Jacobs Social Entrepreneur Fellow

Mark Adams

Mark Adams has spent his career driving impact and outreach in the financial inclusion space of international development. He specializes in designing new projects and launching them in developing markets by building and leveraging strong relationships. Most recently, he worked in Kenya for 3 years at One Acre Fund, a social enterprise serving over 400,000 smallholder farmers across East and Southern Africa. He developed and led key early-stage work to engage other financial providers across the globe and advance rural financial inclusion. Previously, he managed operations at FINCA Zambia, a major global microfinance provider. His passion for economic development began during college while living, working and studying in South Africa and Senegal. He holds a bachelor’s degrees in Economic Development and French from Tufts University.

I am immensely proud and excited to be counted among the Jacobs Business Fellows, and the first at MIT Sloan. I aim to use both the MBA and the Jacobs Network experiences to build out my skill set and learn from both the private and research sectors. The wealth and diversity of experience in the Jacobs Network will be a valuable resource in my goal to build better, more efficient, and more impactful development organizations. I also hope to make a contribution through the learning and perspective I’ve gained through field work, particularly to the Foundation’s TRECC project and Barry Callebaut’s work with cocoa growers in West Africa. I greatly look forward to collaborating with the Foundation and my co-Fellows.