Archive for the ‘Acumen Community’ Category

Photo of the Week from Aden Van Noppen, Portfolio Associate

Thursday, August 26th, 2010


“Develop a seamless web of deserved trust”—this was the expectation set in motion at the beginning of Acumen Fund’s Portfolio Gathering in May. When we brought the CEOs of our portfolio companies together for the first time in five years, the goal was to facilitate an environment of deep peer to peer exchange across the portfolio. In doing so, we developed a web of trust that extends beyond geographies and sectors, and we stretched our concept of the value that we, as investors, can bring to the companies in our Portfolio.

Back in 2005, 11 entrepreneurs, 7 Acumen staff from New York (our only office at the time), and 4 partners and advisors met in Bellagio.  Five short years later, the Acumen Fund family looks quite different—this time 30 entrepreneurs, 20 Acumen Fund staff (just from our Portfolio team) from 4 offices (New York, India, Pakistan, and Kenya), and 21 partners, advisors, and board members came together in Nairobi.  This photo—taken during a lighthearted moment during our visit to Jamii Bora, a recently exited housing investment in the outskirts of Nairobi—captures this truly global nature of our growing community.

As the residents of Kaputei Town welcomed the group, they literally connected us in a human chain of Americans, Indians, Pakistanis, Kenyans, South Africans, French, British, entrepreneurs, investors, newly established homeowners, advisors, donors, and board members.  While it admittedly felt goofy at first (and disorientingly similar to the popular Bar-Mitzvah dances of my 7th grade existence), we quickly set aside our feelings of awkwardness and embraced this joyful gesture of welcome from the Jamii Bora community. It wasn’t necessarily Jamii Bora’s intention, but I couldn’t help but notice that this cheerful welcome physically mirrored the sense of interconnection we were working to foster across our portfolio.

The Portfolio Gathering reminded us all of the wealth of knowledge that exists within our community and of the value that Acumen Fund can add simply by connecting them to each other. It can be so easy to think of our companies in isolated boxes, but this misses out on a massive opportunity. Acumen Fund is like a laboratory with each company producing unique lessons that can benefit the rest—it would be a shame if we neglected to create a platform for them to share with each other.  When I look at this photo, I am reminded of that.

Stand with Pakistan and Help Send a Message to the World: www.ontheground.pk

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Photo Credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

The world has been slow to react to the enormity of the floods in Pakistan. Acumen Fund has worked in Pakistan for the past 8 years and although we do not work in disaster relief, we are rallying our community to show its solidarity for Pakistan during this grave humanitarian crisis.

Stand with Pakistan and help send a message to the world: www.ontheground.pk

OnTheGround.pk is a site we’ve built for the global community to offer perspective on the ground in Pakistan. Show your support and help inform and inspire others by adding your name, uploading photos and news, and sharing stories of hope. We also encourage you to share opportunities from other organizations working on relief efforts. A list of  organizations you can trust can also be found here.

Thank you and please visit OnTheGround.pk today to help send a message to the world to stand together with Pakistan in this time of need.

Until It Hurts: A Love Letter to Pakistan

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Rabia Ahmed at NY for Acumen's DIGNITY Benefit, July 2009 | Photo Credit: Steven Lau

A few hours ago, I found my father sitting at the dinner table, counting. When I asked, what he was counting, he mutedly replied “Bete, during this week, 63 years ago, my family crossed the border to Pakistan.” I had heard this story hundreds of times before, from my grandmother, my uncle, but usually from my dad. It was a journey etched into his mind, into his bones. It was the story of eating neem plants and walking – lots of walking- along a path to the new world, leaving everything behind for hopes of a peaceful tomorrow.

Years later, my siblings and I enjoyed the humid, sunny, summers in Pakistan. We’d run through the mango groves on a family farm and sip sugar cane juice in the market. We’d play hide and seek in my grandfather’s roof garden and host pretend doll weddings with my cousins. It was a fairy-tale land, a land which welcomed us with open arms whenever we visited. It was truly blissful.

