Speakers

Kissy Agyeman-Togobo

Based in Accra, Kissy Agyeman-Togobo co-founded Songhai Advisory in 2010 having already worked with leading international risk and global information consultancies focussed on Sub-Saharan Africa. Her analytical approach is grounded in an LLB English & French Law, Risk Management in Developing Countries postgraduate from Sciences Politiques (Bordeaux) and a diploma in Governance, Risk & Compliance from the International Compliance Association. Kissy is a fluent French speaker and has travelled extensively across the continent, including in Mano River countries. She heads the company’s entrepreneurship and gender-lens work which includes leading the Songhai team in data gathering across diverse countries in Africa on job creation opportunities through social enterprise and gender-lens investing. She is also a trustee of Footprints Africa, a UK-Ghanaian charity that promotes sustainable business models for African SMEs.

Béatrice Alain

Béatrice directs the Chantier de l’économie sociale, an independent organisation that brings together actors and partners of the social economy, in order to promote collective entrepreneurship and develop new sectors and tools able to support the emergence of this development model in Québec. Beatrice has a background in economics and political science. She is particularly interested in, and committed to, efforts to facilitate the collective action of a diversity of stakeholders in favour of a more equitable and sustainable economic development.

Shabna Ali

Shabna Ali is a versatile leader with a powerful combination of business experience, mindset and a track record of working in not-for-profit organisations where optimising available resources is a must. She is particularly motivated when she sees opportunities to drive improvement – by increasing satisfaction, reducing costs, expanding reach, to name a few – and is willing to research, explore, and work tirelessly to implement positive change. Shabna has always found that lasting, meaningful change arises out of stakeholder engagement and buy-in. Since joining the City of Vancouver, she has been working to implement the Community Benefits Agreement policy which aims to provide value back to communities through employment and supply opportunities.

Subashini Balakrishnan

Subashini oversees the Ecosystem Development team that champions the collaborative efforts of various stakeholders in supporting and nurturing the social entrepreneurial community in Singapore. In raiSE’s endeavour to encourage every enterprise to be a Social Enterprise, the team is at the forefront of welcoming interested Corporates to make Social Enterprises a part of their sustainability journey. Concurrently, she also heads the Strategic Communications unit that manages the marketing, branding, and public relations efforts to increase the awareness of and raise support for Social Enterprises in Singapore.

Samuel Barco

Samuel Barco Serrano is a senior researcher, consultant, activist and Social Entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in political science research and extensive international experience in the field of social entrepreneurship development. He has completed assignments for the most relevant international actors (European Commission, World Bank, European Social Fund, OECD, CAF, ILO, etc.) and governments (South Africa, Poland, Slovakia, Greece, etc.) in three continents. He has also collaborated with several international social economy organisations (CICOPA, ICA, REVES, etc), participating actively in several boards. He holds two Masters one in Political Science (UNED University) and International Relations and Communication (Complutense University).

Seán Barnes

Seán is the Director of Social Procurement with the Ākina Foundation, NZ’s leading impact development organisation. Seán established and leads Fwd, Ākina’s specialist social procurement programme that provides advisory support in social procurement to the private and public sector Buyers, as well as supporting social enterprises to grow to meet increasing market opportunities. Seán is driven by changing procurement for good and realising the potential of organisations to have a positive influence on society and the environment.

Thomas Benjoe

Thomas Benjoe is the President & CEO for FHQ Developments and is from the Muscowpetung First Nation. Thomas is a founding Board of Director’s member for FHQ Developments and was named President & CEO in 2016. FHQ Developments manages Indigenous Investments, Partnerships and Economic Development that creates the greatest economic impact where they do business while utilising Indigenous knowledge, thought and value systems to create a better economic future for the Nations and Citizens of the File Hill’s Qu’Appelle Tribal Council. Thomas currently serves on the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce as 1st Vice Chair (Incoming Chair May 2021) among many other community board and councils. Thomas was recently featured in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine as a Top 50 Changemaker in Canada. He has received many other accolades over the years including being recognised as a Top 10 Most Influential Economic Developers by Treaty 4 News for his valuable contribution to improving the lives of Indigenous people through business and have helped keep Saskatchewan’s economy vibrant and strong.

