The Origins of Young Professionals for Acumen Fund

Young Professionals for Acumen Fund co-founder Erica Dhawan (far left) writes about how YP got its start. Also pictured: Molly Alexander from Acumen Fund and Farhat Umar, YP's other co-founder.

In November 2007, while working Lehman Brothers, I cold-called Acumen Fund to find out if there were any opportunities to get involved. Because I was unable to volunteer full-time, I began to brainstorm with Acumen Fund's Molly Alexander about building a network of young professionals interested in social enterprise. With the help friends, we organized an event in June 2008 called “The Value Chain of Social Enterprise: How Young Professionals Can Get Involved," which attracted over 300 attendees. We then hosted our first fundraising event in October 2008, raising almost $4,000 for Acumen Fund.

YP is now a group of over 500 young people - bankers, consultants, entrepreneurs, marketers, designers, non-profiters, and students - who share a vision of collaboration in the fight against poverty. We see a broad vision for our future: integrating this group with our peer organizations and providing more opportunities for young individuals committed to creating change. I truly believe that social enterprise is the cause of our generation and I can't wait to see how YP evolves in the next few years.

Post from the Field: Erica Dhawan

Erica Dhawan was one of the first members of Young Professionals for Acumen Fund. In this post, she writes about her experience leaving an investment bank to join an educational social venture in India. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and Erica will address them in a future post.

I am writing from Beawar, a small town in Rajasthan, India where our partner school Mangal Newton School resides. Two months ago, I left my job at Barclays Capital to join former Acumen Fund Talent Manager Deepti Doshi scale a social venture called Education Access for All (EAA), which seeks to deliver quality educational resources to rural areas across India through a for-profit and sustainable model.

Over the past month, we have met with school owners, administrators, parents, students, social entrepreneurs, investors, and friends across urban and rural towns who share the vision to bring quality education across India. We have solidified a business plan to launch a school management service and e-learning product that brings global best practices and innovation to small towns across India. We also plan to use a cross subsidy model to serve poor children who make up to 20% of the enrolled schoolchildren.

My experience at EAA has allowed me to interact with some of the smartest leaders in social enterprise, including board members Shaffi Mather and Sweta Mangal, founders of the Acumen investee 1298 ambulance company. The startup environment has taught me the power of patience and diligence, and most importantly, that we must and we will act only after we understand the education needs from the people in communities across India.

We can always use the support of smart, dedicated young professionals. If you'd like to get involved, email me at erica.dhawan@eaaindia.org. And for more on this venture, check out http://eaaindia.wordpress.com.