Nevertheless, each year things changed in Pakistan. The cars looked a little different, the music became more rock and roll and the air became more polluted. The only constant which remained was the home of my grandfather on the outskirts of Lahore. With its white washed walls, and lattice door frames, it remained mostly how we left it the year before. The home was five stories high, grand in a modest town, and built around a central open veranda with multiple bedrooms on each floor. My grandfather had a modern above-ground latrine and air conditioner installed so that his grandchildren were not deprived of their essentials. And every summer, without fail, we’d anticipate the monsoons. They’d come in, hastily from no one direction and with quick winds, gusts of water rushed down on us with a certain sense of urgency, and we – well, we’d dance. You’d hear us shrieking and giggling in the same breath because there was no warning, no sign of the hammering waters; just the sudden opening of the skies. It was an idyllic time and we were constantly told to appreciate the rain because it was such a blessing.

But this year, the blessing has turned into a curse, a real test of spirit.

As I sit here some 7,000 miles away from my old summer home, I can’t help but weep for a nation under water. Just the thought of one in five Pakistanis without a home, without a livelihood and without any imminent hope, is simply unbearable.

We’ve read the stories: the tale of a father who tied his son to a tree; of the mother who gave birth to twins in the middle of the storm; of the family who sat by and watched their cow- their livelihood- weaken and eventually pass on. And we’ve seen the staggering statistics – 20 million Pakistanis affected, that’s more than New York State. That’s more than Haiti and Katrina combined. More than Haiti and Katrina combined. Even as I write these words, I’m speechless.

After all, Pakistan is a country divided. It attempts to be modern but is shot at by those clinging to the past. It’s a place where history repeats itself without enough time passing to learn from it. A place where culture and religion constantly fight each other. It’s a place which terrorists now call home and is also a nuclear state. It’s a country that’s lost itself, to itself, by itself.

But it is a country that is loved by so many that summered there; whose parents and grandparents fought to set up homes there, by those who decided to dedicate their lives to helping it reach its potential. Through this catastrophe, Pakistani-Americans are crying for their fellow Pakistanis back home. They’re taking action by running fundraising drives, and putting together media packs and collecting necessary items. They’re keeping one another abreast of activities from the field and are urging all, each and every person they know, to take action, NOW. It’s not just the feeding and immunizing which needs to be done now, but the rebuilding and revitalizing which needs to happen for years to come. It’s in a state of despair, of helplessness, for a people so resilient, so open-hearted, kind and gentle who have never asked for anything, but dignity,

There are people to thank, like Fiza Shah, CEO of Developments in Literacy, who builds schools in remote and hard to reach areas of Pakistan and Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen Fund who still sees the potential, the hope in Pakistan’s people, a single person who leads an organization that invests in the future of a nation. These two women continue to believe in Pakistan, through the heartfelt moments and harrowing sorrows.

So today, I beg, and urge you all to do the same, or at least to take a step. It’s impossible to imagine the devastation from this far away. Soon enough some other news sensation will take over and most of us will forget the little teary-eyed girl or a mother without milk for her twins. We’ll forget that although they didn’t have much to begin with, whatever they once could call their own has been washed away. Their lives are once again a blank slate. What reality once was is now but a dream wrapped in a nightmare. So please, pick up your check book, or log into your paypal account. Buy some medicines or donate some food.

In this time of pain, hurt and suffering, I remember a quote I once read by Mother Teresa: “The paradox of life is if you love until it hurts, then there is no more hurt, only love.” And Pakistan, we love you and we’re hurting for you and that is what I wish for my fellow Pakistanis, only love.

Rabia Ahmed is the Co-Chair of New York for Acumen and the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the NYU Stern School of Business. To find out how you can help, please read this recent post which names a few organizations working in Pakistan that we trust and who need your support. Please also show your support and stand with Pakistan by adding your name in solidarity to http://www.ontheground.pk.

Pakistan for Acumen Stands Up For Change

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Amidst floods, rain and the aftermath of a city gripped by violence, on August 8, 2010 Karachi came out to ‘Stand Up For Change’ – a stand-up comedy act by Sami Shah organized by Pakistan for Acumen Fund (PfA).

Sami Shah belongs to the new school of stand-up comedians in Pakistan. He and his peers have revolutionized this space and reached out to a wide audience to create political and social awareness. His content is inspired from by the challenges of everyday life in Pakistan. A big supporter of Acumen Fund, Sami instantly agreed to do a pro bono show for PfA.

