Acumen Academy

02/10/2026

There’s still time to see your design challenge differently.

Learn https://hubs.la/Q04xb0r60’s human-centered design approach and gain practical tools for listening, ideating, prototyping and building solutions around what people really need.

Build your skills over seven weeks, with lessons delivered through WhatsApp.

Sign up by October 4: https://hubs.la/Q04xb0m10

17/09/2026

Human-centered design has a new home: WhatsApp.

Learn https://hubs.la/Q04x9XNV0’s approach to building design solutions around what people really need.

Enroll before October 4: https://hubs.la/Q04x9XTH0

10/09/2026

Human-Centered Design, now on WhatsApp.

Learn more and enroll: https://hubs.la/Q04x44CR0

25/08/2026

Sami, quien era Fellow de Acumen, dedicó su vida a construir paz y fortalecer sus comunidades.

Hoy honramos su vida y la huella que dejó, con la convicción de que Colombia debe ser un país donde liderar, servir a una comunidad y trabajar por la reconciliación puedan hacerse con dignidad y sin miedo.

Seguiremos acompañando a quienes construyen la Colombia que Sami imaginó, manteniendo vivo su propósito y la esperanza que puso en cada comunidad que acompañó.

Como ella misma nos enseñó: un paso a la vez.

Conoce más sobre el legado de Sami:

Ilustración por: Michelle Mildenberg,

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Sami, who was an Acumen Fellow, dedicated her life to building peace and strengthening communities.

Today, we honor her life and the legacy she leaves behind, with the conviction that Colombia must be a country where people can lead, serve their communities, and work toward reconciliation with dignity and without fear.

We will continue building the Colombia Sami imagined, keeping alive her purpose and the hope she carried into every community she served.

As she showed us: one step at a time.

Learn more about Sami’s legacy: https://go.acumen.org/4gSB8rC

Illustration by: Michelle Mildenberg

Una Fellow de Acumen 2021 que construyó paz en Colombia desde la escucha y la dignidad. Recordamos a Sami y el liderazgo que practicó.

25/08/2026

When the work gets more complex, leaders do not need another room full of answers.

They need a room where they can think honestly, be challenged with care, and remember they are not carrying the work alone.

Last month, Acumen Academy Fellows in the UK came together at Energy Garden HQ in Victoria to explore how complexity is showing up in their leadership, their organizations, and the world around them.

Through coaching, peer consultation, and dialogue, Fellows worked through the questions that rarely have clean answers: How do our identities shape the way we lead? What kind of support helps us move through organizational uncertainty? What does courage ask of us when the challenges we face are deeply interconnected?

Behind the scenes, this is what community can make possible. Not a pause from the hard work, but a practice that helps sustain it.

One reflection from the day stayed with us: When power feels concentrated in the hands of a few, the work is not only to fight for a seat at the existing table. It is to build a new one: one rooted in moral leadership, collective wisdom, and room for more people to shape what comes next.

For everyone leading through complexity right now: What kind of table are you helping build?

18/08/2026

Meet the Founder: Wainright Acquoi

What does dignity have to do with ambition?

In this conversation, Acumen Fellow Wainright Acquoi sits down with Acumen founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz to talk about role models, fellowship, love, and what it really takes to pursue a dream without losing sight of others.

Watch the full conversation:

In September 2022, as part of Acumen’s Imagine Dignity event, Acume...

06/08/2026

There's still time.

If you're building a solution that's already making an impact and you're ready for the next stage of growth, the Pakistan Acumen Fellowship could be your next step. Join a community of leaders who challenge one another, share hard-earned lessons, and are committed to solving problems of poverty together.

Applications for the 2026 Acumen Pakistan Fellowship close on 14th August. Apply now: https://hubs.la/Q04qNP3N0

05/08/2026

📢 ¿Has escuchado hablar de la Aceleradora de Liderazgo de Acumen en el Eje Cafetero Colombiano? ✨

Muy pronto abriremos aplicaciones para este programa intensivo que convoca a una cohorte regional de personas comprometidas con transformar el Eje Cafetero. 💪☕

Si trabajas por la ruralidad del Eje Cafetero, enfrentando retos de pobreza desde tu territorio, y quieres fortalecer tu liderazgo, adquirir herramientas y conectar con una comunidad poderosa de agentes de cambio, este programa puede ser para ti. 🌱✨

¿Te suena? ¿Te emociona?
Entonces anota esta fecha:
🗓️ 12 de agosto — abrimos aplicaciones. 🚀

01/08/2026

Haya Zahid, an Acumen Fellow and Co-Founder for Legal Aid Society, decided that justice should not be a privilege! For millions of people in Pakistan, access to legal support remains out of reach, too expensive, too complex, and too distant to be of any real use. She has built an organization dedicated to making legal aid accessible to the communities that need it most.

If you're also a social problem for your communities, this is your chance to join a global community of 2,000+ social innovators across 71 countries.

The Acumen Pakistan Fellowship 2026 is open for applications. If you're building something that challenges the status quo and you're ready to do it with the right people behind you, apply before 14 August 2026.
https://hubs.la/Q04pZWPp0

30/07/2026

Meet Kome, a member of Acumen Academy’s team whose work is shaped by the builders who keep going when the path is anything but easy.

In a recent conversation with Maya Stewart, Co-founder of Yellow and an Acumen Hardest-to-Reach investee, Kome heard what resilience sounds like in practice.

Yellow is helping bridge the energy gap for more than half a million customers in Malawi while navigating fuel shortages, limited access to capital, and the daily pressure of building in a difficult market.

At one point, Maya shared:

“If everything were to stop because there’s a crisis, that means we will not be meeting our consumer demand, which also means our agents are not making an income.”

For Kome, that clarity stayed with her.

Because for builders like Maya, resilience is not an abstract idea. It is the decision to keep serving customers, supporting agents, and building toward dignity when stopping would be easier.

Across our community, stories like Maya’s remind us that stubborn optimism is not naïve. It is a discipline. A practice. A choice to keep moving because people are counting on you.

What story has helped you keep believing in the work?