Apply Now to be An Acumen Fund Fellow in 2008
www.acumenfund.org .

Acumen Fund Applications close 31 January 2007.

Each year, the Acumen Fund Fellows Program provides extraordinary young professionals with a unique opportunity to use their skills to effect real social change with our portfolio organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, India and Pakistan, and to build lasting relationships with other like-minded individuals. Joining us in September, fellows will spend one year working with our team and with local entrepreneurs, gaining intensive experience in price performance, logistics, distribution systems, scaling and innovative technology. Fellows will learn and apply these skills while enjoying an unusual level of responsibility both at Acumen Fund and within our portfolio organizations.

Ideal fellows include those who have already decided on a career in venture philanthropy, those who are seeking a career at the highest levels in the corporate world but want to better understand and have an impact on problems of global poverty, and budding social entrepreneurs who want to learn about managing organizations in the most demanding settings.

We seek applications from young professionals with the skills, imagination and will to effect significant change through market-oriented approaches to global problem solving.

While capital is a constraint to building systems to make critical goods and services accessible to the poor, an even larger constraint is people. The world needs to build an "entrepreneurial bench" of top talent with strong financial and operational skills as well as the moral imagination to build appropriate enterprises with local stakeholders. Acumen Fund hopes to contribute by identifying and developing talent through the Fellows Program.

The Fellows Program is a one-year, experience-based fellowship. The fellows will first spend eight weeks in New York in an intensive training program where they will focus on business models for the poor and their own leadership - both theoretical and practical. They will examine issues related to our work from a sector and geographic perspective. And they will meet with extraordinary leaders who will share personal stories and brainstorm creative ways of tackling issues facing the world today.

At the end of this training, each fellow will be assigned to workwith an Acumen Fund investment and given a concrete set of deliverables for the next nine months. Following these assignments, fellows will return to New York City for a final month to share experiences, exchange lessons learned and focus on potential job opportunities. Our aim is no less than to build a corps of individuals who will be of great value to best-in-class organizations in both the social and private sectors.

Who should apply? Only those individuals with exceptional business skills, proven international interests and a great ability to work with people. Acumen Fund Fellows have the talent to do almost anything in their careers, and the vision to see themselves making significant change to challenging social problems. Fellows have the maturity to work with independence in Africa or South Asia. They are communicators and team players. They are individuals who do not accept the status quo. They are problem-solvers and listeners. They have a sense of humor. Previous international experience helps. So does a track record that demonstrates not only innovation and imagination but also the ability to work with teams and in diverse situations. In short, we are looking to identify some of the world's next generation of leaders.

Candidates must apply by 12 noon EST on January 31, 2007 so that we can select fellows by mid-April, with the program beginning in September. The Acumen Fund community is the best source of talent, so we ask your help in encouraging qualified candidates to apply.

Find out more information on the Fellows Program and application guidelines at:
www.acumenfund.org/About/opportunity.asp

Acumen Fund Applications close 31 January 2007.