Lisa Boothby

Lisa joined Social Traders in 2011. She is responsible for the Market Development business unit. Through her time with Social Traders, Lisa has overseen social enterprise supplier services and before that led the social enterprise incubator program, The Crunch. Lisa has extensive experience in management consulting across commercial, community and social enterprise sectors, having worked in the Strategy Group at Accenture, as well as directly consulting to non-profit organisations and social enterprises. Lisa has held board positions with Good Company and Ormond College and is currently a Director of Veritas Health Innovation. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Masters of Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School. She is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

Marta Bruschi

Marta Bruschi has 15 years of experience in the Third Sector, working with international NGOs and European Networks (e.g. EUCLID NETWORK, EUROCLIO). She led key programmes in the areas of Capacity Building, Leadership and Peer Learning (Charities Aid Foundation) to enable managers to grow in their leadership practice and ensure the well-being of their organisations. At Diesis Network, she leads the implementation of pan-European Community Building strategies, Networks & Membership development.

Freddie Huppé Campbell

Freddie Huppé Campbell (she/her) is a proud Métis woman from the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa Nation – Kimberley, BC and currently resides on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation – Ottawa ON. She is the Program Coordinator for the Three Island Energy (TIE) Initiative, ICE’s Global Hub, which is focusing on the acceleration of clean energy microgrids in Indigenous, Island and Coastal and Unconnected communities as a core component of global climate action. She holds a BSc in Public Policy from the University of Mary, USA, and an MSc in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding from Durham University, UK.

Elizabeth Chick-Blount

Elizabeth’s experience spans frontline roles in communities, consulting for the public sector and working with social enterprises in the UK and Canada. Elizabeth understands the importance of cross-sector collaboration in harnessing the power of purchasing to build healthy communities. As Executive Director at Buy Social Canada, Elizabeth coordinates and connects Buy Social Canada’s work with public and private sector purchasers including all levels of government, corporations such as SAP and Chandos Construction, to design and implement Social Procurement and Community Benefit Agreement policies and practices and the Buy Social Pledge.

David Clements

David Clements is the Deputy Secretary of the Inclusion Group for the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions. Over the past 20 years, David has held numerous senior positions at the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Department of Education and the Department of Premier and Cabinet. David has previously worked in banking and finance and has also worked as a social worker in Australia and Ireland. He holds Bachelor Degrees in both Business and Social Work, with a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Management. David is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tim Coldwell

Tim Coldwell is a husband, dad and Mohawk entrepreneur focused on leading by serving, culture, and the monetisation of ideas. He serves as President of Chandos, a purpose-driven national technical builder leading change in the Canadian construction industry.

Maeve Curtin

Maeve has been working with SEWF since June 2019 managing a number of projects related to research, policy development and youth engagement. Currently her work centres around policy consultation and specifically the expansion of social procurement policies and networks globally. She is leading the development of SEWF’s Social Procurement Community of Practice. In addition to her work with SEWF, she is pursuing a PhD in social policy studying policy co-production and co-creation by examining the collaborative development of social enterprise strategies globally.

Andy Daly

Andy Daly leads on corporate partnerships at Social Enterprise UK (SEUK). He has a particular interest in the way procurement can deliver a more strategic corporate responsibility by driving growth and impact at business-to-business (B2B) social enterprises. His role at SEUK includes development and delivery of the Buy Social Corporate Challenge – the world’s largest commitment to social procurement – supporting a growing group of high-profile businesses to bring social enterprises into their supply chains. Andy has previously worked at several leading UK social enterprises and intermediaries, such as HCT Group, UnLtd and School for Social Entrepreneurs. Andy is also a fluent Spanish speaker.

Rebecca Dray

Rebecca has been running social enterprises since 2006 in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She brought the USA Certified Social Enterprise accreditation to the USA in 2020 and co-founded Buy Social USA to help build a network for social procurement across the country.

Kristi Fairholm-Mader

Kristi has always worked in the community sector, starting as a service provider and advocate. In 2001, Kristi returned to school for a business degree and started exploring enterprising approaches to social change. Kristi founded and operated several social enterprises in Vancouver, including The Cleaning Solution. Kristi is the Project Manager for the Coastal Communities Social Procurement Initiative, a member-driven initiative of 30 rural and mid-sized local governments working to connect their procurement to community outcomes.

