Super-Volunteers Needed to Start our San Francisco Chapter!

Over the past year, the group of young professionals in New York have taken their support for Acumen Fund to a whole new level. This group was merely an idea when co-founders Erica Dhawan and Farhat Umar approached Acumen Fund wanting to do more. It has since grown to over 900 individuals with an expanded leadership team and committed volunteers that step up time and again to organize events and help spread the word about Acumen Fund. Most recently, the group’s efforts culminated in a stylish photo auction and party, co-organized with the Nuru Project, that brought over 250 supporters together and raised almost $25,000 for Acumen Fund.

We have heard interest in starting an Acumen Chapter in the San Francisco Bay Area, but first we need to find leaders! The leadership of several key volunteers in New York has been critical to the group’s success, and we believe that it will be no different on the West Coast.

What is a Chapter?
A Chapter is essentially what we’re calling an Acumen Fund volunteer group – a group of like-minded individuals who share a passion and interest in Acumen Fund’s work and our sector. The objectives of each Chapter are to educate their communities on patient capital and raise funds in support of Acumen Fund.

What if I’m not a young professional – is a Chapter for me?
Absolutely! Everyone is welcome! The NY group started out as a young professional’s organization but has continued to grow and attract an increasingly diverse membership. The leadership team continues to refine its strategic direction and plan activities that cater to different needs, so watch this space!

As a Chapter volunteer will I go overseas or work on projects for Acumen Fund’s investments?
We get inundated with requests from individuals who want to travel to and work with our investees, and at this stage it is simply not possible. Many of our investees are fully focused with running their businesses, and are unable to cope with volunteers. That said as opportunities arise, we will definitely make them known to all Chapter volunteers. Interested parties should also apply to be an Acumen Fellow.

What’s in it for the Chapter leaders and volunteers?
Yes, we recognize that these are volunteer positions and it takes extraordinary people to step up and give their time so generously. Rather than tell you what we think is in it for them, hear what some of our NY volunteers have to say:

“Being the founder and leader of the NY young professionals was a big time commitment, but an extremely worthwhile one. I got to work with like-minded talented young professionals, who share a similar vision to use our skills to create social change, build my own leadership and organizational skills with support from Acumen Fund staff, and develop lifelong relationships with a community of people who seek to build a movement for social enterprise and patient capital.” – Erica Dhawan

“I volunteered with the NY young professionals to help organize the Dignity event. I met an incredible group of motivated, passionate, and inspiring people. On a personal level, I feel that the New York young professionals are that rare networking group that actually makes an impact, creates a movement, and enables everyone involved to learn and grow from our experiences working together. I can’t wait to get going on our next endeavor!” - Nina Sharma West

Ok, how do I flag my interest to get involved?
Read more about Chapters and the application process here. Or dive straight in:
• If you are in the SF Bay Area and would like to be a Chapter leader – apply here.
• If you are in the SF Bay Area and would like to be a volunteer – fill out your info here.
• If you’re not in the SF Bay Area and think we should start a Chapter there – tell us why!

Thank you for all your support. We look forward to getting an amazing Chapter going on the West Coast, and we are definitely planning to start Chapters elsewhere. So watch this space!

Thank You for Attending Happy Hour Hosted by YP for Acumen Fund & African Social Enterprise Forum

A heartfelt Thank You to everyone who attended Happy Hour last night at Bubble Lounge, hosted by the Young Professionals for Acumen Fund and the African Social Enterprise Forum. There was fantastic energy in the room, as social entrepreneurs and those with a keen interest in the sector, we really have a unique opportunity to harness our palpable collective energy and create real change for social good.

A good start is finding like-minded visionaries who can help you advance your work for social change. Have you heard of the African Social Enterprise Forum--Saturday, September 26 at the landmark Desmond Tutu Center? As mentioned last night, there will be at least US$4 Billion social investment capital represented at the conference of 200 delegates with featured speakers from leading social entrepreneurship organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, Acumen Fund and Social Private Equity South Africa. Cheryl Dorsey, President of Echoing Green and VP of President Obama's Commission on White House Fellowships is ASEF's keynote speaker.

You can Register for the conference here. If you have further questions, please contact magogodi_makhene@yahoo.com.

Again--a tremendous Thank You for supporting us as we all do good. We hope you had fun, were spurred to action by more than good champagne and look forward to seeing you at the next Young Professionals for Acumen Fund event.

Regards,

The Young Professionals for Acumen Fund Team

Reminder: YP Acumen Happy Hour | TONIGHT 6:30-8:30pm

Tonight YP Acumen is joining forces with the Africa Social Enterprise Forum (Angel Africa) for a Happy Hour, starting at 6:30pm at Bubble Lounge.

