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Leveraging the power of yes
Sasha Dichter (MBA/MPA 2002) is chief innovation officer at Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund that invests in early-stage companies to solve issues stemming from poverty.
“One of the things I’ve learned is how expressive and personal philanthropy is, and that no matter how smart or analytical a donor may be, ultimately, the decision to give is rooted very strongly in the act of giving,” says Dichter, who, as a personal test, ran a 30-day “generosity experiment” during which he said yes to everyone who asked him for money.
At Acumen, Dichter oversees the organization’s leadership programs as well as its efforts to distill and disseminate best practices by understanding the true social impact of investing in early-stage companies that provide affordable access to agricultural inputs, high-quality education, clean energy, health care, housing, and safe drinking water to low-income customers in India, Pakistan, East and West Africa, and Latin America.
“Understanding the full scope of impact that these companies are having is a challenge,” he says, “but we know that if we can truly capture and quantify this, it could be revolutionary, and not just for the impact-investing sector. It could change how we understand the role of business in society.”
(Published March 2015)
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