Janet Goulding

As part of Employment and Social Development Canada, Janet Goulding brings over 25 years of public policy, program, and operational experience to her current role as Associate Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for the Income Security and Social Development Branch. Janet provides leadership at the federal level on homelessness policy, volunteering, social innovation and social finance, community development and the Canada Pension Plan Disability program. Her portfolio is responsible for leading the development of social policies and programs that improve outcomes for vulnerable populations and communities who face social and economic challenges. Janet has a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree with a Major in Law and a Concentration in Criminology from Carleton University. She also holds a Certificate in Public Sector Management and Governance from the University of Ottawa.

Manie Grewal

As REDF’s Head of Policy, Manie directs strategy for employment social enterprises to access public sector resources by designing innovative policy language, spearheading public awareness campaigns and leading advocacy tactics. She also supports the development and implementation of employment social enterprise ecosystems across the country through coalition building, strategic partnership, and public policy.

Manie joins REDF with 15 years of nonprofit experience including working for housing justice for low-income families, economic justice for undocumented immigrants, and reproductive justice for women and girls of colour. As a policy and advocacy expert, Manie continues to connect decision-makers with people who are all too often marginalised in our society in order to foster systematic change.

Leah Hamilton

Leah has worked as a public sector buyer for 15 years with the Department of National Defence and currently the City of Victoria in British Columbia. Leah is passionate about incorporating social and sustainable outcomes into the projects the public sectors deliver and has focused on implementing Social Procurement at the City of Victoria, BC for the last 5 years.

Gerry Higgins

Gerry is Founder and Managing Director of Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF). Gerry established SEWF in 2008 to grow and strengthen the global social enterprise movement. SEWF has contributed to the adoption of economic systems and strategies that are focused on reducing inequality and recognising wellbeing and sustainability. Gerry also works with the Scottish Government to lead the internationalisation of Scotland’s social enterprises to contribute to Scotland’s trading ambitions, but also its global citizenship. Gerry has a BA in Education, an MSc in Business Studies and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Social Enterprise UK in 2017.

Huda Jaffer

Huda is a product/service/systems designer with a keen interest in user-centric design specifically for sustainability and developmental issues. She has an undergraduate degree in design from Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore and a Masters of Science in Engineering and Business (Integrated Design and Management) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Huda has been critical in building the necessary processes of SELCO Foundation, which has led to its being known as a pioneer in the field of building the ecosystem for sustainable energy access for the poor.

Arielle Johnson

Arielle Renee Johnson is the Deputy Director of the Business Enterprise Program at the Illinois Department of Central Management Services. Arielle’s team fosters an inclusive and competitive business environment that will help businesses owned by minorities, women, and persons with disabilities increase their capacity, grow revenue, and enhance credentials. Before this, Arielle served as the Deputy Director of Civil Rights, Inclusion and Opportunity for the City of Detroit. Programs led by Arielle included the Business Opportunity Program, where she oversaw the certifications for Detroit based businesses and also partnered with the Office of Contracting and Procurement to execute an outreach plan that would connect businesses to contract opportunities with the City of Detroit. In addition, Arielle successfully led projects such as, COVID relief efforts for small businesses, the Diversity & Inclusion program for Mayoral Fellowships and the first ever March to cross the historic McNamara Bridge at Detroit Belle Isle in 2020.

Astrid Kaag

Astrid Kaag is senior policy advisor International Affairs for the regional government of Noord-Brabant (NL) on the topic of socio-economic transformation. This transformation is about actions of stakeholders that contribute to the recovering of balance between people, planet, profit. Astrid sees that government bodies have a responsibility in this transformation. One of the things Astrid did to take concrete action, is to initiate the Brabant Outcomes Fund (BOF): a public-private fund to scale enterprises that create positive impact on both people, planet and profit. Currently, Astrid is working on the second investment-round of the BOF with a focus on circularity & sustainability, care & digitalisation, nature & food and happy, healthy citizens.

Amanda Kiessel

Amanda Kiessel is the co-founder of Good Market, a curated community of social enterprises, cooperatives, responsible businesses, voluntary organisations and changemakers working to create a 21st century economy that’s “good for people and good for the planet.” The online platform includes more than 3,000 enterprises from 98 countries. Amanda is originally from the United States but spent the last 20 years in Asia before returning again to the US to continue her global systems change work. Before Good Market, she spent nearly 15 years working with local organisations on agroecology and sustainable food systems, organisational change, and social enterprise development. Amanda is an Ashoka Fellow.

