SEWF23 Speakers

Margarita Albors

Margarita Albors is President at the Social Nest Foundation. In this role Margarita has dedicated her energy and passion for over a decade to catalyse economic actors to address social and environmental challenges. To accomplish this, she launched Fi which is a network of impact investing leaders and developed global entrepreneurship programmes for social and environmental impact start-ups. Margarita is part of The ImPact and BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt’s Responsible Leaders Network. She is also a trustee of the Cañada Blanch Foundation and serves on the Board of Directors of SpainNAB, National Advisory Board for Impact Investing (representing Spain in the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment—GSG).

Mozamel Aman

Mozamel Aman is an Afghan social entrepreneur based in Berlin. With a specialisation in tech education and employment, Mozamel has dedicated the past nine years to offering career opportunities as well as upskilling and reskilling programmes to refugees and migrants. He is the founder of Startupistan and the co-founder and CEO of StartSteps.

Fleur Bakker

Fleur Bakker is the driving force behind the Refugee Company and co-founder of the hospitality concept A Beautiful Mess. Both organisations share the same mission: supporting people living in refugee shelters by providing them with work and meaningful activities. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Fleur set up a factory with 50 employees with a refugee background to produce surgical facemasks. Fleur is a social entrepreneur, pioneer and co-creator driven by a clear vision of social justice. For more than 20 years, Fleur has been working on programmes and concepts aimed at improving the prospects of refugees in the Netherlands and abroad.

Leonie Bank

Leonie Bank is Operations and Programme Manager at Social Enterprise NL, the national network for social enterprises in The Netherlands. Together with their community of 450 members Social Enterprise NL strives towards a better ecosystem for social enterprises by engaging stakeholders such as funders, corporates and governments. Leonie is responsible for the membership programme through which Social Enterprise NL offers different kinds of business support such as masterclasses, mentoring and knowledge groups. Social Enterprise NL members are a strong community of likeminded system changers who want to build a better world.

Rowan Barnett

Rowan Barnett is Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Google.org. In this role, Rowan oversees Google.org’s philanthropic funding, product donations and employee giving and volunteering in the region. His work supports innovative non-profits using technology to tackle complex global challenges. In his previous roles at Google, he led Google.org’s philanthropy across the Asia Pacific and Google for Startups programme to enable access to the tech ecosystem for diverse and underrepresented entrepreneurs and social innovators. Rowan serves on several advisory boards and is also a Bertelsmann German Israeli Young Leaders Exchange Fellow.

Liza Belozerova

Liza Belozerova is a senior manager at Google.org in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Liza leads the Economic Opportunity Portfolio and has been overseeing the expansion of Google.org philanthropy in Central and Eastern Europe. Outside of work, Liza is a mentor to young women in the IT and social impact sectors, champions female empowerment in Eastern Europe and writes and speaks on the topics of belonging and digital storytelling. Liza is from Latvia, currently living in London.

Petra Benes

Petra Benes is the co-owner of Generous Minds. Petra has been an active international growth specialist since 2010. In 2017, following a global trade mission focused on optimising profits without any consideration for the greater good, Petra switched to helping only impact enterprises. Petra became one of the co-owners Generous Minds’s co-owners in 2019. Petra joined Generous Mind’s Money team to ensure that companies, besides having a great strategy, also have the needed funds to scale their impact from local to global. Funding and internationalisation are a great combination, and Petra noticed that start-ups often need to be properly prepared for both.

Hazwan Bin Razak

Hazwan Razak is the General Manager of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation. Hazwan’s team focuses on building a robust ecosystem that supports local entrepreneurs and provides employment opportunities in all corners of Sarawak through digital empowerment. Since 2020, Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation has impacted over 60,000 digital innovators, from students to start-ups, including those in remote communities. He started his career in upstream oil & gas before working in a multinational start-up and an education-focused social enterprise. As a member of the International Development Design Network (IDIN), he has carried out short-term development design projects globally and loves all things tech.

François Bonnici

François Bonnici is the Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Head of Foundations including the Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers at the World Economic Forum. François is a public health physician, university professor, social change practitioner, foundation leader and awarded author. His career is rooted in front-line medical and humanitarian work. He has worked extensively with the public sector, civil society, business and philanthropy to build progressive and catalytic partnerships. He is a Rhodes Scholar, Archbishop Tutu African Leadership Fellow, Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford and Academic Fellow at the University of Geneva. François is the former Founding Director of the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of Cape Town.

Viktorija Braziunaite

Viktorija Braziunaite is Director of the Lithuanian Social Business Association (LiSVA). For more than 15 years, her passion has been helping people chase their dreams and working on projects that make a difference worldwide. Viktorija’s efforts are currently directed towards developing Lithuania’s social business ecosystem. Her primary focus is refining enabling legal frameworks, boosting awareness and nurturing robust international partnerships. Viktorija possesses expertise in various domains including facilitating international parliamentary collaborations, empowering NGO leaders, promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, mentoring and accelerating start-ups, skilfully navigating national and EU innovation promotion initiatives, adeptly managing public relations and guiding transformative change towards a better future.

Cindy Carpenter

Cindy is Chair of The Bread & Butter Project, Australia’s 10 year old iconic social enterprise artisan bakery that trains and employs refugees to become professional bakers. In 2020, a partnership with Woolworths Metro supermarket chain was established, with branded in-store bakeries employing trainees and graduates of the Bread & Butter Project. Cindy also previously served as The Bread & Butter Project’s acting general manager. Cindy also chairs the advisory groups of three other social enterprises and leads several refugee-focused education, employment and settlement initiatives across Australia. She began her career as a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group before launching her own consulting firm, Cast.

Elena Casolari

Elena Casolari is Co-founder and Partner at OPES Italia which invests in impact enterprises in Italy and is also Chair of OPES-LCEF, an impact investment vehicle that provides financial resources and management support to early stage social enterprises whose businesses serve low-income people. Elena believes in the transformative power of impact investing and social enterprise and is an advocate and practitioner of gender smart investing. For ten years Elena was engaged in development cooperation and before that she spent 12 years in the investment banking industry covering emerging markets. Elena serves on the boards of private foundations and impact enterprises in Italy and globally.

Chmba Chilemba

Chmba Chilemba is a celebrated music producer, DJ, educator and founder of Tiwale, a community centre in Malawi that supports women and gender minorities through artistic and music tech educational and entrepreneurial opportunities. For her work, Chmba has been named a Forbes’ Africa 30 Under 30, a Gates Foundation Goalkeeper and a Global Citizen Youth Advocate. Chmba is also a Glamour Magazine’s College Woman of the Year awardee and has performed on numerous platforms including the World Economic Forum in Davos, BBC Radio 6 and Tumbler Select Playlist.

Atif Choudhury

Atif Choudhury is a social entrepreneur with a background in economic justice and disability inclusion. Focusing on the inclusion of marginalised communities, he has worked on high profile social development projects across the world. He is Co-founder and CEO of Diversity and Ability and Zaytoun CIC (the world’s first Fairtrade Palestinian olive oil cooperative), Advisor to WHO rapid assistive technologies board and Trustee for Disability Rights UK. He is also the winner of the 2018 Global Equality & Diversity Noon Award. Atif believes in pushing for a future of inclusive change and global equity. He advocates for the recognition of the strength of intersectional inclusion, transforming narratives and systems to create environments that welcome diversity of thought and unlock the hidden assets in everyone.

