"If you don't say you bought it, just lie to your mother and say it was rented, isn't that enough?" Stari made her little calculation and helped persuade Song Yuqing, "Save a room for me then.
It’s so bad that I can sneak in and stay here once in a while!”
In the past two years, property prices in Xinhai have climbed to new highs, but rents are still relatively low.
Those old houses in the alleys of Tianzifang that are not suitable for renting out and opening a shop do not pay attention to the interior decoration. The whole house can be rented for less than 4,000 yuan. This is something Song Yuqing can afford if she buys them openly.
"Then I'll make the down payment!" Song Yuqing said, still insisting that Cao Mo not pay for her.
"..." Cao Mo was too lazy to pay attention to Song Yuqing. He would transfer the money to her account tomorrow anyway. If she dared to chatter with him, he scolded her and changed the subject to Starli, "I used to
In Kanem, there is a disadvantage that I suddenly realized after a long time, that is, I am not used to reading local media, and I miss a lot of information. I think you need to develop a habit in China in the future, which is to read the day from beginning to end every day.
The Xinmin Evening News will definitely help you understand this city more deeply."
"Don't you Chinese all say that newspapers are all about whitewashing peace? Can they really help us understand the current situation in this city?" Starlie asked doubtfully.
"Domestic media mainly report positive content and rarely involve negative news, but the key lies in whether we believe that the mainstream of this country is positive and moving forward. This also determines whether the information published by the media is valuable,"
After Cao Mo made comparisons in Kanem in the past few years, he was able to see more clearly the advantages of the country. He asked Stari, "Compared to Kanem, do you think China is peaceful, or is the people living in poverty?"
"
"I think China is great, but you Chinese are too harsh and picky about your own country and government. You should really throw them to Kanem to experience what a so-called democratic country is like.
," Stari said, "If I could, I would really like to settle in China forever!"
"Isn't this the end?" Cao Mo asked, spreading his hands.
"Can I also accompany you back to Kanem this time?" Starlie asked pitifully as she curled up on the sofa.
He had to admit that Starli's pitiful appearance was very tempting. Even though Cao Mo could feel that Starlie's intention to return to Kanem was not pure this time, it was still difficult to bear to reject her directly.
However, in Draculamore, a descendant of colonists with outstanding appearance like her is really dazzling, and the Brotherhood of Steel Fist is too powerful, and it is very likely that the whereabouts will be discovered if you are not careful.
It was too risky for Starlie to enter Draculamore or Longland under a pseudonym at this time.
Cao Mo shook his head. No matter what Stari wanted to do when she returned to Kanem this time, it didn't seem worth taking the risk.
"What if I don't go back to Canem directly, but go to Benin?" Starlie asked.
Benin is located in the northwest of Kanem, and is a country along the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. Its land area is slightly larger than that of Jiangsu Province in China, but its population population at the end of 2005 was only about one-tenth that of Jiangsu Province.
In the country, it is necessary to be a prime minister
It was a vast area and sparsely populated.
The overall economic development of Benin is even further behind than that of Canem, and is mainly based on agriculture. There are only some small-scale industries near the capital Bodonov and the outer port of Cotonou.
The Guidamu family's influence in Draculamo is deep-rooted and complex, but its influence has not been able to penetrate into the nearby Benin capital of Bodonov and the outer port of Cotonou.
If Starlie went to Benin instead of returning directly to Draculamore, even if her whereabouts were discovered by the Guidamu family, the risk would be much less.
The question is what is Starlie doing in Benin?
"You're not thinking of going to Benin just because you're tired of staying in China, are you?" Cao Mo asked.
Stari did not answer Cao Mo's question directly, but opened her beautiful eyes wide and changed the topic and asked:
"Isn't there an old saying in China that you can't put all your eggs in one basket at the same time? In this equity transaction, you can get so much cash. You also said that if you put this money in the country, it is nothing at all, but if you continue to invest in Long
Investment in Tajikistan, the risk is too concentrated, have you never thought of putting part of the investment in Benin?"
Starli didn't say anything, but Cao Mo couldn't interrogate her with a whip, but her question was still worth considering.
The transaction of part of the equity of Cornero Energy with Hexi Fund, a subsidiary of Dongsheng, was completely unexpected by Cao Mo. Cao Mo did not fully consider how to use the cash obtained from this equity transaction.
Even with the acquisition of Xinxuan Foods and the establishment of Tianyue Trading to build sales channels for motorcycles and parts in West Africa, Cao Mo only used less than 10 million US dollars in cash reserves in the early stage...
