 Commercially from 1880–1900 years, her enterprises in Kokopo surpassed most in the region and the Pacific and she was most certainly the commerce queen of New Guinea.In 1893 Emma married Paul Kolbe, a German colonial official and former army captain who was nearly fifteen years her junior.Her commercial empire was still in full swing when towards the end of 1907 she learnt of increasing tensions between Germany and Britain in the colonies and Europe.