Petro Darmoris

Petro Darmoris has been the co-founder and director of Social Economy Ukraine since 2022 and is a board member at Social Economy Europe. He has been working in the social economy field since 2014 and has expertise in strategic and operational planning, project management, conducting research and project evaluation. He launched the first national business community, Social Business Club, for social economy SMEs and entrepreneurs in Ukraine. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Ukrainian Catholic University and the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). He is also a graduate of Lviv Business School and the Pre-MBA programme from Kyiv-Mohyla Business School in Ukraine.

Wan Dazriq

Wan Dazriq currently serves on the advisory board of the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) and is an Acumen Fellow as well as an active start-up mentor with Founders Institute. Dazriq has extensive experience in innovation strategy as well as venture-building with a focus on social impact. He led the first ever national social enterprise accelerator in Malaysia under the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and has co-founded several ventures at the intersection of technology and social impact. He was the founding president of Chamber of Social Entrepreneur Development (CSED) in Malaysia.

Mélissa de Roquebrune

Mélissa de Roquebrune has 18 years of experience working with large global NGOs in North America and Europe including UNICEF and Transparency International, as well as work with other international partners. Originating from Montreal, Canada, Mélissa spent many years in India and has been based in Berlin for the last eight years. In her current role as Executive Director of the Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SSP) she is leading the development of the largest global community of procurement professionals working on sustainability including the League of Champions with over 20 Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs). The SPP is convening one million procurement professionals by 2030 with the vision of a sustainable future for people and our planet.

Daniela Deuber

Daniela Deuber is Managing Director of Germany’s Social Entrepreneurship Network (SEND) which connects, professionalises and amplifies the sector. Daniela has prior experience at the BMW Foundation, where she developed and facilitated new ways of collaborating with and engaging leaders from different sectors. She led social innovation initiatives focused on social entrepreneurship, social intrapreneurship, venture philanthropy and impact investing. She also contributed to the RESPOND accelerator for the Foundation. She previously worked in the international collaboration field in Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Daniela is an INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Programme and Common Purpose alumna and sits on diverse boards.

Azima Dhanjee

Azima Dhanjee is a Child of Deaf Adult (CODA), Co-founder and CEO of ConnectHear, Board Member of the Social Enterprise World Forum C.I.C and a member of the National Youth Council (an initiative by the Prime Minister of Pakistan). She is a Diana Award winner and has been invited as a speaker on various platforms. She is an alumna of the Institute of Business Administration (Class of 2020), with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration.

Azima is raised by Deaf parents and Pakistani Sign Language (PSL) is her mother tongue. Growing up, she was always concerned by how simple communication was a challenge for the Deaf due to the language barrier. The lack of awareness and accessibility led her to start ConnectHear at the age of 19 with her high school friends. ConnectHear is a social enterprise that strives for sign language accessibility and Deaf inclusion by using technology.

Jonas Dinger

Jonas Dinger is a managing director at Social Impact Award (SIA), one of the world’s largest communities of early-stage social entrepreneurs under 30, mainly active in Europe, Africa and Asia. Jonas is committed to building capacity among early-stage entrepreneurs and fostering cross-sector dialogues on the topic of social entrepreneurship. Based in Vienna, Austria, he is leading a diverse team of 100+ SIA team members and is overseeing community growth and strategic development. He is also regularly giving university lectures on the topic of social entrepreneurship.

Maylinn Djumić

Maylinn Djumić is a passionate Global Business and Sustainability master’s student. With a deep curiosity for social enterprises, she envisions a world where sustainability and inclusivity are integral parts of mainstream business. Maylinn strives to leverage her studies to foster a future where businesses serve as driving forces for positive change. Her dedication to merging business acumen with social responsibility defines her journey toward reshaping the corporate landscape for a better and more equitable tomorrow.

Diem Do

Diem Do is the founder and CEO of CodeGorilla, a company dedicated to providing tech companies and organisations with diverse tech and IT support. She is also the co-founder of Alyx, a company that focuses on educating and placing female tech talents. Driven by a passion for assisting underrepresented groups in the tech industry, Diem has been the recipient of numerous awards. Her innovative approach to social impact has made her a highly sought-after speaker. She is determined to create a world in which everyone, irrespective of their background or neurodiversity, has an equal opportunity to thrive in the technology industry.

Rebecca Dray

Originally from the UK, Rebecca has been developing social enterprise businesses for more than 14 years. In 2020, she co-founded Buy Social USA, the social procurement intermediary organisation for the United States, supporting businesses, government and other institutional buyers to purchase their everyday goods and services from verified social enterprise sellers.

Annemiek Dresen

Annemiek Dresen is Founder and Director of NewBees INC. With a deep belief in unlocking all talents for mutual benefit, she established NewBees INC. in 2016. With NewBees INC., Annemiek and her team equip employers to build inclusive workplaces through streamlined programmes with outsized impact. In her words, inclusive leadership means crafting an environment where individuality thrives. She envisions workplaces where authenticity reigns, voices resonate and team goals are collectively enriched. Annemiek’s approach lights the way for authentic team achievement.

Gael Drummond

Gael Drummond is the CEO of the Firstport Group, comprising of Firstport, Firstimpact and Firstfund. Gael joined Firstport in 2014 and held several operational and leadership roles before becoming CEO in 2022. She has overseen the delivery of key Scottish Government contracts and programmes, including the Social Entrepreneurs Fund, LaunchMe, Just Enterprise’s start-up component and the Catalyst Fund. Gael was also integral in designing, delivering and managing two critical COVID response funds: the Third Sector Resilience Fund and Adapt and Thrive. Since becoming CEO, Firstport has expanded into the North East of England, working with local partners to deliver the Social Enterprise Boost Fund on behalf of the UK Government.

Wieteke Dupain

Wieteke Dupain is Head of Knowledge, Research and Development at Euclid Network (EN), where she develops EN’s membership and partnership community and activities. She is responsible for EN’s research activities, content development and data collection and supports EN’s CEO in strategy and market development. Wieteke is a member of the European Commission Expert Group on “facilitating the use of new data sources” and involved with the World Economic Forum’s Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship. Wieteke joined EN in 2019, bringing 15+ years of experience across government and international organisations, academia, the private sector and as an entrepreneur. Wieteke has an MSc in Strategic Management and another MSc in International Management.

Nicole Dyson

Nicole Dyson is a multi-award-winning educator, entrepreneur and a global authority on project-based learning and youth entrepreneurship. Nicole is a former school leader within the public education system in Australia and the founder of Future Anything, an award-winning education provider that works with 15000+ young people and educators. Nicole is also the founder of YouthX, Australia’s only start-up accelerator programme for school-aged entrepreneurs and Catapult Cards, a design thinking toolkit that donates 50% of its profit back to providing micro-grants for youth-led start-ups. Nicole passionately believes that youth-led ideas have the power to bend the future and supports educators, schools and systems to design and deliver future focused learning.

