Acumen is a nonprofit global venture fund that uses philanthropic capital to make disciplined investments in companies, leaders, and ideas that are changing the way the world tackles poverty. It focuses on delivering affordable healthcare, clean water, decent housing, sustainable energy, and agricultural innovations to improve the lives of the poor.

Acumen

Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders, and ideas. We invest Patient Capital in businesses whose products and services are enabling the poor to transform their lives. Founded by Jacqueline Novogratz in 2001, Acumen has invested more than $154 million in 167 companies across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. We are also developing a global community of emerging leaders with the knowledge, skills and determination to create a more inclusive world. In 2015, Acumen was named one of Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Not-for-Profit Companies.

KopaGas

Healthify

PEG Africa

Seed

Takeda

In Rajasthan, India, solar power is lighting up opportunities for women. The Dooni Dairy Cooperative is just one example of how solar energy is transforming lives and businesses. 

Devidayal Solar Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is behind the solar-powered fridges used in Dooni. Tushar Devidayal, its founder and a participant in Acumen's Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator, explains that women are the biggest drivers of demand for these appliances.

In 2023, India overtook China to become the world’s most populous country, with nearly 1.5 billion inhabitants. But this demographic surge could become a curse if inequality continues to rise, particularly between genders. Women's labor force participation in India is among the lowest in the world at just 24%. 

Meet three entrepreneurs creating jobs and solving the problems of poverty facing women in India. 

Shruti Gonsalves | Sweta Mangal | Neha Juneja

#InvestInWomen

Are you attending #ChangeNOW2024 in Paris? Join us at Acumen's session on Empowering Female Entrepreneurs on Tuesday, March 26th at 2 p.m. CET! 

Our panel will showcase inspiring stories of entrepreneurs prioritizing women's inclusion, and how corporations and investors are supporting their growth through innovative partnerships. We can't wait to see you there! Book your ticket below. ⬇ 

Getting a good product out of the ground is only 50% of the job. The other half is selling it.” At Acumen, we are excited by our investments that are doing both halves of the job. 

Impact Europe’s Benjamin DeVries followed the journey of a chocolate bar, grown as cacao in Tumaco, Rural Colombia to a grocery store in Gent, Belgium, and penned this piece about the work of our new investing initiative, Trellis. 

How can we direct impact capital to where it’s needed most? For Hardest-to-Reach, Acumen starts by identifying the impact target–universal energy access–and then structures finance to achieve this goal, rather than working within the confines of predefined instruments.

Acumen’s Chief of Strategic Initiatives Jiwoo Choi shared our approach to scaling funding for clean energy access at the Solarplaza Future of Energy Summit alongside leaders like Stefanie Fairholme of The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and Joseph Armah, FRM of Powertrust, and more! 

#RenewableEnergyFinance #HardestToReach

En las zonas rurales de #Colombia el 93% de las mujeres aún realizan actividades de trabajo no remunerado. Invertir en las mujeres rurales no solo es importante para lograr una equidad de género sino también se hace imprescindible para promover el desarrollo económico y un futuro sostenible para el país. 

Embajada de Canadá en Colombia | Embassy of Canada to Colombia | Ambassade du Canada en Colombie
#InvirtiendoenlasMujeres #DíaInternacionaldelaMujer

ORG:ACUMEN

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