The Forum is holding their annual conference in September, featuring over 200 professionals working on sustainable+profitable solutions to African development challenges that collectively represent over $4 billion in investment capital.

Come to the Happy Hour to meet conference speakers and attendees, Acumen staff, and, of course, fellow YPs! And take advantage of the opportunity to learn first-hand about sustainable development in Africa. The Happy Hour will kick-off at 6:30pm at the Bubble Lounge. No cover charge, happy hour specials on drinks, free finger food, and invigorating conversations on sustainable development in Africa. Hope to see you there!

What: HAPPY HOUR at the Bubble Lounge Happy Hour specials and free finger food till 8:30pm

When: TONIGHT, August 26th at 6:30pm

Where: 228 West Broadway, NY, NY 10013 MAP

Hosted by: Young Professionals for Acumen Fund and the Africa Social Enterprise Forum (Angel Africa)

Updated: YP Volunteer Research Opportunity with Acumen Fellows

Sales at the Bottom of the Pyramid – Barriers and Breakthroughs – volunteer researcher needed!

2009 Acumen Fellows Joel Montgomery (MicroDrip, Pakistan), Heidi Krauel (D.Light Design, India) and Mubarik Imam (AMC, Pakistan) have conducted a targeted research project focused on small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and social enterprises providing quality goods and services to low-income, or marginalized communities.

Specifically, the three Fellows have been working hard to uncover the barriers and breakthroughs companies encounter in building effective sales models for BoP (bottom-of-the-pyramid) products/services. To this end, they have interviewed a select set of organizations through an online survey, generating more than 50 responses. This survey, supplemented by the Fellows’ own experiences helping to build out sales organizations in developing countries over the last year, will be used as the basis for a practical report to be made available in the Fall/Winter of 2009.

At this stage of the project, Heidi, Joel and Mubarik would like to reach out to the Young Professionals Network at Acumen Fund and see if someone would like to pitch in with some research assistance. Specifically, the authors want to ensure that their research is taken in the right context, and to that end want to conduct a literature review. The literature review will uncover academic articles, books and practical guides discussing sales at the BoP. The authors will use the literature review in their final report, allowing them to put their survey results in context.

If you are interested in working with Acumen Fund and specifically with Heidi, Joel and Mubarik on this project, please contact Rob Katz for more information. This is not a long-term project, and the literature review could be anywhere from 3 to 5 pages plus a bibliography. It needs to be completed by Sunday, September 13. The volunteer who works on this project will be credited in the Fellows’ report, which will be published on Acumen Fund’s web site.

Update as of 5:00pm August 24, 2009:

THANK YOU! In just over two hours, we received more than 35 expressions of interest for the research project. We are humbled by the outpouring of responses. If you are interested in working on research and writing related to the Acumen Fund Fellows research projects and Acumen Fund in general, please e-mail Rob and he will add you to a list that he is managing. More research projects are coming down the pike.

Reflections on DIGNITY Photo Auction & Benefit (Part III)

Part Three of the series that muses on YP Acumen's DIGNITY event, is from the Nuru Project. Nuru's mission is to leverage photography to act as an agent for social change in the developing world and founders Omri Bloch, Chris McAleenan, Daniel Murray, J.B. Reed and Matt Watson were in attendance and offer their insight into the event.

When Nuru Project approached Acumen Fund over a year ago about the possibility of hosting a photography auction event to raise money and awareness for their organization, we could not have hoped for a better evening than what transpired on July 30th. Thanks to the overwhelming support from the Young Professionals for Acumen Fund, Acumen Fund, and our generous sponsors/donors, “Dignity” was an amazingly successful evening. We hope that all attendees came away from the evening inspired: inspired by the provocative images, inspired by the work Acumen does, and inspired by the enthusiasm and support of the other attendees around them.

Over the course of the evening, more than 250 people viewed striking images and socialized with other attendees in the beautiful gallery space at Tribeca Cinemas Gallery. The evening began with a VIP reception which featured an exclusive tour/preview of the images hosted by Nuru Project and a chance to chat with Acumen Fund senior executives. As the crowd swelled, the audience was welcomed by members of YP, Acumen and Nuru Project. These welcome speeches reminded everyone about what made this event so special – it provided the unique opportunity for a socially-conscious audience to learn about issues in the developing world, to learn how Acumen Fund seeks to address those issues and to help fund Acumen’s effort to alleviate those issues.

We were very pleased with the images we presented and encouraged by the audience's response to them. The event featured an engaging live auction of 4 images alongside a silent auction of the remaining 25 images. Bidding activity was very high in both. Every print was sold and 100% of the money collected from print sales went to Acumen to help fund their efforts to produce sustainable, scalable enterprises that serve the communities and the individuals depicted in the images.