Azza ELHayek

Azza ELHayek is a co-founder and business development partner at SkillLab, a social enterprise that connects people with jobs and education to provide equal opportunities for all. Azza is a social entrepreneur and international development professional who is passionate about using her skills and expertise to create positive social impact. Azza’s focus is on empowering women, youth and marginalized job seekers to turn their skills into meaningful careers. She is committed to driving inclusive growth in the MENA and GCC regions where she leads partnerships for SkillLab. Her work with SkillLab has been instrumental in helping individuals from diverse backgrounds achieve their full potential.

Darine El Houfi

Darine El Houfi was born in Zeist, a town in the Netherlands with over 83 nationalities represented. Darine has an MBA from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and is the recipient of numerous awards. Darine started Leren voor de Toekomst, also known as Learning for the Future, at the age of 20. The initiative focuses on making tutoring and other after-school activities affordable for children from primary to high school.

Bas Evers

Bas Evers is the programme manager for Africa at the Rabo Foundation (RF). Bas has focused his career on catalysing sustainable change in frontier markets through private sector development. More recently, his work has focused on building access to markets and finance for (smallholder) farmers in Africa. In this capacity he co-manages the portfolio for West Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda and holds a personal passion for transforming the agriculture space through climate smart and tech solutions. Before RF, Bas worked at Triple Jump for the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) and as a sustainability consultant at KPMG.

Marieke Eyskoot

Marieke Eyskoot is a Dutch sustainable lifestyle expert, keynote speaker and presenter. She puts contemporary conscious living on the map. Her best-selling, global handbook ‘This is a Good Guide – for a Sustainable Lifestyle’ is filled with practical and positive tips on fashion, beauty, food, home, work and leisure. Marieke is a sought-after event host and presenter on the Dutch TV programme BinnensteBuiten (InsideOut), showcasing the best in sustainable innovation. With over twenty years of experience, Marieke has an extensive global ethical network. She’s featured in various top-women lists, has given several TEDx talks and has been nominated as Amsterdam Citizen of the Year. For many media, Marieke is the go-to person for all things sustainable.

Ángel Figueroa Mayordomo

Ángel Figueroa Mayordomo is a co-founder of Tortuga Solutions, an agency that helps start-ups get their brand marketing in place to scale the business. He is a guy who wears many hats: operations and innovation consultant, sports tech founder, Finance Lead at Meet Jack, Head of Operations at MOYU and team design coach. He also volunteers as a trainer with Brand The Change. He is always happy to give advice on anything marketing, investment and team related.

Mike Findlay-Agnew

Mike Findlay-Agnew is the CEO of the International Network of Street Papers, which is a non-profit organisation based in Glasgow, Scotland with a mission of tackling homelessness and poverty. The charity represents nearly 100 newspapers and magazines sold by homeless people globally. Mike is also a writer and advocate for equality and social justice.

James Finnie

James Finnie works for CEIS, the United Kingdom’s largest social enterprise development agency. In his role, James has supported the development of social enterprises in Scotland for the last 17 years. He also heads up the International Social Enterprise Observatory (ISEO), which supports the growth of Scottish social enterprises internationally and supports international social enterprises looking to do business in Scotland.

Sander Fleuren

Sander Fleuren is a systems thinker, social entrepreneur and educator. Having spent most of his life in South and Southeast Asia, Sander returned to the region in 2018, where he founded MOSS Consultants & Capital, an organisation that trains social entrepreneurs and key impact ecosystem players on how to adopt systems change approaches. Now resettled in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Sander currently leads the international project, Leveraging the Influencing Capacity of Social Enterprises at Social Enterprise NL. He is also a regular lecturer at the Rotterdam School of Management where he teaches the Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Grand Challenges courses to master’s degree students.

Laura Gallo

Laura Gallo is Chairwoman of the Board of Il Giardinone Social Cooperative and the founder of two circular economy projects Fungobox and Coffeefrom. After completing her degree in Political Economy, she quickly developed an awareness of environmental concerns and sustainable development initiatives in developing countries. Consequently, she began her professional journey working with non-profit organisations in 2004 and worked as a project coordinator in India. Since then, she has held various administrative and managerial positions while maintaining a profound understanding of social impact on quality of life.

Sebastián Gatica

Sebastián is an experienced social entrepreneur, academic and commercial engineer who is currently the director of CoLab UC and Chile Regenerativo. Sebastián is an Ashoka Fellow and a catalyst of the League of Intrapreneurs. During his career, he has worked across a range of fields related to the social economy. In his role as an academic and consultant, Sebastián has published several studies and academic papers that have contributed to the debate on entrepreneurship, business and social economy in Chile and Latin America. As an entrepreneur, Sebastián has been behind the creation of various foundations and social enterprises, such as the international foundation TECHO and B-Certified companies Travolution and Manada. Sebastián has an MSc and PhD in Development Studies from UCL in London.

Sumita Ghose

Sumita Ghose is Founder and Managing Director of Rangsutra, a social enterprise that works to ensure regular work for rural artisans, especially women, through the creation of handicrafts and handlooms. Rangsutra engages both the community of artisans and the market for handcrafted products. Prior to starting Rangsutra, Sumita lived and worked closely with rural communities primarily in Rajasthan on issues of integrated community development, with a focus on women’s empowerment. Sumita has a master’s degree in Economics from Mumbai University and a master’s degree from Eastern Mennonite University where she was a Fulbright Scholar in 2001-2002. She is a recipient of the Nari Shakti Award, from the President of India, for her work related to the empowerment of women and rural artisans.

Tatiana Glad

Tatiana Glad is an entrepreneur, sustainability practitioner and change strategist with a focus on impact entrepreneurship, social innovation, and sustainable business. Tatiana is Executive Director of the global Impact Hub Network and a co-founder of the social enterprises Impact Hub Amsterdam and Waterlution. She has an MSc in Responsible Business Practice and is on the University of Amsterdam Honours Programme Sustainability Board. Tatiana previously served as an appointed expert to the City of Amsterdam’s Social Entrepreneurship action programme and as Supervisory Group Chair of AIESEC International. As a steward of the Art of Hosting, participatory community building is at the core of her work, coupled with experience working in a global financial institution, public sector innovation and small enterprise. Tatiana is a Canadian, based in Amsterdam.

Matthew Goldsworthy

Matthew Goldsworthy is an award-winning social entrepreneur and creative from Aotearoa New Zealand who is CEO & Founder of Youth Arts New Zealand (YANZ). Matthew is a champion of youth leadership, purpose-driven business models and the power of creativity in wellbeing. He is also passionate about the role of strong governance in organisations, having held board and advisory roles with Social Enterprise World Forum, Volunteering New Zealand and Play It Strange. Matthew is also a co-founder of the social enterprise Goodness Digital, a passionate musician and composer and a regular adviser to government and community organisations. In 2020, Matthew won the AIMES Service to the Community Award.

Maja Grcic

Maja Grcic is a co-founder at Tortuga Solutions, an agency that helps start-ups get their brand marketing in place to scale the company. As Brand Strategist, Maja puts her campaigner personality to good use, especially as Brand Guardian at MOYU and Trainer and Community Manager at Brand the Change. On the side, she coaches rabbit-like founders on the importance of using their personal brand at the service of the business.

