Solving the problems of poverty and building a world based on dignity. One of Fast Company’s most innovative companies of 2026.

Global
Joined February 2009
Early-stage African companies are short of two things: risk capital to build, and working capital to run. Coconut Holdings, a Kenyan coconut processor, hit that wall in the 2023 drought. Here’s what we’re testing at Acumen to help ⬇️ go.acumen.org/4s3Ua26
1
1
2
712
This entrepreneur built a chocolate business that is taking big brands head-on in Nigeria. Uzo’s Loom Chocolate shows that investing in the local economy and being intentional about social impact can pay off.
1
1
10
733
Announced in New York during #ClimateWeekNYC: Acumen's Hardest-to-Reach Catalyze is backing Sun King's expansion in Zambia!
1
2
2
727
The investment aims to support Sun King’s electrification of nearly 5.6 million people over the next five years, including up to 4.5 million people gaining access to electricity for the first time.
1
1
2
167
Our Director of Climate Strategy, Sarah Bieber, is taking three questions to Climate Week NYC on resilience, AI, and the distance between a commitment and a disbursement.  She argues that what links them is design, not money. Learn more ⬇️ go.acumen.org/4Ajvvuc
7
987
We lost another giant yesterday, a leader who taught us how to be strong and powerful and feminine and not apologize for any of it. A woman who reminded us that one person can change the world if she knows how to bring others with her. Gloria Steinem knew hardship, and she turned it into resolve. Her curiosity and empathy underpinned a lifetime of unrelenting work toward equality. She was courageous. As a teenager in the mid-70s, I found my own resolve to be called Ms. and not Miss. Thank you, Gloria. And she was a listener. Even in her 90s, she made room to listen, gathering in her home, understanding that change starts with being heard. "We are all one human family, and we are responsible for one another," she said. It's the same conviction I see in so many of the leaders Acumen has been privileged to back and to learn from — people who understand that dignity isn't something you're given, it's something you insist on, for yourself and for everyone else. Gloria showed us what it looks like to spend a life that way. We're grateful for it, and we'll carry it forward.
11
9
49
5,765
The communities we invest in are often the first to feel the effects of extreme heat, erratic rainfall, and resource scarcity, and the last to have the capital to adapt. We’ll be at #AVPN2026 in New Delhi. If you’re attending, connect with our team to talk about how Patient Capital can help close that gap. @avpn_asia
2
2
2
967
On this episode of Founder's Mentality, @jnovogratz joined @BainandCompany's James Alle. to talk about navigating complexity, staying anchored to your "why," and the cost of the risk. Listen: ​​go.acumen.org/4wO7Pw6
2
4
1,052
Only Dan Waldron of Acumen can pick apart a subject about the development of football in Morocco and turn it into a piece on why the impact sector struggles to attract talent.
2
2
4
1,111
Our latest Substack piece is worth a read for anyone interested in impact work, whether or not you are a fan of the game. go.acumen.org/3TxbrUs
2
2
254
Great turnout last week for the 2026 East Africa Community Gathering in Nairobi. Good conversations on capital and what it takes to build something that lasts. Thanks to everyone who came out.
2
1
5
7,669
Acumen Public Voices Fellow Mohamed Okash writes on what a climate-resilient Mogadishu can look like and why the solutions already exist. #WorldEnvironmentDay go.acumen.org/4g0sHdM
2
2
5
618
In our post on Substack, Acumen's Kristi Chon explores why and what it would actually take to make climate adaptation an exciting bet for private investors. go.acumen.org/3Qdx8re
1
2
1,342
Get these and more insights by subscribing to our brand new Substack: go.acumen.org/4aa1XUr
1
2
1,211
India generates an estimated 3.8M metric tons of e-waste every year, much of it handled through informal systems where workers face unsafe conditions and unstable incomes.  @scrapuncleapp is helping change that.
2
1
2
743