The evening wrapped up with celebratory drinks and a live DJ spinning in the background. It was truly a great event to be a part of. We hope that all attendees enjoyed the evening as much as we enjoyed hosting it. Nuru Project looks forward to working with Acumen Fund in the near future.

YP Acumen Happy Hour - Wednesday, August 26th from 6:30-8:30pm

YP Acumen is joining forces with the Africa Social Enterprise Forum (Angel Africa) for a Happy Hour, next Wednesday, August 26th starting at 6:30 at the Bubble Lounge.

The Forum is holding their annual conference in September featuring Acumen's CIO Brian Trelstad as a speaker and over 200 professionals working on sustainable+profitable solutions to African development challenges that collectively represent over $4 billion in investment capital.

Come to the Happy Hour to meet conference speakers and attendees, Acumen staff, and, of course, fellow YPs! And take advantage of the opportunity to learn first-hand about sustainable development in Africa. The Happy Hour will kick-off at 6:30 at the Bubble Lounge. No cover charge, happy hour specials on drinks, free finger food, and invigorating conversations on sustainable development in Africa. Hope to see you there!

What: HAPPY HOUR at the Bubble Lounge Happy Hour specials and free finger food till 8:30pm

When: Wednesday, August 26 at 6:30pm

Where: 228 West Broadway, NY, NY 10013 MAP

Hosted by: Young Professionals for Acumen Fund and the Africa Social Enterprise Forum (Angel Africa)

YP Opportunity with Relief Development International's First Year Associate Program

Relief Development International is launching its First Year Associates Program in International Development Finance & Social Venture Capital. The organization is looking to bring on a 4-5 people with 1-3 years of experience in finance/ business (investment banking, consulting, accounting, etc.), those with MBA’s and/ or similar degrees. In addition, the associates will be working with a team in Peru, so a solid foundation in Spanish is important.

Relief Development International's First Year Associate Program

RDI’s First Year Associate Program is specifically designed for young professionals with 2, or more, years of full-time experience in traditional business, finance and consulting sectors who are interested in building careers in international development and social venture capital. The program will build upon the skills developed in previous positions, and will challenge Associates to adapt their view of business development and finance to a wholly different context.

First Year Associates in the 2009 Program will be staffed on RDI projects in South America. Associates will live and work in-the-field, and will be integral members of RDI’s in-country team, charged with identifying, building and managing for-profit business opportunities at the base of the socio-economic pyramid.

About Relief Development International

Relief Development International is a social venture firm that is reinventing traditional grassroots development. Our mission is to permanently reduce poverty around the world by empowering local developing communities to work themselves out of the need for future assistance. RDI improves the effectiveness and impact of international development investments (international aid) around the world by combining business and management expertise with on-the-ground project implementation capabilities and in-country staffing. Our business based approach to development is rooted in Collaborative Capitalism, in which we align the interests of multinational corporations, NGOs and local communities through development projects that create real economic returns for all parties involved.

RDI works with indigenous communities in developing countries and multinational corporations to identify viable business opportunities at the base of the pyramid. By leveraging corporate assets, such as capital, market expertise, distribution networks, and purchasing power, we invest in and build locally owned businesses that are integrated into the global supply chain. RDI is unique in that it provides turnkey market-based development solutions, focused on long-term impact and scalability. We deliver results, and actually tie our compensation to achieving real returns on development investments.

RDI is the combination of:

• A BoP Investment Bank - Connecting resources in developing countries to capital around the world
• An Operations Focused Venture Capital Firm – Investing capital to build businesses at the base of the socio-economic pyramid that will generate real returns
• A Management Consulting Firm – Providing management expertise to corporate clients, international development organizations and the businesses we help to build
• A Brand Strategy and Marketing Firm – Helping our corporate clients understand the market potential that exists at the base of the pyramid, and assisting companies we build to develop premium branded products
• A Direct Service Development Organization (NGO) – Actually building the businesses and implementing the projects on-the-ground in developing countries around the world

To learn more, please contact RDI at Associate@reliefconsulting.com

Endeavor: Summer Celebration for Young Professionals - August 19th, 2009 at 7PM

Join in Endeavor's Summer Celebration for Young Professionals on Wednesday, August 19th at 7:00pm. The event will take place at City Hall Restaurant and will include an open tequila and wine bar, hors d'oeuvres and feature guest speakers Nick Beim, General Partner of Matrix Partners as well as Linda Rottenberg, Co-Founder & CEO of Endeavor.

