One day, someone was knocking on the Boer’s door. Scratching his ass whilst grumbling, he opened the door to see a Xhosa elf looking at him. The Xhosa had their hands outstretched as if he was begging.
“Presents?” The Xhosa asked in Elfrikaans. It was very well pronounced as if it was practised. The Xhosa then pointed at the farmer’s cattle.
Frowning, the Boer slammed the door on the Xhosa.
Later in the day, his door was knocked again.
He opened the door. And instead of one Xhosa, there were three. It was the same fellow from earlier in the day. This time, he brought over two other Xhosas. They were muscular in stature. And they looked down at the farmer.
The Xhosa repeated his routine asking for presents. This time the Boer took a couple of steps back and slammed the door once more.
He grabbed his musket and prepared for a fight.
No fight came.
Numerous complaints flooded his office about the Xhosa beggars and Jan was left stumped. What was he going to do? Evict them?
He looked towards Russell, who seemed unfazed by the new challenge.
“Before I went on the trek, I lived in the Eastern Cape. Xhosas constantly came and asked for presents. I always thought they were greedy bastards until the local pastor told me it was a custom of theirs. Apparently, in Xhosa custom, when a poor Xhosa asks for food, a wealthy Xhosa is expected to supply it as insurance. One day, the wealthy Xhosa might become poor and must beg. The once poor Xhosa is expected to return the favour.”
“Sounds like the Buddhist karmic system. Makes sense, so what then?”
He thought about banning the practice, but then he would effectively be banning begging. Is that even possible? And it wasn’t like he wanted to beat on someone’s culture. There were also reports of Xhosa warriors approaching those who refuse to hand out anything. No violence had taken place.
It seemed he needed to crack down on the practice.
Unless they could formalize this practice.
“You know… lending a Xhosa some cattle and expecting payment when one becomes poor sounds like a loan. A bank loan. Perhaps, we should expand our burgeoning initiatives in securities.”
His Dutch genes were calling out to him. There was a way to make money, and he wanted to take it. It would be interesting to start a securities exchange. The first securities they’ll be trading? Cattle. But for that to work, he’ll need the cooperation of the Zulus and Xhosa chiefs nearby.
He doubted the Xhosas would mind since he was codifying that practice on paper. And the Zulus? He’ll work something out.
“I have an idea. The first-ever securities exchange in South Elfirca! The Natalia Securities Exchange(NSE)!”
Nasdaq Inc in the modern world facilitated and owns stock exchanges. And for that service, they make billions! But he isn’t going to facilitate only stocks. Securities are defined as fungible and tradable financial instruments for raising capital for both public and private markets. Three types mainly existed. Firstly, equity, allows holders to have ownership rights. Secondly, debt, loans that must be repaid. Thirdly, a hybrid of both systems.
Instead of the burden of the futures being managed by his bureaucracy, he was going to spin that off into a for-profit company, 100% owned by him. Now, they weren’t going to make billions. But it could make a tidy sum.
The dream of all securities trade having to go through his company made his mouth water, and he was a little embarrassed watching Russell look towards him in confusion.
“Ahem… let me explain. Instead of the informal arrangements the Xhosa have, we can properly formalize them. It will be tracked by the NSE. And if we can the Zulu Chiefs and Xhosa Chiefs partaking in the exchange, then we will at least have some enforcement of any agreements. If they break their word, then I will have to repossess what belongs to me by force. Anyway, it will give any new settlers in Natalia a head start. Have too many cattle? Lend it out.”
“Sounds like a good plan, but it also sounds like a lot of work.”
Local officers and bureaucrats were deployed to tell the Xhosa to bugger off politely. He was unsure which Chief they paid their allegiance to. If they made complaints to their Chiefs, then he could find out where exactly they were and gather them all for a meeting. Luckily, the Zulus were a little more centralized in their command structure, so he sent a quick letter to Nokuthula to discuss the matter.
Can the Natalia Securities Exchange be called a private company if it’s owned by the government, which was him in the town? Well, if they did business outside of Port Mpande in Natalia, then it is a private company. For now, like every company with a change in the privacy policy, he decided to gather every bureaucrat involved in the facilitating futures contract and had them make a choice.
Either they could stay in government and be assigned to work on another task. Or they could work in the new Natalia Securities Exchange.
