Acumen India

Acumen brought the idea of 'Impact Investment', wherein the funds collected through philanthropy are not directly donated, but they are invested into Read morecompanies or change-makers who are working in various sectors with a sense of social responsibility. Acumen India has partnered with entities like TATA Trust, Dr. Reddy's Foundation, Earnst & Young, Goldman Sachs, Mahvash and Jehangir Siddiqui Foundations and GE to make Impact Investment in areas like Education, Health, Agriculture, Housing, Energy, Sanitation, Water and Sanitation, and Workforce Development. For Agricultural development, Acumen has invested in a company called 'Under the Mango Tree'. This honey company teaches India's small farmers Beekeeping for an additional income. 'Under the Mango Tree' figured out that three-quarters of the world's food crop depends on bees and insects for pollination, yet farmers do not indulge in Beekeeping rather rear animals which does not help the crops. Small farmers can easily and feasibly start beekeeping; this will hasten the process of crop growing and also provide an extra livelihood. This initiative has impacted farmers' income by 50 per cent and will reach 10,000 farmers by 2018. In the field of health, Acumen has 'impact invested' in a chain of hospitals called Lifespring. These are small, specialized hospitals providing maternal and pediatric care for those families who can't afford expensive healthcare. This is a joint venture between Acumen and Hindustan Latex Limited. Lifespring has been able to cut costs by limiting its functionalities to maternal and pediatric care only and has an easy-to-maintain 25-bed facility. More than 3,00,000 patients have been treated and 75,000 children have been delivered since 2008. In 2013, Acumen 'impact invested' in Labournet; a company that provides vocational training to India's informal workforce. According to Labournet, 90 per cent of India's workforce is employed in the unorganised or informal sector where job insecurity is high. They secure livelihoods through training and advocating for increased wages. Till date, they have trained 50,000 people. In the Energy sector, Acumen has 'impact invested' in a renewable energy company called Frontier Markets. The company distributes energy to the remotest villages in India. Frontier Market's innovation lies in the distribution process, which they have managed through collaboration with different retailers thus sharing infrastructure for the energy to reach the remotest places. They have sold 20,000 products across Rajasthan and aim to touch 3 million lives by 2019. Acumen has invested 29 million dollars in India in 32 companies/organisations which are innovating sustainable solutions in various sectors thereby impacting 10.4 million lives.