African Entrepreneurship Record

Afterward, Ernst inquired with Molin about the situation within Russia, mainly seeking information about the current Moscow high-level government.

Molin explained, "Because of the collapse of our intelligence network in Russia, we can't figure out the specific situation within the Kremlin. We can only compile and analyze information from official Russian sources and some rumors."

"Russian Supreme Leader Vladimir has not appeared in public for some time. According to the Russian Telegraph Agency, intelligence from the Tsarist era, and analysis from our pathologists, Vladimir's health has been consistently poor."

"Moreover, recently, Joseph's appearances in Russian government affairs have become more frequent, and he is one of Vladimir's confidants. Therefore, if Vladimir really has a problem, this Joseph is most likely to become the new leader of Russia."

"As for Joseph himself, since the split of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party at the beginning of this century, he has been with Vladimir's faction. He was arrested by the Tsarist government many times and exiled to Siberia. However, like many Labour Party members, he successfully escaped from Siberia."

The Tsarist Russia's place of exile basically didn't have strict supervision, because for Russia, criminals were actually one of the main forces in developing the Siberian region. Many towns and villages in the Siberian region were likely developed from prisons.

"However, this Joseph is not without competitors in Russia, such as Trotsky, who has a profound influence on the Russian army and is also deeply trusted by Vladimir."

"So, we cannot confirm who will ultimately become the new leader of Russia. However, it is certain that in the coming period, the Russian high-level government may experience turmoil due to Vladimir's health."

"And the main political difference between these two important Russian successors is that the latter is more extreme than Joseph. He advocates the Labour Party's global policy, while Joseph pays more attention to the domestic situation in Russia, emphasizing the consolidation of the current Russian regime's stability."

From East Africa's perspective, Trotsky's harm is certainly greater. After all, his remarks are very likely to directly affect East Africa, while Joseph is more pragmatic.

Ernst naturally hoped that Joseph would become the new leader of Russia. Joseph becoming the new leader of Russia would also mean fewer variables, which would give Ernst a greater advantage in dealing with Russia.

Ernst instructed Molin: "Keep a close watch on the possible changes in the Kremlin in the near future. I have a hunch that Russia's future direction is likely to have a significant impact on the whole of Europe, and even the world."

"Also, the selection of personnel for Russian intelligence work must be strict, and we must guard against the reverse flow of Russian Labour Party ideology into the Empire."

… …

January 21, 1924.

The leader of the Russian Labour Party, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, closed his eyes forever. The anti-Labour Party elements inside and outside Russia were overjoyed at the death of this Russian leader, and Russia was temporarily in a state of power turmoil.

However, for the anti-Labour Party elements inside and outside Russia, they had already lost the opportunity to turn the tables. The Russian Labour Party would not immediately collapse due to the death of a certain leader. After all, the Russian Labour Party was truly "full of talents" at this time.

But precisely because of this, it can be foreseen that the entire 1924 will basically be mired in a situation of infighting for power and profit, until the new successor officially establishes his authority and eliminates dissidents. But whoever ultimately consolidates the supreme power will certainly have no problem in terms of ability.

"According to the latest standards formulated by the National Industrial Standards Committee, the electronic components produced by your factory have potential safety hazards in terms of materials, which may cause short circuits and other problems in related electronic products," Investigator Darian of the Market Supervision Bureau said to Factory Director Corey Shawn.

Corey Shawn said with a bitter face, "Mr. Darian, Corey Shawn has always processed products according to this process before. Now many factories use our products, and there are no problems you mentioned. Why didn't you mention it before?"

Darian explained to Corey Shawn, "Mr. Corey Shawn, you don't need to be too anxious. In fact, you should be very clear in your heart that our department has already existed for a long time, and the East African Industrial Standards Committee is an organization that existed during the planned economy era."

The East African Industrial Standards Committee was an agency established in the last century, similar to the German Industrial Standards Committee. However, the German Industrial Standards Committee was established much later than East Africa's.

