Elena has been Executive President of Opes Impact Fund since 2013. Opes is the first Italian investment vehicle targeting early stage social enterprises in East Africa and India in key development sectors with the aim of helping to close the “pioneer gap”. Since 2006, Elena has been CEO of Fondazione ACRA-CCS and she is also a board member of Fondazione Umano Progresso and of Education and Entrepreneurship Ltd., a social enterprise in Tanzania delivering vocational training in rural areas. Previously, she worked for over a decade in investment banking in emerging countries (for HSBC, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Nikko Securities) […]

Olivier co-founded GT Finance/Cristal Finance in 1987 before joining Credit Suisse Asset Management in 1998 as a Managing Director. In 2003 he founded PhiTrust in order to support families and foundations in the implementation of financial, social and philanthropic strategies, believing that investors have responsibility through their financial and social investments. He has long-standing experience in asset management at the level of families/foundations or institutions, in particular through assisting them with their investment strategies. Olivier is a Board member of Finansol, EVPA and the Philippson Foundation. He is also the Chairman of PhiTrust Active Investors and PhiTrust Impact Investors.

José Tomás Frade is currently working as a freelance consultant in the water and sanitation sector throughout the world, with a particular focus on developing countries. He is currently in charge of coordinating the national strategy of the Portuguese water sector for the period 2014-20 at the invitation of the Government. Mr Frade worked for 24 years in the Projects Directorate of the European Investment Bank, from which he retired in November 2012. As Deputy Director and Head of the Water and Environmental Protection Division since 2000, he was responsible for managing a team of water specialists which, for over 10 years, has appraised and monitored all the projects in the water sector financed by the Bank in more than 80 countries. […]

Edgars is an innovator with expertise in real estate and urban development. Since 2004 he has been managing different real estate projects in Latvia (advisory, transactions, restructuring). Edgars has gained international experience as a member of the Citymart team (Barcelona) and has successfully delivered innovation research projects for San Francisco, Lagos, Barcelona, Malmö and Moscow. He has also carried out urban development projects such as the Roja village WiFi cloud while working as Economic Development Advisor for Roja Municipality, Latvia. Edgars currently has two roles. He is a partner at real estate crowdfunding platform Crowdestate in Latvia and a developer for Riga Powerhouse, which is a co-working space for creative companies.[…]

Kaat is director of the “Sociale Innovatiefabriek”. This organisation promotes, stimulates and facilitates social innovation and social entrepreneurship throughout Flanders and Brussels. An emphasis is placed on major social challenges such as poverty, climate change, loneliness and urbanisation. Associations and companies can engage with this “Social Innovation Factory” that further refines concepts, provides expertise, a network and access to innovation funding. Kaat is also active as a lecturer at the University College “Erasmushogeschool” in Brussels where she teaches social innovation. Kaat was the director of the support centre for amateur arts for several years, worked at the Ministry of Culture and has also worked as cultural coordinator for a council.[…]

Hans joined the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Initiative in 2007. He has a background as a human rights activist, educator, and trainer based in Paris, with more than 30 years of experience in economic and political development. He recently designed and led a programme of training and capacity building for paralegals working in post-conflict settings in Africa and established UNESCO’s Poverty and Human Rights Programme that brought the agency’s multi-disciplinary resources to bear on the task of poverty eradication. He previously directed an international penal and criminal justice reform training programme for Penal Reform International and held senior staff positions at Amnesty International and regional community development organisations. […]

 

Rob is Co-founder, CEO of Crowdicity. He was one of the three founding executives of Freeserve, the transformational Internet Services Provider backed by Dixons Stores Group, where, after a £250 million IPO on the London Stock Exchange and New York NASDAQ, he became one of the youngest executive officers of a FTSE 100 company at the age of 29. Rob exited Freeserve after seeing through the £1.6 billion trade sale to Wanadoo, (A division of France Telecom.) Rob now gives lectures and talks around the world and organises international events on the subject of innovation, business strategy, social media and digital marketing. He was made an honorary Doctor of the University of Bradford for his contribution to the Internet in the UK and is […].