Jacqueline Novogratz

Current Company

Acumen — Founder & CEO

Inventing Patient Capital

Jacqueline Novogratz spent a decade in traditional development finance — first at Chase Manhattan Bank, then at the Rockefeller Foundation — before concluding that neither pure charity nor conventional venture capital could solve poverty at scale. In 2001, she founded Acumen with the concept of 'patient capital': long-term, below-market-rate investments in companies serving people living on less than $4 a day.

Acumen's model was radical. It invested equity in for-profit companies providing essential goods — clean water, solar energy, affordable healthcare, agricultural inputs — to the world's poorest communities, then measured success not just in financial returns but in the number of lives improved. The fund's early investments in companies like d.light (solar lanterns) and WaterHealth International proved that market-based solutions could reach the 'bottom of the pyramid' at scale.

Moral Imagination at Scale

Novogratz's influence extends beyond Acumen's portfolio. She trained a generation of social entrepreneurs through the Acumen Fellows program, which has placed leaders in over 90 countries. Her books, 'The Blue Sweater' and 'Manifesto for a Moral Revolution,' argue that solving global poverty requires a new kind of leadership — one that combines the accountability of markets with the compassion of aid work.

After two decades, Acumen has invested over $150 million in 170+ companies across Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the United States, improving the lives of over 400 million people. Novogratz's patient capital model has been adopted by dozens of impact investing funds worldwide, fundamentally expanding what the finance industry considers a viable investment thesis.