Deadline: October 30, 2025
The India Acumen Fellowship is a transformative leadership program designed to equip changemakers with the skills, tools, and community to scale their impact and create meaningful change in India.
The focus of the Fellowship includes building scalable solutions to poverty, cultivating moral leadership, strengthening leadership through self-awareness, storytelling, and negotiation, refining leadership frameworks, exploring values in tension, inspiring authentic voices, navigating uncertainty through adaptive leadership, operating across opposing views through polarity management, and engaging with the moral and historical foundation of social change through Good Society Readings.
The Fellowship is a six-month hybrid program where fellows continue working in their current roles while participating in a mix of virtual sessions, in-person immersives, and self-paced learning. Participants undergo a three-day virtual orientation, two five-day immersives, and four learning labs with continuous assignments, discussions, and group work. The curriculum is designed to pressure test new leadership frameworks in real time and build strong peer accountability.
On completion, fellows join the global Foundry, a community of 1,600+ alumni worldwide, benefitting from opportunities including tools and mentorship, amplification, community access, and early-stage funding. Many fellows have gone on to build award-winning enterprises transforming fields such as food, agriculture, education, climate, and workforce development.
Applications for the 2025 India Acumen Fellowship close on October 30, 2025. The selection conference will be held on January 16–17, 2026, and the fellowship journey begins on March 2, 2026. Applicants must be between 18–45 years of age, with at least five years of work experience in tackling poverty and leading or building organizations committed to social impact. The program prioritizes candidates from rural areas, women and non-binary leaders, and social enterprises focused on underserved communities.
Once selected, all program-related costs, including food, lodging, and immersive learning expenses, are fully covered. Fellows are required to commit to full attendance throughout the program. Upon successful completion, they gain lifelong access to Acumen Academy’s global network to continue building, scaling, and amplifying their impact.
For more information, visit Acumen Academy.
