People

How do I get more people? Even with the bonus of several hundred thousands, I still don't have enough to open another corporation.

Can I buy people on the market?

You can always get population from the gamemaster at a rate of 6 gold coins for 1 million people. Other players sometimes offer population as well. In the past when I've been here and other players also sold population, you could usually get 1M for 3 gold coins. There are not near as many people playing now as there has been at other times. Especially on Kebir.

Click "direct trading" on the side menu, and look for "population transfers".

You can also boost your health care.
It does not add many people immediately but it does improve the growth curve.

you can test it by increasing the index 10 points and see what happens.