About the Acumen Fund Fellows Program
Through the Fellows Program, our goal is to build an entrepreneurial bench of professional talent with strong operational skills, experience in low-income markets, and the moral imagination to build enterprises that meet the needs of low-income consumers. Each year, Acumen Fund recruits highly talented and passionate young professionals to reflect on their role as leaders, build their leadership capacity, and provide much needed management support to our investees. Click here to learn more.
See what the Fellows Program Manager Blair Miller has to say about the PBS documentary on three Fellows from the Class of 2009.
The Fellowship Year
Acumen Fund's year-long fellowship begins in September with eight weeks of intensive and multidisciplinary leadership training in our New York City office. Training topics range from self reflection to negotiation and storytelling training to functional topics such as investment and valuation techniques and design, marketing and operations. The Fellows also meet with leaders from diverse fields, as well as leading writers and thinkers. Training will explore issues related to our investment geographies and sectors as well.
Following training in New York, Fellows begin their nine-month field placements with Acumen Fund investees. Each Fellow is assigned to a company, where they support senior management in tackling critical business issues - market expansion, business plan refinement, supply chain improvements, or even leading a new business initiative. Over nine months, Fellows learn and apply skills while enjoying an unusual level of responsibility within Acumen Fund investees. Halfway through the year, Fellows convene for a mid-year meeting to reconnect, share learnings, and support each other in navigating challenges in the field. At the end of these field assignments, the Fellows return to New York for three weeks to share experiences and lessons learned with Acumen Fund's community, and to focus on their next steps.
Meet the Fellows
Click here to learn about the Class of 2011 Fellows and their work.
Class of 2010
Class of 2009
Class of 2008
Class of 2007
Become a Fellow
Click here to find out more about the program, and to learn more about our application process. Applications open every fall for the class that begins training the following year.