It aims to demonstrate that small amounts of philanthropic capital, combined with business acumen, can result in thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor.

[7] Acumen's model is to invest as equity or debt in social enterprises, both for-profit or nonprofit organizations, that are serving people living below, at or slightly above the poverty line.

[10] Acumen measures the immediate output and considers it when looking for businesses to invest in, but does not focus on whether these social changes are contributing to decrease in malaria or improvement in health and environment.

Kumar found out that most women were unsatisfied with the level of care at public hospitals, some were so frustrated that they would take out loans to finance visits to private facilities.

[18] Kumar took the idea of opening a high-quality maternal care institution to low-income families in the sprawling Hyderabad urban slums.

By limiting capital expenditures such as renting hospital buildings on multi year leases, outsourcing pharmacy and laboratory services and reducing the amount of machinery to only those necessary in performing a safe normal delivery, LifeSpring hospitals has brought the cost down to make it accessible to the poor population.

Additional income generated apart from deliveries is attributed to family planning services, consultation fees and rent from outsourced laboratory and pharmacy.

[20] In December 2013, LifeSpring Hospitals decided to raise $3.2 million to fund its expansion plan and to set up another maternity home.