A mere 5 hours before the event, it started to drizzle, upon which one of the members of Pakistan for Acumen sent an SMS: “IT’S STARTING TO RAIN. WILL ANYONE COME NOW?” For those of you not aware of the intricacies of life in Karachi, rain is a double-edged sword: being able to count the number of times it rains per year on one hand, people relish the approach of storm clouds and the booming of thunder. Yet, when rain does come, it comes in torrents, flooding roads and crippling the city.

And yet, we were pleasantly surprised. The rain was kept at bay until the event started, and people came in droves (335, to be exact!).

The past few weeks have been extremely difficult in Pakistan, faced with the worst floods in 80 years across the country, an estimated 20 million people displaced and affected by the floods and ethnic/political violence in many parts of Karachi. The event was held to raise money for the Acumen Fund to invest into social enterprises in Pakistan that build jobs, communities and livelihoods for people at the “Bottom of the Pyramid“.

In the current situation, while Pakistan is in dire need of aid to provide relief to people affected by the flood, it needs entrepreneurs who, in time, will build sustainable solutions to lift their communities out of poverty – it is these solutions the Acumen Fund invests in, and which the funds raised from the comedy show will be directed.

The thing about Karachi and the people of the city is that a lot of times we are somewhat sheltered from the disastrous events taking place in the country. Karachites are always looking for opportunities to help out, and we used the event to reach to all those people interested in supporting Acumen Fund by joining PfA. The event has created an opening for people to make a difference by becoming part of PfA and Standing Up For Change!

Jeremy Higgs is a co-leader of the Pakistan for Acumen volunteer chapter. PfA helps to build awareness and fundraise for Acumen’s work in Pakistan.

Using The Blue Sweater to Promote Social Entrepreneurship in Japan

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010


One can say it was almost an accident how this event came together.  The organizing members (four of us) met for the first time at another social event.  When The Blue Sweater came up in the conversation, we all realized that we wanted to do something with it: whether to talk about the book, spread the word about Acumen Fund, or simply throw an event for young business professionals.  Once we got the ball rolling, we pulled the event together very quickly.  Luckily, all of us had expertise in different areas necessary for organizing the event. One of us is an event space owner with a good network, another is a strong administrator, the third is an IT technician, and the fourth is a corporate training professional.  Putting all that expertise together, the event planning went pretty smoothly, though we only had one month to plan.

For the session itself, we focused on talking about the book and talking about Acumen Fund rather than coming up with a specific action plan or fundraising.  In the first part, we used The World Café method to share our thoughts and findings from the book. World Café is a participative process which enables participants to have creative conversations and come up with new ideas or actions for a given theme, while sitting café-style around small tables.  During this session, we divided the participants into small groups and asked them to discuss three questions:

1) What part of the book made the strongest impression on you?

2) Are there parts of the book that you have questions or disagree?

3) How would you contribute to Acumen Fund?

Participants moved to different tables as the questions changed, and big sheets of paper on each table were soon filled with notes and drawings representing everyone’s thoughts and ideas.  But most of all, everyone just enjoyed the conversation very much.


After this first session, we asked each group to come up with questions for Acumen members, then we connected Tokyo and the New York Acumen office by Skype video chat.  Ms. Wei Wei Hsing and Ms. Eriko Yagi kindly joined our discussion from NY, and we shot them many questions that varied from Acumen’s tools for measuring social and financial impact to the backgrounds of Acumen staff.  This was the part the participants felt most was valuable. We were all so excited to actually talk with Acumen staff members.

We had a small reception after the main program, but everyone felt there wasn’t enough time, so we stayed and continued chatting until late at night!  Though the group was relatively small, the energy in the room was tremendous.  In Japan, the meaning of social entrepreneurship is not yet common knowledge, but that night, each of us went home feeling that we can definitely spread the word to help make it common knowledge.

Kiyo Sasaki is a volunteer who aspires to start a Japan for Acumen chapter. The Blue Sweater launched in Japan last year, as the book’s Japanese editor Tatsunari Takano described in a blog post earlier this summer. On July 9, 2010, a group of volunteers in Tokyo organized the first Blue Sweater book discussion in the city. To learn more about Acumen Fund in Japan, join the Japan for Acumen Fund group on Acumen Fund’s online community.