Anna Greil

Anna Greil is the founder and CEO of the impact start-up uptraded. Together with her team, the young entrepreneur is developing a clothes swapping app to bridge the gap between the consumption needs and climate protection goals of Gen Z. During her studies in Business & Management, she completed a semester abroad in New Zealand. There, she specialised in entrepreneurship and creative industries. Since then, she has been fighting for second hand fashion to become more established and for circular economy concepts to be pushed forward. With uptraded, she has already received several awards including the biggest award for social entrepreneurs in Austria.

Danique Gunning

Danique Gunning is a creative brand thinker that believes in the power of communities. Her passion is to create long-term relationships with customers through the circular business model of MUD Jeans. Building those long-term relationships as part of a B Corp and a frontrunner in circular denim together with a talented team makes the job purposeful and fun.

Nicolas Hazard

Nicolas Hazard is the founder and president at INCO, a global organisation dedicated to creating an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible economy. INCO, through its investment arm (INCO Ventures) and incubators (INCI Incubators), supports innovative social economy companies shaping the economy of the future. INCO Academy provides training and support for individuals pursuing careers in this new economy worldwide. Nicolas Hazard has authored multiple books and publications on the New Economy and his work has been featured in publications like The Guardian, Le Monde and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Since July 2020, he has been the special adviser in charge of the social and solidarity economy at the European Commission, working with Commissioner Nicolas Schmit.

Natalie Hazen

Natalie Ann Hazen is President of Gingras Global, an organisation she joined in 2014, bringing with her a strong strategic community development and financial background. As an experienced private equity and debt investor, she is known to surround herself with top talent in her boards and advisory committees and has started many other ventures. She is Founder and Managing Partner of the Makers Environment Fund LLC., the only Skilled Trade Impact Investment Fund in the United States, which she founded in 2017. In 2022, she also co-founded Frances Ann Capital Management, a Venture Capital Management Company. Natalie holds a B.S. in Economics from Michigan State University.

Birgit Heilig

Birgit Heilig is the co-founder of SEND. Birgit is also Project Lead of Regional Supporting Programmes for Social Entrepreneurs, has led advocacy work at the federal state level and is the programme lead for Buy Social Germany. She is the author of the book “Soziale Innovationen – Lösungen, wie wir sie heute wirklich brauchen” published by Oekom. Birgit is experienced in co-creation, workshop facilitation, project management and leadership.

Gerry Higgins

Gerry is the founder and Managing Director of SEWF where he works to develop a global impact economy. Gerry has a BA in Education and a MSc in Business Studies and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Social Enterprise UK in 2017. Gerry is Irish but has lived in Scotland for over three decades and leads the SEWF team to strengthen and grow the social enterprise movement through convening, influencing and capacity building.

Leading SEWF has come about after decades, working in, establishing and supporting social enterprises in the UK and Ireland and this brings an understanding of the challenges of sustainability and leadership in values-led businesses

Katie Hill

Katie Hill is a hybrid social entrepreneur, policy advocate, researcher and campaigner who has established a social enterprise in Bulgaria, created two impact investment funds and led the rollout of the B Corp movement in the UK and Europe from 2015 – 2022. Katie was previously on the B Lab Global Board. After six years of living in Eastern Europe, she studied for an MBA to join the dots between equity, sustainability, business and policy. It is a work in progress for Katie, made enjoyable by the phenomenal people who are committed to the same goals.

Maarten Hogenstijn

Maarten Hogenstijn is senior researcher and lecturer in social entrepreneurship at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Maarten is an expert on the development of social entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. In education, Maarten is coordinator of the AUAS minor Entrepreneurship for Society. Maarten’s specific research projects focus on the relationship between social entrepreneurs and municipalities, impact measurement as well as social entrepreneurship education. He coordinates the Erasmus+ project ‘Impact-Driven Entrepreneurship Education for Children’. In addition, he is member of the Review Board of the Code Social Enterprises and founding member of the Dutch Knowledge Network on Social Entrepreneurship (KSON).

Peter Holbrook

Peter Holbrook is CEO of Social Enterprise UK (SEUK), a position he has held since January 2010. SEUK is the national trade body for social enterprise and represents a wide range of social enterprises, regional and national support networks and other related organisations. SEUK works to promote social enterprise as a model for changing both business and society. Peter has established, developed and supported hundreds of diverse social enterprises over his career. He has advised government taskforces in the UK and overseas and served as Social Enterprise World Forum’s Board Chair until 2015. In 2015 he was appointed CBE.

Mark Horoszowski

Mark Horoszowski is a co-founder and the CEO of MovingWorlds, a social enterprise that works with companies like Microsoft, SAP, Unilever, EY and more to achieve their ESG targets by educating and engaging employees and then getting them connected to social enterprises. MovingWorlds also operates the TRANSFORM Support Hub, which is a global accelerator platform for sustainable business models and social enterprises.

Ali Ying-Che Hsieh

Professor Ali Ying-Che Hsieh is a professor at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. His research explores various topics including social entrepreneurship and social innovation, organisational studies and ecosystem research on social enterprises. Ali started to explore the phenomenon of social innovation in Taiwan in 2016. His research team has conducted over 40 in-depth interviews with related parties, including non-profit organisations, social enterprises, B corps and corporations with CSR/ESG practices. Ali also played an essential role in teaching ESG/CSR and social innovation in university and industry contexts, helping the young generation learn about the latest topics in sustainability management.

Maaike Irizarri van Suchtelen

Maaike Irizarri van Suchtelen is the co-owner of Fawaka Entrepreneurship School. Fawaka teaches children as young as 4 years old about sustainable and social entrepreneurship. Maaike believes that if we are going to change the planet for the better, we must do it with everyone and that all impact counts. That is why Fawaka works hard on inclusion in the broadest sense of the word in schools. With Fawaka, Maaike wants to bring innovative ideas into schools and help them transform towards inclusive and entrepreneurial education.

Inga Jablonskė

Inga Jablonskė is a visionary entrepreneur, emotional intelligence trainer and the founder and CEO of WoW University, an online women’s university in Lithuania. WoW University is an NGO with a primary goal of empowering women both socially and economically. Every year, more than 2500 students actively participate in the university’s courses. Over the course of three years, since the university was established, a total of 7124 students have enrolled in various courses and among them, 454 students have been recipients of scholarships generously established by partnering businesses. Inga has been selected as one the Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise (2023) by the Euclid Network.

Ana Janošev

Tony Joy

Tony Joy is passionate about rural development and has nearly a decade of active experience working in social enterprise to support development in rural communities. As the founder of Durian, she supports marginalised groups such as rural people, especially women and girls, in Nigeria to lead better lives. A recipient of multiple awards, Tony Joy is desirous of engaging women in communities to lead the process of change as they create rural communities of the future. She also intends to lead the conversation on the meaning of development for rural communities.