Manoj Kumar

Manoj is the Founder of Social Alpha, a multistage innovation curation and venture development platform for science and technology start-ups that aim to solve the most critical social, economic and environmental challenges. Social Alpha focuses on “lab to market” enablement and supports mission driven entrepreneurs through a network of innovation labs, venture incubators, accelerator programmes, seed funds and market access support. Since its inception in 2016, Social Alpha has nurtured more than 150 start-ups, including 40+ investments. Prior to founding Social Alpha, Manoj has been an entrepreneur as well as an early stage venture investor. Manoj serves on the boards of a number of companies, non-profits and research institutions. Manoj is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and lives in Bangalore, India.

Sarah Leeson-Klym

Sarah Leeson-Klym is Regional Networks Director for the Canadian CED Network. In that role, she works with network leaders across Canada to create opportunities for learning, dialogue, and alignment across a variety of cross-cutting issues like social and community finance, social enterprise development, the role of government in the social economy, and building strong community-led development practice. She is also a board member of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada. Previously, she worked in Manitoba developing local social enterprise development programs, advocating to local government to support the sector, and hosting learning events to build strength and knowledge.

David LePage

David LePage is the founder and Managing Partner of Buy Social Canada and a founding partner in Canada’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem Project. He promotes social procurement in Canada and is an experienced, long-standing advocate on behalf of the role of social enterprise in strong local and national economies. He is the author of the book Marketplace Revolution, from Concentrated Wealth to Community Capital.

Elisabeth Lette

Elisabeth is Director Procurement Policy and Reform in the Victorian Government Department of Treasury and Finance. In this role, Elisabeth is responsible for leading the whole of the government procurement policy and governance advice. She has led the development and implementation of Victoria’s Social Procurement Framework, which ensures that social, economic and environmental outcomes are considered in all Government procurement decisions.

Jared Lewis

Jared is the Founder of the South Side Annex, a social impact co-op on the Southside of Chicago. He is a native of South Shore and works at the intersection of economic development, small business, public policy and social enterprise. He is the most recent past Chairman of SSA#42 a local tax district that funds expanded services and programs through a localised property tax levy. Jared worked as a Global Program Manager for Airbnb where he led a global user education and mobilisation program in nine countries. Jared holds a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Chicago and is the inaugural Congressman John Lewis Social Justice Fellow for Science and Technology, where he works with the Congressional Black Caucus on a portfolio of legislation centring on technology and innovation.

David Lim

David Lim is the Programme Lead of the Social Innovation unit at Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), a leading government agency that is nurturing the growth of social enterprises as well as overseeing the development of the social innovation ecosystem in Malaysia. MaGIC has been actively supporting the seeding and scaling of social enterprises via capacity building, access to market, funding and skills as well as policy consultation for the government. Prior to MaGIC, as an accounting and finance-trained graduate, David has worked for more than a decade, and volunteered, in several social enterprises and green technology companies across Malaysia.

Catriona Little

Catriona is currently the Head of the Scottish Government in Canada (based in Ottawa), representing Scotland’s interests across a broad policy landscape and geography. Catriona is a career civil servant, most recently in the UK Department for Trade and Investment, exporting the UK’s education offer to the Middle East and latterly Chief Operating Officer for the Life Sciences sector team focused on trade and investment opportunities. Prior to this, Catriona was in 10 Downing Street working as Head of Partnerships for the Great Campaign, as well as events and visits lead for the coalition Government. Before this she spent 10 years in New York working for the UK Mission to the UN.

Eric Lombardi

Eric Lombardi has been working at the cutting-edge of the Zero Waste and Social Enterprise Movements across the world since the mid-90’s. His working mission has been to transform the waste management industry into a “resource management” industry. Eric was a national spokesperson for the first Zero Waste organisation in the U.S.A. (1997) and was a co-founder of the Zero Waste International Alliance (2002). Eric was invited to the Clinton White House in 1998 as one of the Top 100 USA Recyclers and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Association For Recycling. From 1989-2014, he grew a small nonprofit into the largest zero waste social enterprise in the U.S.A. Eric is now the President of Buy Social USA and an Associate of the Social Enterprise World Forum.

