Tip of the iceberg for social enterprise talent

There seems to be growing excitement about Acumen Fund’s model, as evidenced by our recently announced Fellows Program, which has attracted applicants from all over the world, from New York to Uzbekistan.

This interest has also been made clear on our visits to universities. I recently participated in a Business Sustainability Conference at Dartmouth’s Tuck Business School. The prop plane to Manchester and the drive through snowfall were made worthwhile by the enthusiasm of the students, who peppered me with great questions.

The conference’s intent was to “discuss the important role that business leaders can play in creating a more sustainable world.” People are increasingly buying into the idea of the positive social change that the private sector is uniquely positioned to catalyze. The morning keynote was delivered by Andy Ruben of Walmart’s strategy department, who was quite convincing in his quick survey of the waste, fossil fuel burning and expense that the retail behemoth can cut from the world by making as small a change as reducing packaging of one toy by a mere 3 inches.

The panel discussion on which I participated was kept lively by David Green - a serial social entrepreneur who runs Project Impact - and Arturo Franco Hernandez - a smart young CSR manager from Cemex, the Mexican cement giant that launched the classic “Patrimonio Hoy” homebuilding program. John Vogel, a really dynamic Tuck professor, drove things along and kept the audience engaged.

Sprinting back to the airport, I reflected on the fact that the level of interest in social enterprise at a school like Tuck, traditionally a feeder to finance and similar careers, says quite a bit about our sector and the future opportunities for growth. And it only raises the bar for the quality of our work and the impact that we need to create in order to harness this growing energy and talent.