Naomi Kamer

Naomi Kamer is a project officer at Social Enterprise NL. Naomi takes inspiration from a quote from a native Brazilian woman “We are not defending nature, we are nature defending itself”, because she says it inspires her to take action for a transition towards a sustainable and inclusive economy. This requires a different way of thinking to go beyond symptom-control and create deep, lasting change. Naomi believes social entrepreneurs are pioneers in ‘doing different’ and she is excited to be part of a network of people building towards a better future for all.

Hazal Kartalkanat

Hazal Kartalkanat is a dedicated programme manager at imece and has a strong track record of driving social innovation and sustainability initiatives. With two years of experience at imece, she has been instrumental in nurturing young talents in these areas while also designing programmes for social entrepreneurs. She also manages imeceLAB Youth Community, a platform uniting passionate young individuals striving to create positive change in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to this, she spent three years at the Social Innovation Centre Turkey, where she honed her expertise in programme design and management.

Merve Kavas

Merve Kavas is a social innovation practitioner working for the development of the social innovation and social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Turkey. She is Director of Yekpare, the alliance for social entrepreneurs in Turkey. Yekpare organises workshops and peer learning programmes and conducts research to increase the visibility of social enterprise and advocate on behalf of social entrepenuers. She is working with other intermediaries in Turkey on designing programmes and building capacity for business models and community development strategies and facilitating access to finance.

Naz Kawan

Naz Kawan is the founder of 2050 Factory and 2050 the fashion brand. With her companies she is shaping an inclusive and sustainable fashion landscape while providing jobs for tailors with a refugee background. In the past five years, 2050 Factory has manufactured for brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Jeans and Bijenkorf. This year 2050 Factory launched a private fashion label named ”2050” to showcase the future of fashion through its designs and collaborations.

Yasmina Khababi

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.

Romy Kochan

Romy is the founder and CEO of Gingras Global, an impact investment and enterprise support services firm established in 2011. Before founding Gingras Global, Romy spent 23 years as a money manager and financial planner in the financial services industry. As a strategist, Romy has led change through behind-the-scenes encouragement for other changemakers and founded several organisations providing solutions to the perceived unsolvable issues of today’s world. Romy’s love for others shines through as she designs solutions, hosts a podcast or offers one-on-one encouragement. Romy is known for her foresight, agility and inspiring storytelling.

Gijsbert Koren

Gijsbert Koren is the founder of We Are Stewards and a pioneer in the field of crowdfunding. Together with the team at We Are Stewards Foundation, Gijsbert is committed to stimulating the adoption and development of steward-ownership in the Netherlands. In addition to numerous field-building activities, We Are Stewards advises starting and established companies on the transition to steward-ownership.

Ilse Kwaaitaal

Ilse Kwaaitaal is the director of Impact Hub Amsterdam where she guides more than 100 companies a year on topics such as innovation, impact transformation and systemic change. Ilse studied social psychology and she holds a master’s degree in international development. From her role as an energy consultant, she transitioned into developing growth programmes for impact startups, scouting the best innovations and today Ilse actively helps hundreds of midsize and large businesses become more sustainable through innovation.

Kenneth Kwok

Kenneth Kwok is an advocate of intergenerational, lifelong learning through social innovation and entrepreneurship. With his roles at Global Citizen Capital, KIDsforSDGs and other ventures, he aims to empower the future of social entrepreneurship through a multi-capital approach. He has engaged with SEWF since 2021 through the annual flagship forum, Youth Forum and Community Hubs. He is a member of the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship and recognised as an UpLink Top Innovator by the World Economic Forum. Kenneth comes from a background of investment banking, venture capital and impact investment and holds a dual degree from The Wharton School and University of Pennsylvania.

Monique Lempers

Monique Lempers is Fairphone’s Chief Impact Officer where she oversees the team responsible for ensuring Fairphone’s thought leadership on driving impact towards a fairer industry is held high and embedded strongly in the company. Monique’s sustainability experience spans more than 20 years. Before joining Fairphone, she led several public and private high impact programmes in electronics, mining and textile supply chains.

Michael Lim

Michael is a four time award-winning social entrepreneur based in Melbourne, Australia. He is the Executive Director of Sedo Group (Social Value) and founder of Beyond Value, a social impact consultancy focusing on social procurement, place-based interventions and community engagement. Michael is a member of the Western Metropolitan Partnership and Chairs of the Jobs and Skills Working Group. Michael is also a three time Top Writer on Medium.com and is currently writing a book.

Vivi Lin

Vivi Lin is a social entrepreneur, menstrual rights, DEI and human rights activist, columnist and keynote speaker based in Edinburgh and Taipei. Her academic background lies in infectious diseases and gender studies and she is a current lecturer at National Taiwan University. She started her advocacy journey after menarche and has consistently upheld that “menstruation should not be a barrier to opportunities, choices and well-being”. In 2019, she founded With Red, the first NGO to promote menstrual equity and eliminate period poverty and stigma in Taiwan. Vivi later founded The Red House Period Museum, the only bricks-and-mortar period museum currently existing worldwide. In 2021, Vivi was awarded the Diana Legacy Award for her accomplishments in menstrual equity and was the first Taiwanese awardee.

John Logue

John Logue is the CEO of Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, a national representative body for social enterprises. John is the former CEO of Suas, which is an international social enterprise working to address educational disadvantage. John was also formerly CEO of USI, the national representative body for students in Ireland. Throughout his career, he has advised 45+ social enterprises to improve their financial sustainability and impact.

Chelsey MacNeil

Chelsey MacNeil is President and CEO of Common Good Solutions (CGS), an Atlantic Canadian community interest company. CGS works to strengthen the impact sector to transform the way we think about the intersections of equity, social and economic well-being across business, non-profit and public institutions. Chelsey is a community leader and brings a unique entrepreneurial perspective to systems change work. Chelsey is committed to strengthening the capacity of communities, individuals and institutions to create strong and sustainable solutions to complex problems. Prior to joining CGS, Chelsey created a portfolio of social enterprises, purpose-built to support education and employment outcomes for youth, while contributing to policy change in income support reform, social procurement and community economic development.

Hélène Malandain

Hélène currently serves as the Chair of SEWF. She is part of Pocketknife, a collective of impact-driven professionals who bring their passion for systemic change to initiatives that build bridges to better futures for the communities of Aotearoa NZ.

Hélène is a strategist, a coach, and a weaver and works with entrepreneurs, community groups, local anchor organisations, charities, corporates and government bodies. Her facilitation process and methodology incorporate strategic thinking, coaching, co-design and action planning. She is committed to supporting communities, places and organisations to thrive – meaning that prosperity and wellbeing are intertwined and nourishing each other.

Shortly after moving to New Zealand, Hélène left her corporate job to join the Ākina Foundation and begin a journey growing social enterprise. She led the team that hosted the Social Enterprise World Forum in Christchurch in 2017 – a 1600-person event that catalysed the social enterprise movement at a very auspicious time.

Renée Martin

Renée Martin is an expert in scaling social impact and enterprise. As Managing Director of Catalyst Kitchens, a collective impact initiative focused on reducing poverty through job training and employment within the food system, Renée led through a period of dramatic growth and transition paving the way for the network to become an independent entity. Today, Renée leads FareStart’s consulting practice that has advanced economic inclusion and mobility in hundreds of communities across the United States by reducing systemic barriers to employment so that all individuals can thrive.