Perla Macleod

Perla Macleod came to Canada in 2004 from Mexico. Her goal? To learn English. She became a Canadian citizen and settled in Big Baddeck, Victoria County, a rural community on the edge of the Highland Mountains in Cape Breton, NS. In 2016, she secured the District 2 seat of Victoria County, becoming the first female Councillor in twenty-five years. She is a fluent Spanish and English speaker. As a councillor, she has championed innovative initiatives. As co-chair of Victoria County Transit, a non-profit, dial-a-ride transit service – a first for Victoria County and as co-chair of the Local Immigration Partnership, where she can help those choosing to live on Cape Breton Island, as someone who once stood in their shoes.

Juan Manuel Martínez Louvier

Juan Manuel Martínez Louvier is currently the Director General for the Instituto Nacional de la Economía Social (INAES). Before holding the position at INAES, he served as Director of the Economic and Social Innovation Laboratory at the Ibero-American University Puebla, in Puebla Mexico. Additionally, he coordinated the joint Master in Social Economy Business Management between Ibero-American University Puebla and the the University of Mondragón. While at the Ibero-American University Puebla he also directed and managed admissions for programmes related to social policy including those around adult literacy, human rights, the environment, HIV-AIDS and the social economy.

Michelle Mascoll

Michelle Mascoll is an Executive Director in the Strategic Policy Sector of Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Acquisitions Program. In this capacity, she leads federal policy work around Social, Green, Accessible, and Indigenous procurement. Since 2006, Michelle has been building her career in Canadian federal procurement and has held increasingly senior positions in the field. Some of her professional achievements include leading key files related to construction around Parliament Hill; working on the Joint Support Ship Project of the Government of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy, as well as leading people management initiatives related to supporting procurement professionals within the Acquisitions Program. Michelle is committed to diversity and inclusion within the Federal Government, as well as across the federal supplier community.

Natalia El Menhall

Natalia is a founding partner and senior consultant at Beyond Group on projects pertaining to diverse development issues including social innovation and entrepreneurship, local governance, civil society and community empowerment, environment, women and youth, economic development, strategy and organisational development etc. She has pioneered multiple initiatives on entrepreneurship and innovation. Recently, she led the development of a social entrepreneurship policy and framework to boost social entrepreneurship and social innovation in Lebanon, and Qatar. She has led numerous interventions in Social Entrepreneurship focusing on Policy and Infrastructure, Learning and Knowledge, and Support and Developing. She also designed and implemented formal and informal education programs on social entrepreneurship across the region.

Daniel Nowack

Daniel Nowack is Managing Director at Yunus Social Business (YSB), a philanthropic venture fund for social businesses in LATAM, Africa and India, co-founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus. Daniel works with corporate partners to inspire purpose-driven innovation and transformation of value chains through social businesses. As a co-initiator and former PMO lead of the World Economic Forum’s COVID Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs, Daniel leads one of the Alliance’s Action Projects towards social procurement, focused on supporting social businesses to become corporate-ready. He is a former CFO to various startups, a Senior Partner at the innovation agency Lumen Partners, a founding member of a German faith-based investment club, a mentor for Google Launchpad and Founders Institute as well as a lecturer for Innovation and Sustainability.

Andrew O’Brien

Andrew O’Brien has been a committed supporter of social enterprises since his very first job. In 2010, Andrew worked for Chris White MP and supported him as he steered the Social Value Act through Parliament and helped him in his role as Social Value Ambassador.  He then moved from Parliament to the charity sector, working for the NCVO and then becoming Director of Policy and Engagement at Charity Finance Group. We don’t just need any form of economic growth, we need the right kind of economic growth. Andrew firmly believes that this can only come through more social enterprises.

Ellen Oetelmans

Ellen Oetelmans is the Program Manager of Amsterdam Impact, a City of Amsterdam initiative to strengthen the impact entrepreneurship ecosystem, create systemic change locally and on an (inter)national level, and thus accelerate the transition to an impact economy. Ellen regularly speaks about ecosystem building and an impact economy at global events such as SEWF and the Global Social Economy Forum. Before co-creating and launching Amsterdam Impact in 2015 with a wide range of ecosystem actors, she was a senior strategic advisor for the City of Amsterdam and a policy advisor for the Dutch House of Representatives. Ellen holds a Master’s in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam.

