Ms Novogratz started her journey towards eradicating global poverty from the story of her blue sweater, which was given to her by her uncle when she was a little girl. She was attached to this sweater, even through to her freshman years, until a small feud arose around it that made her ‘ceremoniously’ discard it into goodwill. 10 years later, after leaving her employment at Wall Street in New York, while she was in Rwanda, starting up its first micro-finance bank, Jacqueline came across a little boy wearing her blue sweater. It is from this that she realized how interconnected the human race is; how our inactions or actions have, in a way, an impact on people we might never know or meet every day of our lives, all around the world. You can watch Jacqueline’s story of the blue sweater here. She is also the author of the book, ‘The Blue Sweater’, which talks about bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world.

Healthcare, housing, alternative energy, water & agricultural inputs are the basic ways in which Acumen Fund seeks to use towards eradicating global poverty and has invested $40 million in over 35 companies serving 25 million low-income customers in the developing world (as of April 2009).

Through SBS, Acumen Fund managed to reach a host of 60 professional drawn from organisations that share in the same dream and vision of Jacqueline.

SBS will be holding more targeted (HR, IT, Operations Managers etc, Strategists) breakfast/cocktail meetings on a monthly basis. Details of any upcoming breakfast/cocktail meetings will be posted on our website.