Marija Mažić

Marija Mažić is Reach for Change’s Global Project Manager. Through this role Marija is currently immersed in the pursuit of strategic objectives for Reach for Change and its valued partners on an international level. Her primary focus lies in championing the mainstream adoption of social entrepreneurship, fostering positive impact and nurturing sustainable growth across Europe, Africa and beyond. With a profound passion for nurturing social entrepreneurship, Marija has spent the last six years supporting aspiring changemakers in transforming their visionary ideas into thriving and sustainable business ventures.

Diana Mbogo

Diana Mbogo is Managing Director at Millennium Engineers Enterprises Ltd. Millennium Engineers Enterprises Ltd is a rapidly growing Tanzanian company that has received recognition and awards in the field of renewable energy. Under Diana’s leadership, Millennium Engineers has carved a niche for itself by specialising in identifying untapped markets across various sectors. Diana’s visionary approach involves developing tailored and innovative business solutions. Her methodology revolves around deep engagement with customers and beneficiaries, understanding their challenges and collaboratively exploring sustainable solutions. This proactive and customer-centric approach sets Millennium Engineers apart, ensuring the crafting of sustainable and impactful energy solutions.

Roopa Mehta

Roopa Mehta is President of World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). She is also the CEO of Sasha Association for Craft Producers, a Fair Trade social enterprise and the secretary of Sarba Shanti Ayog (SSA), Sasha’s associate development organisation. Sasha and SSA provide business support inputs and market access for sustainable livelihoods to marginalised artisan groups based largely in rural communities and semi-urban areas. Roopa holds an MBA from Delhi University with further professional qualifications in social communication. She joined Sasha and the Fair Trade Movement in 1978.

Kathleen Melis

Kathleen Melis has been focused on system change and transition from an early age. As an impact coach at the Social Innovation Factory, she has been immersing herself in the world of social entrepreneurship for ten years. In one-on-one coaching and group facilitation, she works mainly on stakeholder strategy, co-creation, impact-driven business models and community building. In recent years, her work has evolved under the growing realisation that in order to bring about the change that’s needed, we need to work at our inner capacity to deal with our increasingly complex environment and challenges. In 2022, she co-founded the IDG (Inner Development Goals) hub in Flanders.

Melanie Mills

Melanie Mills is Head of Social Sector Engagement at Big Society Capital. Her work includes supporting social enterprises and charities to engage with social investment via the Good Finance platform and through social lending. Formerly Chief Executive of Social Enterprise West Midlands CIC, Melanie led it from a publicly funded project to a sustainable social enterprise. With a background of 20 years in retail, Melanie has also deployed her commercial skills to run her own consultancy working with community organisations and charities to raise funds and to look at new ways of sustainable income generation. Outside of her day job, Melanie is a member of numerous boards and taskforces.

Inga Muižniece

Inga Muižniece is the owner of Sonido Call Center and the chairperson of the Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia. Inga has been included in Euclid Network’s Top 100 Influential Women in Social Entrepreneurship list twice. She has a close connection to the field of work integration and the creation of inclusive work environments. Since 2015, Inga has been actively involved in the entrepreneurial networking organisation Business Network International assisting entrepreneurs in building broader collaborations and developing businesses in Latvia and beyond.

Alex Musembi

Alex Musembi is the founder of Africa Collect Textiles Ltd (ACT). ACT champions environmental conservation by enabling a circular economy for textiles and footwear. ACT utilises resources to their full potential, supports communities that are affected by textile waste and generates new jobs through the resale, reuse and upcycle of used textiles.

Miguel Neiva

Miguel Neiva is a graphic designer, social entrepreneur and Ashoka Fellow who is the creator of ColorADD. ColorADD is a unique, universal, inclusive and non-discriminative language that enables those who experience colour blindness to identify colours. He is committed to the universal implementation of this system which is already being implemented by entities from different economic sectors worldwide. Miguel has also created a non-profit organisation called ColorADD.Social to extend the use of this code in education allowing the inclusion of colour blind children without discrimination. ColorADD.Social has a clear mission of taking this tool all over the world to promote a better world for all. Miguel has been invited to several international conferences and has been awarded several distinctions.

Idriss Nor

Idriss Nor started his active working life in the Middle East where he developed educational projects during the period of the Oslo Peace Process. In 2004, Idriss joined the DOEN Foundation, which is a fund by the Dutch Postcode Lottery and the Friends Lottery, and DOEN Ventures (DOEN Participaties), the largest impact investor in sustainable and social startups in the Netherlands. In 2019, Idriss became Executive Director Impact Investments, where he oversees a 130M portfolio. Idriss was born in Frankfurt and holds a master’s degree in educational sciences from the Universität of Frankfurt.

James Okina

James Okina is a social entrepreneur, who is currently Programs Manager at Lynn University’s Watson Institute. At age 15, James founded Street Priests Incorporated, a youth-led movement with the vision to transform the lives of street children. Street Priests Inc. has impacted the lives of over 18000 at-risk youth through rehabilitative programmes. James is a TEDx speaker and has earned numerous accolades including Global Teen Leader, Global Changemaker, Ashoka Youth Champion and Future African Leader. James has been a strategic advisor to the SAP Global CSR team for the past three years.

Stefan Panhuijsen

Stefan Panhuijsen is the director of Social Enterprise NL, the national membership body of social enterprises in The Netherlands. Stefan is responsible for all activities towards the government, author of several publications on social entrepreneurship and member of the expert group of the European Commission GECES and a board member of Euclid Network.

Kaat Peeters

Kaat Peeters is Manager of the Sociale Innovatiefabriek (SIF). SIF is a Belgian organisation that encourages and facilitates social innovation and social entrepreneurship. SIF has an amazing community of more than 1000 innovators. SIF’s work focuses on providing expertise, a network and access to innovation funding. Kaat is also a lecturer at the University College ‘Erasmushogeschool’ in Brussels and is the author of Leaving a Legacy about how to increase your impact. She is also co-author of Zaken die je Raken. Kaat is a member of the board of directors of several associations, social enterprises and networks.

Sujatha Ramani

Sujatha Ramani held many global leadership roles in her corporate career working for multinational tech companies in India before becoming an entrepreneur creating companies in the education and hospitality sectors. Becoming a director for The National Entrepreneur Network, a new initiative to help startups grow and scale their business, fuelled Sujatha’s motivation and drive to support emerging enterprises that create new employment. For the last three and half years, Sujatha has been the CEO of the non-profit Pollinate Group. Founded in 2012, the Pollinate Group’s impact model is committed to solving the global energy crisis by providing access to life-improving, clean energy products, empowering women and creating micro-entrepreneurs by addressing poverty in India and Nepal.

Andy Reed

Andy Reed is an economic development practitioner who engages companies, government, higher education institutions and NGOs to solve complex community problems in Portland, Oregon. He’s led collective impact work for 20 years to build inclusive workforce and economic development systems. Additionally, Andy has taught for 20 years at Portland State University on topics of refugee resettlement, immigration, workforce development and international development. He holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution with a focus on intercultural communication and peace studies.