Stefan Panhuijsen

Stefan is Director at Social Enterprise NL, the national membership body for social enterprises in the Netherlands. He is responsible for government relations and research. Stefan is a member of the Expert Group on Social Enterprises from the European Commission GECES, board member of Euclid Network and holds a master’s in European Studies from the University of Amsterdam.

Marie-Eve Proulx

In October 2018, Marie-Eve Proulx was elected as a Member of the National Assembly for the first time and appointed minister in the Legault cabinet. At the beginning of her career, she created Québec’s Regional Youth Forums designed to foster youth participation in Québec’s regional development. In addition to investing in forums across Québec, she regionalised funds by and for youth over the entire territory. Thereafter, Proulx worked on implementing a community of practice in social and technological innovation for the Université du Québec network. She set up a knowledge brokering service in Québec’s healthcare system. Alongside her professional duties, she held the positions of municipal councillor and mayor of her home village for eight years. In recent years, she started up her own coaching, strategic planning and project management company. She has more than 20 years experience in project and organisational management.

Molefe Itumeleng Pule

Molefe has training in the functioning of human systems, development and implementation of public policies, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment as well as governance issues. He has a specific interest in the development and effective implementation of outcomes-focused socio-economic policies, particularly in the public sector. The focus of his recent work includes working on South Africa’s Social and Solidarity Economy Policy as well as the implementation of developmentally focused economic inclusion policy interventions. Molefe’s background training in psychology underpins his approach to his career and work – human-centredness, effective communication, and strategic interaction are key principles.

Anne Purcell

Anne’s driver at Ākina Foundation is to see families and communities flourish through the creation and growth of impact-led businesses. As Capability Director she is focused on how Social Enterprises can be strongly connected and well supported. Growing strong partnerships in communities and across sectors to create positive social and environmental impact is core to Anne’s approach. Ākina is developing support for Social Enterprise suppliers to gain access to markets. This involves working across the eco-system on strategic levers for change as well as understanding the conditions necessary for social enterprises to thrive and access pathways to grow sustainable impactful businesses.

Erinch Sahan

Erinch is the business and enterprise lead at the Doughnut Economics Action Lab. Recently, he was World Fair Trade Organization’s CEO and previously spent seven years at Oxfam leading campaign initiatives and founded Oxfam’s Future of Business Initiative. Erinch has also worked at Procter & Gamble as a market strategy manager, established a furniture business and worked for Australia’s aid programme. Erinch sits on the SEWF Board and is a tutor at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He holds degrees in finance and law, and an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University.

Paula Santarén

Paula Santarén graduated in Political Science & Law and MA in European Labour Studies and Social Policies. She has been working for ACCIÓ, the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia, for six years. As Senior Consultant for International Social Economy, she is the coordinator of RaiSE, an Interreg Europe project that aims to enhance social enterprises competitiveness through the exchange of experiences to improve regional business support policies to social enterprises. Besides, she manages internationalisation projects for Catalan social enterprises: she assesses them in their internationalisation strategy, identifies international business opportunities and organises international prospective missions for social enterprises.

Rashvin Pal Singh

Rashvin is Group CEO at Biji-biji Initiative, which is one of Malaysia’s pioneering and award-winning social enterprises that champions sustainability through their circular economy and impact accelerator programmes. Their latest venture Mereka builds professionals for the creative economy through their digital academy, ASEAN creative hubs network and flagship centre in Publika, Kuala Lumpur. Rashvin plays a regular role in global programmes and speaking engagements, he has been an active contributor to the ASEAN Policy Dialogue, Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) and was selected as an Obama Leader in the Asia Pacific inaugural cohort.

David Upton

David Upton is a committed social entrepreneur who is passionate about social change and using business as a tool to strengthen communities by helping to build capacity within the social innovation and community based social enterprise ecosystem on a regional, national and international basis. Recent Affiliations include: CEO of Common Good Solutions, a Community Interest Company in Nova Scotia; CEO of Social Enterprise Institute, an online learning platform delivering social enterprise training globally; Founding Vice-president of the Social Enterprise Network of Nova Scotia; Member Canadian Government Social Innovation and Social Finance Steering Group; Member Nova Scotia Community College; Department of Business Advisory Committee and Nova Scotia Department of Education Business Council Board Member.

