Acumen Academy

Kwabena Mends had a choice. Pursue a career in the city, or return to his farming community in Ghana.

He chose to go back.

Growing up in a farming family, he saw firsthand how hard cocoa farmers worked and how little they often earned in return. Through EMFED Farms, he is now helping smallholder cocoa farmers increase their income through a full-service farm management model that supports everything from planting and pruning to post-harvest processing.

It did not come easy. His decision to return home and apply what he learned at university was met with doubt, and the early years brought little revenue and a lot of uncertainty.

But he stuck with it.

Today, EMFED is building a different model in Ghana’s cocoa industry, one which has been historically dominated by multinational companies. EMFED’s goal is to ensure farmers benefit more from their labor while prioritizing sustainable agriculture, fair income, and long-term opportunity for farmers.

Hear his story here:

Helping Cocoa Farmers Earn What They Deserve | Meet Acumen Fellow Kwabena Mends Kwabena Mends, the founder of EMFED FarmS shares why he chose to re...

Same great purpose, clearer experience.

We’ve refreshed Founders Hub to make it easier to explore the learning resources, tools, and practical insights designed to support founders building bold solutions.

Whether you’ve been following along for a while or are discovering Founders Hub for the first time, now is a great moment to take a look around.

Take a look:

Founders Hub | Practical Resources for Social Impact & Entrepreneurship Practical resources for social entrepreneurs. Learn leadership, fundraising, team management, and impact measurement.

Founders spend a lot of time answering investor questions.

Now, we want to change that:

What do you wish investors understood about building and scaling impact-driven work?

Through Founders in Focus: The State of Impact Capital, Acumen, in partnership with the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, is gathering honest feedback from founders and social entrepreneurs about what is working, what is missing, and what needs to change in impact investing.

Your experience can help make the founder perspective more visible, and help push the sector to do better.

Share your experience: https://hubs.la/Q04k3ZnH0

Founders know what kind of capital helps them grow.

They also know what slows them down.

That insight should shape the future of impact investing.

Acumen, in partnership with the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, is inviting founders and social entrepreneurs to participate in Founders in Focus: The State of Impact Capital, a survey designed to better understand whether impact capital is meeting the needs of the entrepreneurs it aims to support.

The survey covers topics like:

• Access to capital
• Investor communication
• The support entrepreneurs actually need
• The challenges founders face when raising funding

Take the survey: https://hubs.la/Q04k40_Z0

What if access wasn’t the barrier?

That’s the question our team in Colombia has been exploring behind the scenes as they rethink how learning reaches people across the region.

Instead of building more complex platforms, they chose something simpler: courses delivered through WhatsApp, a tool people already use every day.

What followed is a learning model that has reached more than 8,000 people across Colombia and 40+ Spanish-speaking countries, including many working in places where connectivity is limited but the need for impact is not.

What stands out is not just the scale, but the shift in thinking: designing for real contexts, letting go of assumptions about how learning should look, and meeting people where they already are.

This work is being led by our team members, Laura Ruiz, Laura Victoria Polanco, and Mariana Garcia, who are helping shape how Acumen Academy offers access and evolves learning opportunities for social entrepreneurs across the region.

If you're a Spanish speaker and want to explore the courses or stay in the loop, you can sign up here: https://hubs.la/Q04jmfst0

🚨 Final call. Applications for the Green RISE Africa Accelerator close tonight at 11:59 PM.

This is your last chance to get support building your commercial strategy, financial foundations, and climate narrative to grow your green enterprise to the next level.

Leading a green enterprise in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, or Uganda with at least $50,000 in annual revenue and 100+ people employed across your value chains?

🔗 Apply now: https://hubs.la/Q04g-ZHk0
📅 Closes 1 June 2026 at 11:59 PM WAT

She started by teaching math and English.

But the real lesson was harder to ignore: girls were missing school because of menstruation.

When Soumya Dabriwal and her team spoke up, they were pushed out for challenging what wasn’t meant to be questioned.

And still, they stayed.

Because some barriers aren’t about resources. They’re about silence.

Watch her reflection here: https://hubs.la/Q04dVnL_0

What’s a moment when doing the right thing asked more of you than you expected?

Changing Menstrual Health in India’s Rural Communities | Reflections with Soumya Dabriwal Acumen Fellow Soumya Dabriwal, founder of Baala project , shares her journey transforming reproductive and menstrual health for women and girls in some of In...

📆 ¡Últimos días! 🚨
En 2 días cerramos aplicaciones para el Programa de Fellows de Acumen en Colombia.

No dejes pasar la oportunidad de ser parte de esta experiencia transformadora. Envía tu aplicación antes del 29 de mayo a las 6:00 pm (hora Colombia).

Es momento de decidir y actuar. 🚀
👉 https://hubs.la/Q04bnZ0J0

The Green RISE Africa Accelerator runs for 10 months, from August 2026 to June 2027. What comes after?

Graduates join the Foundry — Acumen's global alumni community of 2,000+ social builders and innovators — along with a climate-focused Community of Practice building green jobs for young women and youth across rural Africa.

Through the Foundry, alumni keep growing: events, tools, networks, and funding opportunities beyond the program itself.

📅 Applications close 1 June 2026.
🔗 Apply: https://hubs.la/Q04g_7qw0

Missed our first Office Hour? One more chance to get your questions answered before applications close June 1.

Join our program team live to ask about eligibility, the two tracks, and the application process.

📅 May 27 | 10 AM GMT / 11 AM WAT / 1 PM EAT
⏰Register for Office Hour: https://hubs.la/Q04hcXVC0
🔗 Apply now: https://hubs.la/Q04hcvSD0

Applications close June 1.