However, even without the connection with the Jidam family, Lonta's gold mine resources are not extremely rich after all. The mining area has been almost divided up, so it is difficult to increase investment; the Kanem cement market also needs to wait and see for a while, Konai
Whether the Luo Cement Plant should launch a third-phase project also needs to be considered comprehensively; as for the extraction and production increase of natural gas, it can only be supported by the upgrading and transformation of power plants. Whether the gas field has enough deep reserves to exploit and produce liquefied natural gas for export requires not only strengthening geological survey, but also the final
The investment scale is also huge, and it is not what he needs to consider now.
It is true that he does not need to make large-scale additional investments in Longta in the short term.
In addition to Lonta, in the layout of other areas in Draculamo and Canem, the next stage will focus on Tianyue to establish sales channels for motorcycles and parts.
Perhaps now is the time to look beyond Kanem to other West African countries?
The Economic Community of West African States has a total of sixteen member states. Although Benin is geographically closest to Lonta, its population is sparse (only one-twentieth of Kanem) and its economic development lags behind. This country is destined to be developed.
The market is extremely limited.
However, there are many tributaries in the upper reaches of the Lujiaochuan River originating from the deep mountains and dense forests southeast of Benin's capital, Bodonov. Cao Mo is still very concerned about the situation in Benin.
The capital of Benin, Bodonov, is very small, with a population of less than 200,000. The seaport city of Cotonou, with a population of nearly 600,000, is only 30 to 40 kilometers away from Bodonov. As the most prosperous city in Benin, it is also
There are only some simple processing industries.
There are two small cement factories in Cotonou, with an annual output of 1.34 million tons. They mainly supply Benin, but
The Benin authorities not only implement a strict price limit policy on the domestic cement market, but also impose extremely high tariffs on cement exports.
The production technology of these two local cement plants in Cotonou is backward, limited by electricity supply, various operating costs are high, the market price is restricted, and the channel for exporting Canem is also blocked, resulting in the two operations
The situation is not optimistic.
However, a careful analysis of Benin's market demand reveals that there is still potential that can be tapped.
It's just that the two local cement manufacturers can't see any profit under Benin's current price limit policy, and they have no intention and inability to expand production; while the large foreign cement manufacturers look down on Benin, which is so small.
market.
Yes, the demand for finished cement in Benin is even smaller than that in Oyo State, and the market price is still strictly restricted. The finished cement of the same grade is only 60% of that of Kanem. And if foreign cement companies want to enter, they have to follow a complete set of procedures.
When it comes to dealing with the government system, there are really not many big companies that are willing to do such a thankless job.
Using normal thinking, if Cao Mo takes 10 million US dollars to increase the annual cement production capacity by 500,000 tons in Longta, which has relatively complete electricity and other supporting facilities, he can reap nearly 2 million US dollars more in excess profits every month.
With the same investment scale, building a cement plant with an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons in Benin may only generate a monthly profit of 200,000 to 300,000 U.S. dollars, which is not even enough to earn interest. Several people will give up at this time.
Deeply cultivate the market in Canem, but go to Benin to do thankless work?
Even if we want to develop it, we have to wait until Kanem's market is fully competitive before we bite that meatless bone.
Of course, due to various factors, his next investment in Lonta was restricted, and he was forced to turn his attention to Benin. He also found that Benin was not without its advantages.
Benin has a sparse population and less intense ethnic conflicts, which also makes its internal politics relatively stable and its public security good.
The influence that an investment of the same size can achieve in Benin and in Canem is completely different.
And if they can influence Benin's ruling party to reduce cement export tariffs, they only need to wait until Canem's cement import ban is lifted. At that time, they will transport the finished cement from the Port of Cotonou to Draculamo for sale, and only need to go a long way.
One hundred and forty to fifty kilometers of sea route.
In that case, the new plant in Benin and the Cornero Cement Plant will complement each other and will be much less threatened by the Guidam family in the future.
Thinking of this, Cao Mo said to Stari: "It is really necessary to go to Benin when I go back this time."
"Miss Song will stay in China to take care of her mother. It will definitely be lonely for you to go to Benin alone. How about I go with you?" Stari stared at Cao Mo with her beautiful eyes and asked with a hint of flattery.
"..." Although Stali was pretending to be pitiful at this time and had ulterior motives, Cao Mo couldn't bear to reject her and said, "If you can't wait for me to finish handling the domestic affairs, you can go to Benin first.
But everything must be done carefully..."
He holds a work visa from Kanem. It is very convenient to travel to Benin, which is also a member of the Economic Community of West Africa. There is no need to apply for a separate visa. However, it is impossible for him to leave Xinhai on the same flight as Stali. At most, he can go to Benin somewhere.
Ning’s transit city will meet up, so Stali leaves for a few days first so that the two of them can stagger their schedules...