Jacqueline Novogratz
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Acumen Fund, Inc.
Jacqueline Novogratz is founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund that works to solve the problems of global poverty by delivering affordable, critical goods and services-such as health, housing and water-to the poor.
Acumen Fund seeks to build financially sustainable and scalable organizations that use market-oriented approaches to reach those at the "bottom of the pyramid"-the 4 billion people on Earth living on less than $4 a day. Acumen Fund has raised more than $30 million in charitable contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, which it invests in the from of loans, equity and occasional grants, in addition to providing intensive managerial and technical assistance to both nonprofit and for-profit enterprises. Investments to date include drip irrigation in India, long-lasting malaria bednets in Africa, and housing for the poor in Pakistan. Founded in 2001, the organization works in six countries in South Asia and Africa and has offices in the United States, India and Pakistan.
Prior to creating Acumen Fund, Ms. Novogratz founded and directed The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership Program at the Rockefeller Foundation. She also was founder of Duterimbere, a micro-finance institution in Rwanda. In addition, she consulted to UNICEF and the World Bank in various African countries. She began her career in international banking with Chase Manhattan Bank. She is currently on the advisory board of Innovations Journal, published by MIT Press. She is an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow, a Synergos Institute Senior Fellow and was a Rockefeller Foundation Warren Weaver Fellow. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences, including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative and Technology Entertainment Design.
Ms. Novogratz holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from the University of Virginia.
