microfinance

Qualcomm's Jacobs fills CE thought leader gap

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs presented a vision of the future for the consumer electronics industry this morning, as he opened the first official day of the show with a thought provoking keynote.

The core of that future is mobile services and technology. “All consumer electronics business are either in the mobile business or soon will be”, said Jacobs.

This mobile transformation is most pronounced in the developing world, according to Jacobs. Emerging markets are increasingly mobile-centric. The… More

Telecom Deficit Slows Angola's Development


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

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.

huambo angola rotary project training center in dango run by european union and world vision
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

Live from CES, Friday, 9 January 2009


Last to first, real-time tweets from Las Vegas

  • On my way home, via Virgin America. An excellent CES, could have stayed longer.
  • TEC seminar takeaway: development needs financial, institutional, information & energy infrastructure.
  • Chambers’ development keynote devolved into a tacky Cisco sales pitch.
  • Cisco CEO John Chambers, standard corporate stump speech, interesting but generic.
  • Windmill powers mobile phones & radio, info gained lets farmer grow & sell crops efficiently.
… More