The establishment of the Industrial Standards Committee did play a huge role in the early East African industry, establishing many manufacturing standards for East African industrial products.

This made the reputation of East African goods still very good in the planned economy era, especially in the industrial field that East Africa is relatively good at. However, before that, the East African Industrial Standards Committee mainly dealt with East African state-owned enterprises.

After all, the market economy has not risen in East Africa for many years, and after 1910, the East African Industrial Standards Committee also quieted down for a while.

So Darian said, "However, because in the past ten years or so, the country has relaxed its market supervision in order to encourage the development of private enterprises, but this does not mean that this situation will continue to exist in the long term."

"In the past ten years, due to the lack of supervision, a large number of fake and shoddy goods have appeared on the market, which has seriously damaged the reputation of our East African manufacturing."

"Especially in some overseas export products, due to substandard manufacturing processes, or problems such as short weights, it has caused irreparable losses to East African commodity exports."

"Your products involve export industrial products, and some manufacturers use the parts you provide. Although it solves the cost to a certain extent, it also causes problems with the quality of the products."

Corey Shawn replied to Investigator Darian, "This shouldn't be our problem! After all, doing business is originally a matter of willingness. Some manufacturers order products from us, and we do things according to their requirements."

"After all, if our products are not up to standard, they can completely not place orders from my factory. Therefore, the price they pay, and their own requirements, because they do not meet the national standards, you should go to those manufacturers, not our factory!"

In Corey Shawn's words, it seemed that the Corey Shawn Electric Factory had suffered an injustice. However, Darian would not buy it.

He said to Goli Sean: "Mr. Goli Sean, you don't need to play dumb. The production process used in your factory is already a technology from more than ten years ago, and it has been clearly identified as a backward technology to be eliminated in East Africa."

"We reminded you three years ago that you should adopt the newly released national production process and produce related products according to the latest national standards."

"However, in order to save costs, you did not update your production equipment in a timely manner, and you continued to produce outdated products despite our repeated reminders. This is inherently wrong."

"After all, your factory's process has a great impact on water pollution. We have received complaints a long time ago, and under the new process, not only can production efficiency and product quality be improved, but pollution can also be reduced."

"So, you are knowingly committing a crime. There is no need to pretend to be innocent in front of me. A large part of your factory's products flow into the South American and European markets, which has indeed had a negative impact on East African manufacturing."

Goli Sean said: "Then what about those downstream manufacturers? Our products are not directly for civilian use, but only primary processed products, and will not directly enter the market, so rectification should start from downstream manufacturers."

In response, Delaine explained: "If it were before 1920, we naturally wouldn't dwell on this issue, but after 1920, new national standards were formulated, and with the requirements of the Five-Year Plan, we must promote high-quality development of the national industry."

"In the past, our department mainly dealt with state-owned enterprises. In recent years, we have begun to involve some large private factories that have reached a certain scale, and your company is one of them."

"After all, to put it bluntly, there are still many small workshops in Cabinda City, which are difficult to supervise, so we can only solve the problem from the source."

"Your factory is one of the important suppliers to many small appliance workshops, so in order to improve the development level of East African manufacturing, we will give priority to screening companies above a certain scale this time."

"As for some of your customers, they can't escape either, it's only a matter of time. With the re-expansion of our department, the supervision of the market will continue to be strengthened."

Delaine spoke frankly. At least from the current stage, the East African government's supervision of the market is mainly focused on industrial enterprises above the scale of Goli Sean Electric Factory.

In the past, the East African market supervision department can be said to have been in a state of invisibility in order to boost the development of the East African market economy. Now, the East African government believes that after more than ten years of development, East Africa has formed a large number of powerful private enterprises, and these private enterprises should naturally be included in the country's supervision.

In the past ten years, East Africa's state-owned economy has shrunk from more than 70% to more than 40%. This shows the barbaric growth of East Africa's private economy in the past ten years.

