Acumen Fund

Why do so many people tell us not to be doctors? We need doctors! The world needs doctors. That always bothers me.

On to the actual topic at hand...

Seth Godin's video points out that Acumen helps create societies of commerce throughout the world. I suppose this can be good, especially if they encourage local economies. True, you can't just give people things all the time, there needs to be a way for them to produce or procure it in a fair trade. I suppose I was just caught a little off guard by the commerce goal, though, considering all the things we've been learning in class. Maybe I don't understand exactly what the authors of the books we've been reading have meant, but it seemed to me that after a very small increase in economy, more growth would cause more harm than good. I always like to cite the world's overpopulation problem as a reason not to help people, but that is a very bad reason to do a bad thing (or not do a good one, as the case may be). I think small businesses can be great, especially when they provide a necessary service. I suppose that it is the duty of the Acumen Fund employees to help decide if various entrepreneurs have good and useful ideas or if they are just in it to make a buck or two.

Acumen is trying to encourage young professionals and other young people to get involved and do what they can to help. For those people blessed with a talent for understanding and prospering in business, sure, they can help raise money for the fund. However, this type of assistance is not for everyone. Not everyone is good at raising money. Not everyone is business-savvy. I feel like there is no place for me to help out. Acumen encourages everyone to be creative and entrepreneurial so that everyone can solve problems all by themselves. This is not a well-rounded approach. It may not be as glamorous to be the behind the scenes person who supports good work by copying papers or filing reports, but those jobs are nevertheless necessary. Even the children that came in on children's day were expected to come up with creative solutions to big problems and form businesses. Surely there were some children that didn't really make it on the video who just sat there and lettered posters because they didn't have any creative ideas.

Overall I think that Acumen probably does very good work. I'm sure they help out many people in a way that allows the people to begin helping themselves, which is very important. I don't really feel like I could help them out at all at this point in my life, or even for a while yet. Then again, I'm not trying to address the problems of the world. I just want to help the people I can, which are usually those around me. Maybe I'm just not seeing the big picture. However, I feel that if you always focus on the biggest picture possible and always look as distantly as you can you miss a lot of things going on right under your nose. Maybe not everyone can create a profitable business that can invest in and support Acumen. But maybe they can give some food to their neighbor who had an unexpected expense and can't afford groceries this week. Maybe they can fix something in the home of someone who can no longer do that sort of thing for themselves. Acumen isn't for everyone, but the concept of helping others is. People shouldn't be discouraged because large entities like Acumen encourage them to do things they aren't suited for.