Martin Van Den Borre

Agricultural technologist by training Martin entered the world of the social economy working with marginalised small farmers in post-civil war context of El Salvador. He worked for a dozen years as a cooperative developer and for 20 years with different worker and farmer owned alternative trade organizations on all continents. More recently he served as executive Director of C.I.T.I.E.S. a knowledge and innovation transfer centre on the social economy. He is currently working as a consultant, principally working with Communautique and Fab City Montréal on building the Fab City movement from the social and solidarity economy perspective.

Alexandra van der Ploeg

Alexandra van der Ploeg is Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP globally. Alexandra is responsible for setting the strategic direction of CSR focused on bringing to life SAP’s higher purpose through strategic partnerships and programmes that deliver sustainable social impact and long-term business value. In this function, she also oversees corporate giving, volunteerism and the development of multi-stakeholder partnerships. Alexandra started with SAP Switzerland in charge of management development and held various managerial positions in Human Resources. Moving into the CSR organisation in 2010, Alexandra developed and managed various global CSR programmes. Alexandra is also Co-Chair of the Corporate Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship. She holds an MBA from Henley Business School in Great Britain.

Charlie Wigglesworth

Charlie is responsible for all aspects of SEUK’s operations and business activities. He has worked with major multinational companies on delivering their social enterprise and sustainability strategies. He was also responsible for creating the Buy Social Corporate Challenge the largest B2B commitment to spend with social enterprises globally. Charlie’s work on social value in the public sector has included co-authoring Communities Count, advising HS2 Ltd and Parliamentary Procurement and Commercial Service around their social value policies and delivering training to a wide range of public bodies. Prior to SEUK, Charlie worked in the private sector with clients across the public, private and third sectors, delivering training and consultancy on public policy issues.

Tori Williamson

With a passion for understanding the systems around us and working collaboratively on community-centred solutions, Tori believes in people and the power of shifting perspectives and objectives to create monumental change. As Director of Education and Communications at Buy Social Canada, she spearheads engagement and works across the social procurement ecosystem. She sits on the Stronger Together Solidarity Working Group to help bring inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility to the social innovation sector. Currently, she is the Project Manager for the Surrey Community Employment Benefits project, Wood Buffalo Social Procurement Implementation and the lead for Buy Social Canada’s Social Procurement Supplier Readiness training program.

Suzanne Wisse-Huiskes

Suzanne Wisse-Huiskes is the CEO of Euclid Network (EN), the European social enterprise network. The network brings together their expertise, good practices and lessons learned from over 21 countries in Europe and neighbouring states. Together they contribute towards shaping a new type of economy – one that puts at its core sustainable development for both people and the environment. Suzanne brings 15 years of experience in the field of social impact. Before EN, she founded Matchbox Consultancy, to advise organisations on social impact. Prior, Suzanne served as executive management on two crowdfunding fintech companies. She occupied numerous seats on Board of Directors (e.g. European Crowdfunding Network), European Commission’s Expert Groups and other Committees.

Paula Woodman

Paula leads the British Council’s Global Social Enterprise programme, which promotes the development of social enterprise and investment to help address entrenched social and environmental problems, build trust between the UK and other countries, and support more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous societies. Paula has over 20 years of experience in enabling a more impactful business environment and has been awarded as a WISE100, recognising her achievements as a leader in the social enterprise movement. Paula is a visiting fellow at the University of London and sits on the steering group for ‘The Future of the Corporation’ challenge from the British Academy. Previously she co-founded a UK-wide social enterprise, as well as having led as a Director at a social enterprise infrastructure organisation.

Stephen Young

Stephen Young is SAP’s Global Procurement lead for Procurement with Purpose programs, which includes – Social and Sustainable Procurement, Supplier Diversity, Supplier Risk and Human Rights in Supply Chain. With a bachelor degree in Sociology from York College of Pennsylvania, and 5+ years of procurement experience, he uses his knowledge of sociological theory and economic globalisation and incorporates it into strategic procurement practices to form Procurement with Purpose. In his professional career, Stephen has gone from a procurement operations specialist to a buyer in the consumer goods category, to a fellow with SAP’s Corporate Social Responsibility team, to now the global lead for SAP’s lead for Procurement with Purpose.