This barbaric growth has also brought a lot of problems, especially problems such as counterfeiting and shoddy manufacturing, but the most serious of these is still the counterfeiting of goods.

It not only harms consumers in East Africa, but also has an extremely negative impact on the reputation of East African export commodities, and the collapse of credibility is obviously not conducive to the long-term healthy development of East African industry.

Delaine said to Goli Sean: "In recent years, the country's supervision of the market will only become more and more strict, not only involving product quality, but also the replacement of production equipment and technology, operating conditions, financial situation, worker benefits, etc."

Delaine's words can be said to have poured a bucket of cold water on Goli Sean's head. After all, no company likes government intervention and finger-pointing.

Goli Sean asked Delaine: "Does the government even want to control how much wages I pay to the workers? I provide them with a livelihood, and they work for me. It's originally a matter of willingness, so the government should learn from the United States and Europe and reduce intervention in the market, which is not conducive to the active development of the economy."

Delaine said to Goli Sean: "Mr. Goli Sean, your idea is obviously wrong. Of course, we also hope that companies can develop healthily, but companies should consciously abide by relevant national regulations and assume social obligations."

"Regarding the problems of European and American countries you mentioned, our East African market is indeed worse than them in terms of activity, but the development in recent decades has proved that East Africa's economic system also has advantages. Otherwise, how could our country have developed into the world's number one industrial power in such a short period of time."

"You said economic activity, but in fact, during the First and Second Five-Year Plans, when East Africa's economy grew the fastest, the national economy was completely dominated by the state, and didn't it still achieve brilliant economic achievements."

"I admit that after the rise of the market economy in recent years, many private enterprises have developed rapidly, but the premise for your rapid development is based on the foundation of East Africa's economic construction in the past few decades. East Africa's state-owned enterprises have laid a solid foundation for the country."

In fact, in East Africa, there are also many supporters of the planned economy. After all, the end of East Africa's planned economy was not because there were problems with the economy at that time, but because of the government's active adjustments.

Therefore, the memory shaped by the planned economy era for the East African people is generally that East Africa has achieved brilliant achievements. Although there are some problems, compared to the contribution, the flaws do not obscure the jade.

Therefore, Delaine's use of the example of the planned economy era to refute Goli Sean left Goli Sean completely speechless. Although he is a beneficiary of the market economy, he cannot open his eyes and tell lies.

After all, it has only been less than fifteen years since East Africa completely ended the era of a completely planned economy, and the memory of the East African people is not so easy to change.

Delaine said: "Moreover, your cooperation with the country's work is not a bad thing. Today, the world's economic competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Only the strong have the hope of surviving. Therefore, promoting the progress of their own competitiveness, such as having competitiveness in technology or production efficiency, can better participate in market competition."

"Of course, this is also related to the needs of today's social development. I think Mr. Goli Sean, you should also be clear about the situation in various European countries today."

"The reason why the labor party members in various European countries are so active today is an important factor because the contradictions between enterprises and workers are becoming increasingly fierce. Therefore, in order to avoid the empire from following in the footsteps of Russia, it is not excessive for our enterprises to give workers some benefits, but rather a reasonable approach."

"After all, if the workers are not doing well, they may be instigated by labor party members. If the empire really becomes like Russia, I am afraid you have already been hanged on the street lights or paraded in the streets."

Delaine's words made Goli Sean feel nervous, but he still said stubbornly: "I haven't seen any labor party members active in East Africa. This is completely nonsense."

Delaine chuckled, and then warned: "Believe it or not, we are not deliberately trying to make things difficult for you, but for the healthy and stable development of the country. In short, there are many problems with your factory. I suggest you look through the new policies issued by the government in recent years, do a good job in rectification, and we will come to investigate next time. If you still choose to ignore it, then we can only act in accordance with the rules and regulations, and the law."