SE@UVA SOCIAL Innovator of the Year Award
Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, is excited to announce the UVA Social Innovator of the Year Award to highlight the transformative work of UVA alumni in the social impact space.
The inaugural awardee is Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder and CEO of , a non-profit impact investment fund changing the way the world tackles poverty. In 20 years, Acumen has invested over $135 million to build 136 social enterprises across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States, disrupting entire sectors. These companies have leveraged an additional $746 million and brought basic services like affordable education, health care, clean water, energy and sanitation to more than 308 million people!
Before Acumen, Novogratz graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations and continued to the Stanford School of Business where she received her
MBA. She went on to found and direct The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership programs at the Rockefeller Foundation, serve on boards of the Aspen Institute, and write her best-selling memoir, The Blue Sweater, on her quest to understand poverty and challenges readers to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink their engagement with the world.
In 2017, Forbes named Novogratz as one of the World’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds and SE@UVA is honored to again celebrate Jacqueline Novogratz as the Social Innovator of the Year 2021!
““I’m deeply grateful to be recognized as UVA’s social innovator of the year. The global pandemic has laid bare the open wounds of all of our systems – our healthcare systems, education systems, food systems, political systems, and so much more. At the same time, never in my lifetime have I seen as many opportunities to be of use and to contribute to solving our toughest problems. Social entrepreneurs have played a particularly potent role in addressing urgent needs during the pandemic while also pivoting toward a more interdependent, fragile future. I look forward to discussing this and much more at the University.””
Join SE@UVA and distinguished author and entrepreneur Jacqueline Novogratz as she receives the SE@UVA Social Innovator of the Year Award and discusses her newest book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution. The first 50 to register and attend will receive a free copy of the book! This event is open to all, and registration is required: