 Acumen was founded in 2001 by Jacqueline Novogratz who gave up her job in Investment Banking to work in International Development.The idea of Acumen started from one of Novogratz's trip to Central Africa, back when she was still in the banking industry with Chase Bank (formerly Chase Manhattan Bank), where she noticed that banks did not lend to poor people.Soon after, she quit her job, relocated to Rwanda and opened Duterimbere, the first micro-finance bank in the country.