Jacqueline Novogratz (born 1961) is an American entrepreneur and author. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen, a nonprofit global venture capital fund whose goal is to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.[1]
Early life
Novogratz was born in 1961[2] in the US, the eldest of seven children.[3] Her father was a career officer and major in the U.S. Army, and her mother, Barbara, ran an antiques business.[4]
Novogratz started her career at Chase Manhattan Bank in 1983,[3] as an international credit analyst. After three years, she left banking to explore how to make a difference in the world.
She worked throughout Africa as a consultant for the World Bank and for UNICEF. As a UNICEF consultant in Rwanda in the late 1980s, she helped found Duterimbere, a microfinance institution.
Novogratz founded and directed The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership programs at the Rockefeller Foundation before founding Acumen in 2001.[5] Acumen invests patient capital in businesses that provide critical goods and services to people living in poverty. It estimates that it has impacted 648 million people through its investments.[6] Novogratz oversaw the development of Acumen's Fellowship program, which develops leaders for the social sector.[7]
Novogratz serves on the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative,[8] and UNICEF. She also serves on the Aspen Institute board of trustees, the Pakistan Business Council Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB)], is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,[9] and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.[10]Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, appointed Novogratz to the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board.[11]
The Blue Sweater
In 2009, Novogratz published The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.[12] The book is a firsthand account of her journey from international banker to social entrepreneur and founder of Acumen.[citation needed]
The title of her book, The Blue Sweater, refers to an encounter she had in Kigali, Rwanda. Novogratz spotted a boy wearing a blue sweater. She recognized it as a sweater she had owned and given to Goodwill a decade earlier; it was hers, with her name on the tag. The encounter was an epiphany for Novogratz; her sense of the interconnectedness of our world has continued to influence her current work.[7]