Ticket prices in advance are $20 for students and $40 for general admission. On the day of the event, the cost will be $25 at the door for students and $45 for general admission.

For additional information about the event, please contact Christina Botero via telephone at 212-352-3200 or email christina.botero@endeavor.org.

*City Hall Restaurant is located at 131 Duane Street in Manhattan. MAP

Endeavor transforms the economies of emerging markets by identifying and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs.

High-impact entrepreneurs have the biggest ideas and most ambitious plans. They have the potential to create thriving companies that employ hundreds, even thousands of people, and generate millions in wages and revenues. And they have the power to inspire countless others.

Endeavor targets only entrepreneurs with high-impact potential. [They] scour a country for these entrepreneurs, help them break down a society's barriers to success, offer world-class strategic advice, and open doors to capital. With Endeavor's guidance, they become role models, encrourage others to innovate and take risks, and create sustainable economic growth.

Together, Endeavor and high-impact entrepreneurs are changing industries, communities and entire countries.

Learn more about Endeavor.

Reflections on DIGNITY Photo Auction & Benefit (Part II)

In part two of our series about YP Acumen's DIGNITY event, we hear from YP Acumen Co-Founder, Erica Dhawan. Erica is a recipient of a Legatum Fellowship and will attend MIT's Sloan School of Management this fall to pursue her MBA.

As one of the founders of Young Professionals for Acumen Fund, I was incredibly excited to have our first YP Acumen volunteer meeting hoping to get at least 5 members involved in planning our biggest fundraising event: a photo auction with Nuru Project. When over 25 YPs showed up with diverse backgrounds ranging from fundraising, finance, advertising, and media, we knew we were in for something much larger than we ever expected. Ten team leads volunteered each running different functions and gave updates at our weekly conference calls or in-person meetings over the next 6 weeks. We had more emails than you can imagine from a team with hectic day jobs actively working to gain food and drink sponsorships, manage ticket sales, set our budget, and market our event to organizations and media.

The week before the event, our last meeting culminated the hard work of the volunteers: “We have sold over 180 tickets” said marketing lead Rabia Ahmed as we strategized a plan if we sold out…which ended up happening. “We have over 15 sponsors and donations” said sponsorship lead Nina West as we coordinated on-site delivery. “I will make sure all of our day of logistics questions are coordinated with Tribeca gallery,” said venue lead Wendy Wecksell.

What was most inspiring to me is the power of Young Professionals for Acumen Fund volunteers to self-organize and their dedication to fundraise and work as a team. The photos at the Dignity event depicted an exciting optimistic vision for development, but the buzz around the gallery and conversations inspired a call to action, which Young Professionals for Acumen Fund seeks to build through a movement for social enterprise and patient capital.

Reflections on DIGNITY Photo Auction & Benefit (Part I)

The following is a post by YP Acumen member, Michelle Mak. Michelle currently works for Wells Fargo, and plans to volunteer for a microfinance organization working in China in the upcoming future.

Five weeks ago, I joined a group of over 30 individuals of diverse backgrounds, from journalists to bankers to students to Peace Corps volunteers all interested in helping to plan a photo auction with Nuru Project to benefit Acumen Fund. I was initially intimidated by the accomplishments and experiences of many of the YPs at the first meeting, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn from them. I was not disappointed!

Week 2 started in a very organized manner, led by Erica and Farhat, the founders of YP, breaking up into groups – marketing, PR, sponsorship, budget, day-of-logistics, and contracts teams. We also met some of the Nuru team, Matt, Dan, and JB, all who are extremely gifted and passionate about spreading social awareness of international development through photography. What most impressed me was the high level of work ethic they possessed while maintaining full time jobs! Weeks 3 and 4 were characterized by a frenzy of cold calling for food and drink sponsors, finalizing photograph choices, and pushing ticket sales. Week 5 was the final push for ticket sales, and we were lucky enough to sell out tickets!

While the YPs come from such a variety of backgrounds, one thing we all believe in is the power of patient capital and the basic right that everyone, no matter where they live or level of education they have, is entitled to a dignified life. This is what motivated our team to hold e-mail discussions during work hours and conference calls/meetings after hours, work tirelessly over the save the date and invitation fliers until late into the night, or shamelessly call any and every bar/restaurant we know for sponsorship opportunities!

While the YPs lost much sleep and spent plenty of time in the past 5 weeks, I know we did not spend it in vain for the Dignity Benefit. The photography was poignant (especially the Susan Meiselas print I bought!), we met many motivated and like-minded team members, and learned a lot about Acumen's work abroad. The time spent was well worth the $24,000 and awareness we raised, and we thank everyone who came out and contributed to the night! Stay tuned to get involved and learn more about YPs and Acumen Fund!