Leida Rijnhout

Leida Rijnhout is CEO of World Fair Trade Organization (WTFO). WFTO is the home of Fair Trade Enterprises worldwide. Fair Trade Enterprises are verified and monitored corporations that apply the 10 Fair Trade Principles covering the whole business and supply chain. Building the new economy from the bottom up, showing that other mission-driven business models are possible, is WFTO’s mission. Leida is a social anthropologist and has a professional background in sustainability and environmental governance.

Pim Roggeveen

Pim Roggeveen is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of WEAR, which focuses on cleaning, restoring and selling of pre-loved sneakers. Pim believes that building a healthy business while creating a positive impact should be the norm, not the exception. WEAR’s motto is “F*ck new, buy pre-loved.”

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.

Ioana Samoil

Ioana Samoil has been coordinating the work of the NESsT IKEA Accelerator Programme in Poland and Romania, representing NESsT and leading on all the portfolio-related topics in Romania for the past two years. Ioana’s background includes eight years in investment banking where she worked for three top banks in Romania, financial and business analysis, investments, financial planning and modelling, business structuring and consulting for SMEs and medium companies. She also has eight years experience as the co-founder and manager of Academia 1,61. This social enterprise educates teenagers including those from vulnerable groups (e.g., children from foster homes, children with cancer and migrants) through a informal approaches, adventure tourism and eco-campaigns.

Viviantie Sarjuni

Viviantie Sarjuni is a Malaysian social entrepreneur with 15 years of experience running an award winning government agency focused on social innovation. Viviantie has played a pioneering role in the social enterprise ecosystem in Sabah which is the poorest state in Malaysia. Through the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (SCENIC) Viviantie explores alternative economic models to challenge capitalism. In just three years, she has helped nearly 100 social enterprises, mainly in rural areas, secure funding. Viviantie was awarded the prestigious Chevening Scholarship by the UK government in 2022 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Matthias Scheffelmeier

Matthias Scheffelmeier is Co-founder and Managing Director of ChangemakerXchange which is a global network supporting 1000+ young innovators, activists and changemakers from 130 countries. He is also the initiator of The Possibilists, an alliance uniting 20 leading support networks for youth innovation. Matthias is a former partner at Ashoka Germany, co-founder of Ashoka in Turkey and co-initiator of the “Carry for Good” Pledge. He has contributed to the social impact ecosystem in Germany, Europe and worldwide through roles at SEND, MasterPeace, Social Impact Award and Snowball Effect.

Paul Schoenmakers

Paul Schoenmakers is Head of Impact at Tony’s Chocolonely, where his work ranges from supply chain collaboration to industry advocacy. He works with the cocoa farmers who supply Tony’s Chocoloney and manages all programmes and activities involving partner cooperatives in Ghana and Ivory Coast. He also engagee governments, NGOs and certifiers to accelerate change in the industry. When he’s not shaking up the cocoa industry, Paul is usually running, camping or making his own furniture.

Michel Scholte

Michel Scholte is the director and co-founder of the Impact Institute and True Price. Through True Price, Michel and his team have contributed to dozens of actual purchase points with true prices leading the way in transparent and fair market practices. The Impact Institute has garnered international recognition, winning prestigious awards including the UNCTAD ISAR Awards for the Impact Weighted Accounts Framework for their strides in market regulations, sustainability reporting for institutions like ABN AMRO Bank and educating thousands of professionals. For his efforts over 15 years, Michel has featured in prominent publications such as the New Yorker, Time Magazine and Forbes.

Thami Schweichler

Thami Schweichler is a social designer and entrepreneur based in Amsterdam. Thami co-founded Makers Unite in 2016. Makers Unite is an award-winning social enterprise providing a platform for the inclusion of refugees in The Netherlands and Turkey. In 2022, as a result of a collaboration with Patagonia and Amsterdam Economic Board, Thami founded United Repair Centre which is a B2B repair business for fashion and apparel brands, creating social and environmental impact. Thami is a TEDx speaker and has a background in product design, having studied at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, ENSCI-Les Ateliers in France and at the Santa Clara University in the USA. Before Makers Unite, Thami worked on the development of Kibo Africa, a social venture providing a moto-taxi service system and products in Kenya.

Mary-Anne Scully

Mary-Anne Scully is an experienced business strategist, facilitator and communicator who specialises in working with people and organisations who want to make an impact beyond the city lights. In 2019, Mary-Anne joined ACRE to deliver Breakout Accelerator, a dedicated program for rural innovators co-designed with SecondMuse, a global innovation agency. She continues to devise and lead initiatives for rural changemakers including the 2022 Social Enterprise World Forum Rural Gathering and REJUVENATE – a new way of connecting, supporting and guiding rural people who want to build and sustain community-led initiatives that address local challenges and create opportunities for positive change.

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.

Åsa Skogström Feldt

Åsa Skogström Feldt is Managing Director of IKEA Social Entrepreneurship BV. Through partnerships, programmes and investment, IKEA Social Entrepreneurship supports social entrepreneurs creating social impact and income opportunities for people distanced from the labour market or living in vulnerable communities. Åsa was previously the global president and CEO of The Hunger Project in New York and Sweden. She also introduced social entrepreneurship into the supply chain at IKEA Sweden and held senior marketing roles for Sony Ericsson, Aspiro and Ericsson Mobile EMEA. Throughout her career, Åsa has championed women’s empowerment through board assignments, women’s organisations and grassroots activism.

Thorkil Sonne

Thorkil Sonne became a social entrepreneur after his youngest son was diagnosed as autistic at the age of three and Thorkil learned how our societies and labour markets around the world exclude neuro-atypical people. He founded Specialisterne in 2004 and Specialisterne Foundation in 2008 to reduce unemployment and underemployment of autistic and neuro-atypical people. Specialisterne is represented in 13 countries and Specialisterne Foundation has been accepted as an NGO associated with the UN Department of Global Communications. Thorkil is a World Economic Forum Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur and an Ashoka Globalizer Fellow.

Amalia Spyratou

Amalia Spyratou is the director of INCO Academy and is responsible for INCO’s programmes that support start-ups and individuals to evolve and grow sustainably. Amalia’s career has consisted of diverse roles, from local projects to global initiatives. She is currently active in the social impact sector and is driven by her strong passion for social impact and innovation. She has worked for organisations like Trivago and is now a Google #IamRemarkable facilitator. Amalia has positively impacted over 500 individuals through her training efforts, guided by a vision of inclusive and innovative collaboration.

Rachel Steffensen

Rachel Steffensen is People and Partnerships Manager at Firesticks Alliance. Rachel is a proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander born and raised in Far North Queensland, Australia. She spent her childhood learning from her father about the importance of land management, looking after country and grassroots-led initiatives. Rachel’s passion is to make positive change within communities by strengthening partnerships and navigating the complexities of cultural protocols in a modern-day setting.

