One blog worth keeping an eye on is the Acumen Fund blog, which is, somewhat unsurprisingly, the blog of the US-based Acumen Fund. It’s a non-profit global venture fund that aims to use "entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty", with a particular focus on health, water and housing.

Most recently, they have announced the first Acumen Fellows, and are introducing them with fuller portraits over the coming weeks. The Fellows programme is centred round the concept that "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".

Putting aside the interesting concept of an ‘entrepreneurial bench’ for one moment (I’m assuming this is a sporting metaphor for having a good squad of skilled players….), it’s quite an interesting approach. An eight week intensive training course in New York before a 9-month project which they manage and deliver. Though the blurb does come across as these being investment/project managers for the Acumen Fund, they might fit in our ever-broader definition of social entrepreneurs. The missing element (from an SSE point of view) might be that of personal identification/engagement with the project, and, therefore, ‘real’ ownership of that project….but in terms of giving people appropriate skills and confidence and knowledge to go on to achieve things, there’s considerable alignment.