The Blue Sweater

May 18, 2009 Written by Frances Schagen

Here’s a woman not afraid to start.
Sometimes you just have to step forward and do. Once you start, you can check in and make adjustments as needed.
Jacquline got a dream job out of university as an international banker traveling the world. Something about the culture of the industry didn’t feel right. She had heard about microfinance and decided to look into it. It didn’t take long before she was offered a place with an organization in Africa – not Brazil which is where she felt called to work. She took the job even though she didn’t quite know what her job would be or even exactly what the organization did. What she did know was that it was getting her closer to where she wanted to go.

She took the step. Many steps and many lessons later she started the Acumen Fund.

You don’t always have to know what the end will look like, sometimes it’s enough to know what you want to accomplish and head in that direction. For Jacqueline, that end was to bridge grassroots organizations with the resources and skills of mainstream corporations. That is exactly what she has accomplished with the Acumen Fund.
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