Every year, Acumen’s Fellowship in India brings together a diverse group of exceptional social innovators committed to building a more just, inclusive, and sustainable country. 

From advancing women-led entrepreneurship and climate-smart agriculture to reimagining healthcare, education, and governance, our 2026 India Fellows embody moral imagination: the humility to see the world as it is, and the audacity to imagine it as it could be.

Over the course of the Fellowship, the cohort came together to learn with and from one another through a series of immersive seminars and workshops — reflecting on their values, deepening their systems thinking, and strengthening their capacity to lead long-term social change.

Join us in celebrating the 2026 Acumen Fellows in India as they continue their lifelong journeys as innovators driving change.

An IIT Kharagpur graduate with a passion for inclusive governance, Abinash serves as District Collector of Dhamtari. His work spans some of Chhattisgarh’s most challenging Naxal-affected regions, including Bastar and Dantewada, where he has led missions in tribal welfare and socioeconomic development. With experience across rural development, urban planning, and the startup ecosystem, he specializes in applying innovative, tech-enabled solutions to public administration and conflict-zone recovery.

Divya is the CEO of Naandi Water, a leading social enterprise providing safe, affordable drinking water to underserved communities across India. Under her leadership, Naandi Water has expanded access in rural communities through community water centers and launched iQuench, India's first social packaged drinking water brand. With over two decades of experience across consulting, manufacturing, and social impact, Divya is committed to building sustainable, people-centred organizations and mentoring early-stage entrepreneurs.

Geetika is the Director of Programs at Simple Education Foundation, where she works with state governments to strengthen teacher development systems across Delhi and Punjab, reaching more than 175,000 government school teachers.  A former Teach For India Fellow, she believes lasting change begins with teachers. She works at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and classroom practice to strengthen teacher support systems and translate policy into meaningful change in schools. 

Harsh is a development practitioner and systems leader advancing Energy Swaraj through decentralized renewable energy models. He leads Bindi International, which works across rural and peri-urban India to put energy control in the hands of villages, particularly women. Over the last decade, he has worked with women's groups, panchayats, and public systems to train rural women as solar engineers and link clean energy with livelihoods, health, and education.

Indu is the Co-Founder of AgriMinds Innovation (GoKrit), where she works to bridge the dairy divide by building a trusted value loop between farmers and consumers through an AI-driven ecosystem. With over a decade of experience across startups and global companies, she brings together technology, data, and grassroots operations to build trust, improve efficiency, and create sustainable livelihoods.

Ishan serves as Superintendent of Police in Meghalaya, where he leads ground-based policing initiatives and uses technologies such as drones and cyber analytics to improve security and investigation outcomes. An IIT Delhi engineering graduate, he also brings three years of prior experience in business and growth analytics, combining technical expertise with a data-informed approach to public safety.

Krishna is the Co-Founder and CEO of AamDhane, a technology-enabled platform connecting blue-collar workers with factories and warehouses across India. AamDhane helps create reliable livelihoods while enabling businesses to scale with trusted manpower, transparent systems, and end-to-end worker support. Through his work, Krishna connects rural workers to dignified, organized employment, bringing greater stability to families and reliability for employers.

Kumar is the Founder of The Open Field, which helps tribal and rural producers move beyond selling raw forest produce toward value addition and stronger market participation. Through AYAN decentralized processing hubs and Forest OS, he works across technology, entrepreneurship, and market development to improve traceability, reduce post-harvest losses, and strengthen community ownership of forest-based value chains. He holds an MBA and teaches entrepreneurship at the Institute of Hotel Management, Ranchi.

Mahavir is the Founder and Director of Desigo, a climate-smart dairy enterprise transforming rural livelihoods through women-led smart farms, solar-powered cold chains, and zero-plastic distribution. He integrates AI-driven traceability, indigenous breed preservation, and circular systems to improve food safety, strengthen farmer resilience, and ensure fair incomes for small farmers. With a background in corporate law, agri-marketing, and sustainable systems design, he builds scalable, tech-enabled models for a resilient dairy sector.

Mukul is the Founder and CEO of ScrapUncle, an on-demand recycling platform organizing India's recycling supply chain through technology and optimized operations. ScrapUncle has completed more than 200,000 pickups in Delhi NCR and enabled the recycling of over 15 million kg of e-waste and other recyclables. Mukul was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2025 and appeared on Shark Tank India Season 2. 