Like every private company, he organized them into divisions. Chief Executive Officer would be Jan Boddewijk. And under him would be a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer.
Someone needed to manage the books, and that’s what the Chief Financial Officer did. Someone also needed to manage the daily operations, and that’s for the Chief Operating Officer. And finally, someone needs to sell the idea that the Natalia Securities Exchange would benefit the other Commandoes if they’re willing to let the company set up shop in their town. That’s the job of the Chief Marketing Officer.
Like any important Boer decision, he had the bureaucrats elect the best candidate amongst themselves for the new role. The democratic appointment of Officers also prevented one thing he was afraid of. Corruption. What’s stopping the CFO from cooking the books? If the CFO knew that their every action is watched and that can be easily replaced by someone else, then they are less likely to do any funny actions such as these.
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The big companies of the modern world offered stock options to ensure their loyalty. Jan took some time to think if he should allow them a share of the profits instead of a fixed salary. It is not as if it would prevent corruption. But if the new employees were invested in the business, then, they are less likely to torpedo the business to the ground.
So, he also announced that the three Executive Officers, would earn 10% of the company’s income, whilst he would take 30%. That left 40%. 10% will go into the reserves. 30% will be distributed as bonuses to productive employees. These measures should be sufficient to please his new employees. There were many takers. The bonus, if they did a good job, was attractive.
But note that he mentioned it was of income, which is revenue minus expenses.
Most companies never made income in the first few years. So, for the bonuses or commissions? Well, it was likely he won’t see any for quite some time. And he would be expected to subsidise this initiative. It was fine with gold passing through his hands from Potchefstroom as trade between the Natalia and Potchefstroom Republic grows.
Once it fully develops with many of the schemes of modern-day financial systems, then he could make an absolute killing. Plus, it would serve as a good outlet for all the gold flowing through the town. Inflation from the gold wreaked havoc on the Spanish Empire’s economy. By offering a securities exchange, many of these gold holders could dump their funds into securities.
Why does it remind him of how governments around the world printed money during the COVID-19 pandemic and people dumped it into the stock markets for fun? It still didn’t prevent the inflation that came soon after once people hit the streets.
That was the thing. Inflation is scary. Seeing the price of goods go up every month or so is worrying. That gold passed through his hands. Is the wealth of the locals increasing with every measure of his? Prices of goods would go up since people had more money in this town.
He needed a central bank that could give out bonds or raise interest ranks as or when he needed to control this. This needed to be discussed with Pretorius sometime in the future. But they’ll need a significant gold reserve before they can discuss implementing measures like this.
He could make do with a simple bank. And merchants were setting up banks in his town. They acted more as vaults to store whatever one desired, and one needed to pay a small fee to use their services.
There was so much he could introduce such as insurance and banking. The traders might look at him and wonder if he will run away with their money. But all he needed to do was to store the funds in a central location where everyone can see them. He also needed a place to store the gold obtained from Potchefstroom.
He tasked Russell with it.
Commerce was booming. And trade networks were formed with the Zulus. Some of them have even created companies. There were numerous contractors in his town ready to get to work constructing whatever project he had. It was a way he used to improve relationships with the Zulu.
The bidding was just a show during such events but contracting went hand in hand with politics. He had many contracts, coal mines in Zulu land, expansion of the port, construction of housing, and demarcation of farms for new settlers. There was a lot for contractors. That’s not even mentioning the subcontractors that do things such as refurbishing homes and ensuring that homes had furniture.
The construction of Port Mpande’s first Central Bank was a big contract. And many contractors wanted it. Nokuthula even sent a letter requesting that he hand the contract over to Zulu contractors as they’ll be able to get it done as quickly as possible. If he had any complaints about their shoddy workmanship, he could send them to her, and she will ensure they will be quickly rectified.
But he didn’t want to hand it to her. Since this was a big contract and was going to be very expensive since he wanted safes for his people to store his goods, iron and steel will be required. He was going to not hand it to a single company. Jan wanted the project to be a communal project, and he was going to break down construction into numerous tasks which will be handed over to numerous subcontractors. He was interested to see if the Zulus and Boers could work together. This was a test, an experiment for further cooperation.
The jaws of everyone dropped when he announced that. The mouths of the Zulu especially dropped. They even invited Chief Nokuthula to the bidding, thinking he will be more likely to hand the contract to her. To put it aptly, they wanted him to show face to them since they brought her to this bidding.
Jan briefed Russell and the bureaucrats about the bidding beforehand. This time, he wished for the bids to be for local companies to see their capabilities, and he had no desire to play politics.
A couple of hours later, with all the bids submitted, his men made the decision. The safes were to be contracted out to Assegai Weapons Manufactory. The justification was clear, they were experienced with iron and steel since they dealt with them all the time. It was a bit strange, but it made sense since he didn’t have any local companies specializing in safes.
The structure of the building was handed over to Zulu contractors since they provided the best price. Zulu manufacturing focused on vertical integration. They could get cheap wood and fabric all provided by their people who would provide the best prices since they bought in bulk.
What remained were the subcontractors. Landscaping and general management were won by the Zulus once more. There was no Boer company competing in this regard.
But for interior decorations, a Boer company won, promising to integrate both Zulu and Boer architecture into the design. The justification they gave was that they hired a couple of Zulus and that should be sufficient.
Jan heckled his bureaucrats.
“What kind of crappy justification is this? Even if they did hire some Zulus, what kind of jobs do the Zulus work? As designers or security guards?”
He requested that the Administration send a notice for clarification in this regard.
One word was sent to the Administration, it was ‘consultants’.
He didn’t want to pursue the matter any further or by asking what they meant by consultants.
Construction would take a couple of months or weeks, depending on how fast they wanted to work on it. But Jan expected construction to have some delays. Numerous companies were working together, there would be some clashes working together.
But Zulus and Boers were the only ones he was working with. There was now the Xhosa.
Jan greeted the chiefs entering the hall. They had grouchy looks on their faces no doubt due to the poor perception their subordinates sowed about him. It was natural, he had those beggars evicted after all.
While there were tens of Xhosa chiefs, only one Zulu representative came. And she was frowning. No doubt dissatisfied about not having the contract given to Zulu companies, it was likely she was going to fight a little bit to express her displeasure. He felt like kicking himself. He should probably have worked on the Natalia Securities Exchange a little earlier, but it was tough to gather all the numerous Xhosa chiefs nearby the Natalia Republic altogether.
He made a mental note to hand a contract or two to Zulu companies soon so that he could appease the elf. Once the German land surveyors find more deposits, they would hand the construction and mining contracts to the Zulus.
It was a bit troubling. He didn’t know which language to use. Elfrikaans or English? Either way, the Xhosas won’t get it.
That was why the Administration hired a Xhosa to deal with Xhosa affairs. They sent him to tell the beggars to buzz off. The Xhosa also helped gathered all the chiefs, he could only thank him for enduring the vitriol the Xhosa Chiefs had for evicting the beggars.
“I understand Xhosa culture about the present. But what if it is properly formalized? Any man or elf that lends another cattle for sustenance will be recorded. And if the debt is called to be returned. It ought to be returned. That is why I seek your cooperation. I do not mind if your men come into my town. But I wish for it to be in a done that would be appropriate to our culture.”
The Xhosa bureaucrat translated his words for him and explained them to the other chiefs. Now it was time to sell to them why it benefited them.
“You see. Some of us have a lot of cattle, and it sits around in our backyard. But you don’t know who to lend it to? Through the Natalia Securities Exchange, you could do so and earn interest for doing so. Lend a cattle, get two back. The NSE will facilitate all of these for you, for a small fee.”
He left the Xhosa to give the rest of the sales pitch he was briefed with.
Jan studied Nokuthula’s face, and it seemed she didn’t want to fight with him over this. She could already see the potential profits to be made. As a chief, she surely had a lot of cattle lying about. Especially after their recent conquests in the Free States, she would have way too much to know what to do with them.
He turned to the Xhosas and found them interested in what his bureaucrat had to say. He was not outright forbidding their culture, but to do it in a way that the Boers won’t be too offended. Although, from the reports he had about Xhosa warriors approaching the Boer homesteads, well, he didn’t want to be harassed about debts from any of them.
A couple of hours later, the Natalia Stock Exchange was formalized with the backing of the neighbouring Zulu and Xhosa chiefs.