On the left are Somali bananas produced in East Africa, and on the right are bananas produced in the Caribbean. How the two bananas taste depends on everyone’s vote, and everyone can participate.”

So a tasting meeting began, and Hechingen employees also thoughtfully prepared drinking water for everyone to rinse their mouths to prevent odor transfer.

“Well, generally speaking, both bananas taste good, but I personally think Somali bananas are sweeter.”

“Not to mention the sweetness, just looking at the color and freshness, I think Somali bananas are better.”

Finally, there are comments from heavyweights. King Carol I, who came from Romania to attend the conference, said after carefully tasting the two bananas: "To be honest, Somali bananas win."

It is true that there are no selfish intentions. Many kings came to this World Expo, such as William I, Alexander II, Francesco II of the Kingdom of Naples, etc. Carol I really just happened to watch the fun and then participated. Activity. Although they were relatives, Ernst would not ask Carol I to act as a trustee just to sell bananas.

 As a result, Somali bananas were rated as “the sweetest bananas in the world” at this World Expo. Out of jealousy over the development of the United States over the years, the British newspaper sourly slandered: "American banana products, just like American industrial products, have developed through plagiarism and shoddy quality..." fully demonstrating the old A father's concern for his rebellious son.

 (End of this chapter)