Upon arrival to Acumen Fund’s 10 year celebration gala in New York City, the shoulders of each guest were adorned with a bright scarf. Such simple, feather-light scarves, yet somehow, mixed with celebratory and inspiring conversations, the result was a powerful embodiment of community.
10 years after Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO and Founder, registered Acumen Fund as a charity in the US, the organization has invested over $69 million in patient capital in 63 enterprises that have created 55,000 jobs and touched the lives of over 86 million people.
Share:
In a rural farming community outside of Cuenca, Ecuador, a widowed mother of four named María Nieves has built a thriving business raising and selling pigs and cuys (guinea pigs, an Ecuadorian delicacy).
Most students of history can recount in detail the long and painful story that accompanied the rise of market-dominated consumer societies. From Slavery to Colonialism to disease epidemics, capitalism has taxed communities and the environment as much if not more than it has given back. But ultimately, the process has fallen short of reducing men and women to consumers only. We’re still self-organizing into non-market communities of support, faith, and friend networks. And we still care deeply about our one another and the environment.
In June of this year, I had the privilege of debating 
Part I of this blog post
