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Deepti Doshi’s Posts

As Talent Manager, Deepti leads all talent related initiatives including our Fellows Program, our internal talent programs and is beginning to think about how we serve the talent challenges within our portfolio. Prior to joining Acumen Fund, Deepti Doshi worked at Katzenbach Partners LLC, a management consulting firm that focuses on strategic problem solving to improve organizational performance, and at Marshall Goldsmith Partners LLC, a leadership development firm that delivers executive coaching as well as other leadership development services to their global clients. She has also spent time working on various programs at an orphanage in India that serves victims of the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat. Deepti graduated from a dual degree program at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics (The Wharton School) and a BA in Psychology (The College of Arts and Sciences).

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Acumen Fund Fellows 2009-2010 – Apply Now!

Friday, September 5th, 2008

We are excited to announce that the application process for the 2009-2010 class of Acumen Fund Fellows is now open. Applications will be accepted online until noon EST on October 20, 2008. Detailed information about the program and application the process, as well as bios of current and past fellows, can be found on our website. To apply directly, please click here.

We are looking for dedicated individuals with the moral imagination, the practical skills and the leadership potential to effect real change. The program thus far has been a resounding success – both for the Fellows and the Acumen Fund enterprises they support. Fellows have called their time with the program a life-changing experience, allowing them to build critical business skills and a better understanding of the challenges involved in serving low-income consumers around the world.

We are also excited to welcome our new class of 2008-2009 Fellows later this month. They will soon join Acumen Fund in New York to begin training and to prepare to support Acumen Fund investments. The Fellows have committed to sharing their experiences both from New York and on the ground, so expect to see frequent posts from them on the Acumen Fund website and blog.

If you know exceptional individuals who should be part of our 2009-2010 class, please encourage them to apply.

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Reflections From Skoll: Talent and Community

Monday, March 31st, 2008

For me last week, it was a week of reunions, inspiration, and hope. We kicked it off with the 2008 Fellows’ Mid Year Meeting. The 3-day reunion allowed us to reconnect as a group, discuss challenges the fellows face in the field, share success stories, brainstorm solutions, support the fellows’ career development and – perhaps most importantly – just be together.

We designed the Acumen Fund Fellows Program to provide much-needed support to our investees, and to build leaders to push the sector forward. It is our sincere hope that they will do it together and support each other for many years in the future. As such, ensuring that the fellows grow as a cohort is an important dimension for us as an organization.

The importance of community was never more front and center than during the Skoll World Forum, on which Ann, Brian and Jacqueline have already commented. Session topics ranged social entrepreneurs’ engagement with governments to the role of women in our work to post-conflict environments to more operational topics, such as metrics, where Brian was a panelist.

One session in particular stood out – Replication and Scale. I had just come from a 3-day session where the fellows talked at length about the challenges they – and the entrepreneurs – face when it comes to scale and replication. From recruiting to business development and fundraising to defining distribution models like franchising, the issues that Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods, Martin Burt of Fundacion Paraguaya, and Dorothy Stoneman of YouthBuild discussed resonated quite closely with what the fellows struggle with as they too face similar challenges with our entrepreneurs.

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Investing in Talent to Prevent a Leadership Deficit

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

I could not agree more with Carol Thompson Cole’s recent article on talent shortages within the non-profit sector. Cole – of Venture Philanthropy Partners – hits on some key issues, especially the increasingly important role of non-profits and hybrid organizations in the delivery of social services around the world.

Furthermore, given the sector’s expected growth, talent is an issue that Acumen Fund believes is of paramount importance. As such, we commend VPP for the article and the study on which it was based: Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out (PDF).

Cole’s analysis builds on that of Tom Tierney, Executive Director of Bridgespan Group, who wrote “The Leadership Deficit” back in 2006. In it, Tierney asserts that, in order to support the non-profit sector’s growth, we will need 640,000 new leaders in senior positions – and that’s only in the United States. Just think about what this means internationally! (more…)

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Two days left to become a Fellow!

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

Applications for the Acumen Fund Fellows Program are due by noon EST on Wednesday, October 24. If you are interested in an extraordinary opportunity in venture philanthropy and social change, please apply here. For more information, visit our opportunities page – or even better, check out the words of one of our current fellows on the google.org blog.

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Apply to be a 2009 Acumen Fund Fellow

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

Keely.jpgIt is hard to believe that we are onto recruiting our third class of Acumen Fund Fellows! The first class has graduated with tremendous success, and the second class has just started the training period today, actively preparing for the work of supporting Acumen Fund investments.

We have just opened the application process for the 2009 class of fellows. We’ve moved up the process to better coincide with recruiting calendars for schools in the U.S. as well as in the geographies where we work, so you can apply online until noon EST on October 24. We are looking for dedicated individuals with the moral imagination, the practical skills and the leadership potential to effect real change.

Information about the program and the process, as well as bios of current and past fellows, can be found on our website. Also, expect to see frequent posts about their experiences on this blog!

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