Summer Associate, Insights & Strategy

Acumen is looking for a Summer Associate (8 - 10 week paid internship), who is interested in international development to support the work of our New York Insights & Strategy team. This role reports to the Head of Insights. Acumen currently works in a hybrid model and people are in the NYC office Tuesday - Thursday.

About Acumen
Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders, and ideas. We invest patient capital in businesses whose products and services help people living in poverty to transform their lives. To date, Acumen has positively impacted nearly 500 million lives by investing $150M in 156 innovative, early-stage companies in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. But investment isn’t just about capital, we’ve been investing in relationships for years, connecting with emerging leaders in their own countries and engaging them in extended collective dialogue, moral inquiry, and skill building.

About Insights & Strategy
We are a small team who function as a wheel: we help teams draw out the lessons from the work they have done, then leverage that knowledge to increase our impact through improved strategy and influence. We engage with Acumen staff around the world, as well as external stakeholders. We dig beneath the surface, discover patterns, and deliver clear, actionable insights from our work.

About the Role
The Insights & Strategy Summer Associate will be responsible for supporting the Insights team on two research projects with a final presentation of insights and recommendations. The Summer Associate will bring curiosity, strong analytical skills, an ability to manage competing priorities, and a commitment to delivering results within timelines.The topics the summer associate will research are strategic to the organization and will inform our position in the future:

Monetization of impact and the role of subsidy in providing access to critical services:

• Dig deeper into specific models where we have seen evidence of impact monetization - e.g., development impact bonds (DIBs), carbon credits.
• Assess the impact of these approaches, identify any risks or challenges to scaling them, and estimate the growth of the market
• Research expert perspectives and lay out leading organizations working in these spaces
• Map out successful examples of subsidy being used in public-private partnerships to open up new markets in low-income countries
• Present findings and where Acumen has an opportunity to further explore 

In addition, the Summer Associate will assist on the following key tasks:

• Plan and prepare a social enterprises trends survey and resulting report
• Analyze data from investment databases and Acumen’s annual review to answer key insights questions. 
• Help deliver an internal insights session and external webinar on key topics.

The Summer Associate may be expected to pitch in and help review or gather data as part of other projects, as well as contributing their analysis to team discussions and decisions.

Skills & Qualifications:

• Ability to learn new skills, procedures, and systems quickly without being afraid to ask questions
• Excellent qualitative and quantitative analytical skills. 
• Demonstrated ability to write clearly and concisely for decision makers (opportunities, pros, cons, risks).
• Conscientious approach with good attention to detail.
• Ability to work efficiently to meet deadlines.
• Ability to deal with confidential information sensitively and appropriately.
• Preferred: background or current studies in development economics and/or social entrepreneurship.
• In pursuit of a graduate (preferred) or undergraduate degree
• Self reflective and aligned with Acumen values
• Permanently authorized to work in the US

Deadline: March 18, 2024

The Summer Associate role will be based in NY and receive a weekly stipend of $750 for graduate students and $700 for undergraduate students.
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