angola – Steve Blum's Blog

Data flows along paths set in the age of sail

25 October 2015 by Steve Blum
angola, brazil, submarine cables

Click for the look ahead.

International submarine fiber optic cables traverse many of the same routes that sailing ships followed in centuries gone by. In one sense, that’s not such a surprise. If goods move between the U.S. and Britain, say, then information is going to flow that way to something like the same extent. Even so, an interactive graphic on Vox.com brings that relationship to life in a fascinating way, by combining a shipping map from 1912 with the latest edition of Telegeograhy’s submarine cable wall map, published retro-style with everything except Here be Dragons included.… More

Telecom Deficit Slows Angola's Development

20 July 2009 by Steve Blum
angola, development, gates foundation, huambo, microfinance, microwave, movicel, ngo, planet earth, rotary, silicon valley telecommunications council, telecom, unitel, world vision

Steve Blum, Tellus Venture
Associates, doing project
due diligence in HuamboTelecommunications and transportation make the difference between subsistence farming and sustainable commercial agriculture in Angola’s Huambo province, where Tellus Venture Associates is supporting a development project through Rotary International. The physical infrastructure was obliterated during nearly 30 years of civil war, but mobile phone applications could soon provide a life-saving solution.

Potatoes sold in Huambo might earn $175 per ton, but could fetch $500 or more per ton in coastal markets, hundreds of kilometers away.… More

Tellus Venture Associates does hands-on development work in Angola

6 July 2009 by Steve Blum
angola, development, european union, gates foundation, huambo, infrastructure, microfinance, ngo, planet earth, rotary, world vision

Tellus Venture Associates is supporting a comprehensive development effort in Angola’s Huambo province. The project combines agricultural and marketing education, infrastructure building, seed (literally) capital, market development and microfinance. I became involved a couple of years ago when I helped my Rotary district raise $250,000 for the project, amounting to 25% of the first phase. The remaining 75% is from World Vision, a development and relief-focused NGO, and the Angolan government.

Manuel de Sousa, president of the Rotary Club of Luanda (left),
and Steve Blum (right) at the EU/World Vision agricultural
training center in Huambo province

In June 2009 I traveled to Huambo, with several fellow Rotarians, for due diligence on the current project as well as future needs assessment.… More