Acumen Academy

Acumen Academy is the education arm of Acumen, a global organisation founded in 2001 by Jacqueline Novogratz to combine investment capital with leadership development in the fight against poverty. It calls itself “the world’s school for social change.” In India, it runs the India Acumen Fellowship, a seven-month programme for social entrepreneurs and senior leaders who already have a working model with proven impact and want to scale it and influence the systems around their work. The India Fellowship is one of eight regional Acumen Fellowships worldwide, alongside Colombia, East Africa, Pakistan, Southeast Asia, Spain, the UK and West Africa, and is grounded in two decades of Acumen’s work supporting social entrepreneurs from early stage to scale.

Major Areas of Work

• Social Entrepreneurship Leadership: builds moral leadership and scaling capacity among senior leaders of poverty focused organisations.
• Priority Impact Sectors (India Fellowship): quality education, sustainable agriculture, dignified jobs and renewable energy, with related work in healthcare, financial services, water, housing and rural development also considered.
• Online Learning and Community: offers open online courses and a global alumni network (the Foundry) beyond the Fellowship itself.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• India Acumen Fellowship: a seven-month fellowship for Indian social entrepreneurs and senior leaders, combining a one-day virtual orientation, three in-person immersives of 5 to 6 days each (past cohorts met in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mysore), two virtual Learning Labs, and self-paced learning of 4 to 6 hours a week. About 20 Fellows are selected per region each year. The curriculum covers Polarity Management, Good Society Readings, Adaptive Leadership and Authentic Voice, grounded in Acumen’s 12 Principles of Moral Leadership.
• The Foundry: the global alumni community for Acumen Academy fellows, with more than 2,000 members across 71 countries, offering coaching, community, amplification and a pathway to capital.
• Online Courses and Founders Hub: open courses and free learning resources on topics such as storytelling for change, systems practice and human centered design, available to people outside the Fellowship.
• Acumen Angels: a separate, competitive investment pathway for Foundry members.

Impact

Globally, Acumen Academy counts more than 1,800 alumni across 193 countries, with its work reaching more than 70 million lives, and more than 600,000 people have taken its online courses. Its Foundry alumni community spans more than 2,000 members in 71 countries, reaching over 50 million people. In India specifically, Fellows have gone on to build and scale ventures such as Kheyti, co-founded after its founders met through the first India Fellowship cohort, and a co-lending partnership between Pahal Financial Services and Gromor Finance that onboarded more than 500 small businesses, facilitated over 800 loans within five months, and enabled more than 22 crore rupees in credit.

Leadership

Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO, Acumen (the parent organisation of Acumen Academy)

No separate leadership team is named for the India Fellowship specifically. Applicant queries go to [email protected].

Partners

SDC, IKEA

This suits experienced social entrepreneurs and senior leaders in India, aged over 18, with at least 5 years of work experience (Fellows average 10 to 15 years, about 10 of them in poverty related work), who already lead a poverty focused organisation full time, or hold a senior role shaping industry standards or policy. It does not pay a stipend or guarantee funding or job placement, but it covers programme costs, including travel and lodging for in-person sessions, and gives Fellows lifetime access to the Foundry alumni community and a leadership framework grounded in Acumen’s 12 Principles of Moral Leadership. Applications for the 2027 cohort are open from 25 September to 31 October 2026, with the Fellowship running March to October 2027.