Naresh is the Founder and CEO of Online Saathi and Chairperson of the Panah Foundation, organizations dedicated to empowering India's informal workforce through technology and community leadership. With over nine years of experience in social entrepreneurship, he has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and informal workers access welfare schemes, financial services, and dignified livelihoods. He also completed a six-month walk across 11 states and 100 districts to better understand grassroots challenges.

Nikita is the Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Nexus Power, a startup developing biodegradable, lithium-free electric vehicle batteries from crop residue. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, she combines a background in business management and media with specialized certifications in nanotechnology and battery management systems. She uses biomimicry to develop more sustainable  energy solutions and is committed to advancing a greener future. 

Nuneseno is the Director and Chief Functionary of YouthNet, Nagaland's first and largest youth development and social enterprise incubator, now active across all eight states of Northeast India. For over 17 years, she has partnered with youth, women, and grassroots entrepreneurs to build market-linked skills, inclusive incubation platforms, and community-led solutions across education, employment, and entrepreneurship. Her work bridges together government, communities, and partners to strengthen local ecosystems for inclusive growth. She is an IVLP alumna and one of the top-five finalists for the Schwab Foundation's Social Entrepreneur of the Year award, India 2026.

Parashram is the Founder and CEO of Krushi Sarathi, where he works to build climate resilience in India's drought-prone Vidarbha region. He addresses smallholder farmer poverty by converting agricultural waste into biochar to support soil regeneration, improved yields, and sequester carbon. Through a circular economy model, he works to restore degraded land, advance regenerative farming, and create year-round economic opportunities for rural communities.

Parul is the Chief Data Scientist at Bintix, where she leads data-driven innovations that turn waste into actionable insights for sustainable solutions. Previously, she held leadership and research roles at Indian School of Business and served as an Assistant Professor in the United States. She holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Houston and a master's in economics from the Delhi School of Economics. 

Prapti is the Chief Operating Officer at Aavishkaar, Center for Science, Math, Arts & Technology, which works to make STEM education accessible for children and women in India. She leads strategic planning, team building, partnerships, and program implementation. An engineer at IBM turned educator, she began her journey in the sector as a Teach For India Fellow and later spent three years in rural Chamba supporting single-teacher government schools. 

Pravin is a lawyer, educator, and the Founder of SAMAVESH, which works to redesign how justice, education, and public institutions serve historically marginalized communities. Through community-led education, academic mentorship, and leadership development, SAMAVESH strengthens access to public institutions and higher education. A recipient of the National Youth Award and the UK Government's Chevening Scholarship, he holds an MSc in Human Rights and Politics from the London School of Economics and served as a Commonwealth Secretariat Election Observer to Zambia. He dreams of building the "SAMAVESH Institute of Development Studies" to integrate policy, research, and practice on education equity and institutional inclusion. 

Satyam is the Founder and CEO of Foreka, a for-profit social enterprise working with small and marginal farmers to build farmer-led enterprises in rural India. He partners with farmers and Farmer Producer Companies to produce minimally processed, cold-pressed edible oils, supporting fair pricing, transparency, and local value addition.  A former Gandhi Fellow, he previously worked across 462 government schools in Madhya Pradesh and engaged with tribal communities and women leaders. 

Dr. Shailesh Jhawar is a critical care physician and Director at Apex Hospitals, Rajasthan, focused on expanding affordable critical care beyond major cities. Trained in the United Kingdom and India, he brings over a decade of experience in critical care and hospital systems. He led Apex's growth from one hospital to a network of eight and built Critical Care Hope, a remote care initiative recognized by the Harvard Business Review for supporting underserved communities.

Dr. Tejaswi Sevekari is a social scientist who has worked on HIV, particularly with sex workers, for 30 years. She helped form Saheli Sangh, a Pune-based sex workers' collective. She now leads as Executive Director, and serves as a mentor for the National Network of Sex Workers in India. A certified trainer with the Empowerment Institute, she also serves on the advisory boards of B.J. Medical and the AIDS Clinical Trial Network.

Udita is the Co-Founder and CEO of Umeed, a nonprofit advancing women's empowerment through skills, mindset, and exposure. A Teach For India alumna with over a decade of experience across corporate and development sectors, she has led initiatives including FirstLeap and Sahyog, a collaboration with the Telangana Education Department that has reached 80,000 students across 133 colleges. She holds a master's degree in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California.

Waseem is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of AAs (Aim for the Awareness of Society) and a social development professional with over 20 years of experience in child protection, youth development, and climate action. He focuses on collaboration, collective leadership, and locally rooted solutions, using grassroots practice for learning and innovation. He aims to grow AAs from a grassroots NGO into a national movement that influences systems and drives social change.