Awerangi Tamihere MNZM

Awerangi Tamihere MNZM has been at the forefront of championing an indigenous system for indigenous wellbeing called Whānau Ora. Awerangi has been with the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency since its inception and over the ten years she has seen 100 indigenous service providers move from working co-operatively to being part of a collective system that measures the impact of their work in the communities that they serve. The indigenous organisations are now considered partners in the Whānau Ora Movement. Awerangi also holds a range of directorships including the NZ Māori Health Authority Te Aka Whai Ora and is a Global Commissioner on the Global Social Values Commission.

Tizzita Tefera

Tizzita is the co-founder and a board member of Social Enterprise Ethiopia. Social Enterprise Ethiopia works to raise awareness around the field of social enterprise in Ethiopia as well as undertakes policy advocacy work on behalf of the 55000 social enterprises in Ethiopia. She has also worked with intermediaries such as Social Enterprise Kenya and is a board member at Social Enterprise World Forum. She is passionate about all things social enterprise, having worked in different capacities in the sector. She also works as a principal consultant at We Scale Impact, working to scale the impact of social enterprises.

Tiemen ter Hoeven

Tiemen ter Hoeven is the founder and CEO of Roetz-Bikes. Founding Roetz-Bikes in 2011 with the dual mission of social inclusivity and circularity, Tiemen has driven social and sustainable change for over a decade. Bringing a circular automotive concept to the bicycle industry, Tiemen set a basis for what is now an established circular bicycle manufacturer in the Netherlands. In 2015, Roetz set up their first Fair Factory in Amsterdam, which paved the way for today’s active social training programme that has created a safe place to work, guiding and matching people to jobs in the bicycle industry in the Netherlands. With a major step in innovation, Roetz recently launched the Life modular e-bike, a circular answer to the ongoing and waste-generating e-bike boom.

Innocent Tshilombo

Innocent Tshilombo is a tech entrepreneur and humanitarian professional. He has led businesses, education programmes and humanitarian operations in hard-to-reach areas. Innocent is a co-founder of Kakuma Ventures, a social enterprise in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya that connects refugee and host communities in rural areas to digital services and opportunities.

Merlijn Twaalfhoven

Merlijn Twaalfhoven is a composer, artistic entrepreneur and the founder of the Turn Club. Merlijn’s mission is to bring an artist’s mindset to the most pressing and complex societal challenges. The Turn Club is a lab for arts in society and creates space for imagination, beauty and play in places stuck in scarcity. As a composer, Merlijn creates music in conflict areas, refugee camps and other unusual places. Working with artists, scientists, diplomats and other idealists in unconventional and creative ways, he seeks beauty, experiment and change. Merlijn is a UNESCO award recipient and has worked with the Kronos Quartet and the New York Philharmonic.

Joshua van den Hurk

Joshua van den Hurk, a is passionate environmentalist and founder of the Dutch social enterprise Bamboovement. Driven by a desire to harmonise humanity’s relationship with nature, Bamboovement creates innovative plastic-free personal care products. By offering eco-friendly alternatives, Joshua aims to inspire positive change and empower individuals to lead more sustainable lives daily.

Wouter van Haaften

Wouter van Haaften is a founder of Generative AI Strategy. Fuelled by a passion for tech-enabled businesses and the amazing opportunities they unlock, Wouter loves digital strategy consulting and entrepreneurship. Wouter is driven by tackling complex problems and shaping innovative digital propositions. With a diverse background spanning various industries and countries, Wouter has worked on 15+ projects involving digital strategy, digital transformation, digital due diligence and AI and analytics. This project experience along with his entrepreneurial experience have given Wouter a great perspective and skill set to navigate the digital landscape.

Suzanne van Straaten

Suzanne van Straaten is the founder of Sprinklr Planten, a webshop for organic garden plants. Sprinklr Planten’s mission is to restore biodiversity by helping and inspiring people to green up their space. Sprinklr wants to make organic plants the norm because in the horticulture industry the majority of plants still have toxic pesticides on them.

Egon van Wees

Egon is the programme coordinator at Amsterdam Impact, the impact entrepreneurship initiative of the City of Amsterdam. He is Amsterdam’s ecosystem liaison and supports social enterprises and other ecosystem players to find their way within and outside of the city administration. He is a Buy Social ambassador and has co-created various networks focused on particular ecosystem needs like blended capital and internationalisation. He initiated a nationwide social enterprise consumer awareness campaign and is project lead of Boost your Neighbourhood, a programme supporting entrepreneurs from all of Amsterdam’s districts that gives participating entrepreneurs the opportunity to present themselves to the inhabitants of Amsterdam through a voting platform. Before joining Amsterdam Impact Egon was a social affairs policy adviser and developed Amsterdam’s social firms programme. Egon holds an MSc Political Science from the University of Amsterdam.

Willemijn Verloop

Willemijn Verloop is a serial social entrepreneur and driving force behind the Social Enterprise movement in the Netherlands. She is the co-founder of Social Enterprise NL and Dutch front-runner impact fund Rubio Impact Ventures. She has over 20 years of experience starting and growing social enterprises and non-profits and has published several books and studies on the topic. Willemijn was previously the founder of War Child and is still a board member. She is also a board member at Tony’s Chocolonely, Vereniging Veronica and served as founding Chair of the Dutch National Advisory Board for Impact Investing.

Koen Verschuren

Koen Verschuren is a founder of Generative AI Strategy. Koen has experience as a full stack A.I. expert and past experience founding and leading a data consultancy firm and heading up data strategy and innovation for top-level digital strategy firms.

Soraya Wancour

Soraya Wancour is the founder of Studio AMA. After her studies at La Cambre, Soraya discovered that the current fashion production methods could be much more sustainable. She founded Studio AMA as a testing ground for ethical fashion. With her brand, Soraya sends a clear message “considering usable material as waste is not done”. She resolutely opts for second-hand material and production residues including surplus mattress covers and bath towels. Studio AMA combines the circular with the social economy by producing in a social manufacturing company in Belgium. In addition to being a designer, Soraya is also an adviser and concept developer within several local and European projects on circularity in fashion.

Hajar Yagkoubi

Hajar Yagkoubi is a next generation keynote speaker specialising in (corporate) sustainability and Generation Z. As a former UN Youth Representative for the Netherlands, Hajar brought input on the topics of human rights, the climate crisis and sustainable development from young people to the UN. Currently, she focuses on enhancing youth participation and climate action through her work as a public speaker, advocate and consultant. Hajar co-founded Network 2100, an intergenerational network of (non-)executives and young people advocating for the embodiment of broad prosperity. Additionally, she is part of the ‘Maatschappelijk Impact Team’ which directly advises the cabinet on the social impact of COVID-19.

Mo Yusuf

Mo Yusuf is Global Head of Solution Advisory at SAP and takes great pride in leading a skilled team dedicated to driving positive change by helping companies run at their best and improve people’s lives. With a focus on transformative journeys, Mo helps empower organisations to become sustainable, intelligent enterprises. Through expert guidance and collaboration, Mo addresses pressing challenges, breaking down complexity to pioneer progress and leave a lasting positive mark on the world. At SAP Solution Advisory, Mo stays at the forefront of social enterprise trends, providing innovative solutions for meaningful change. Together with like-minded partners, Mo envisions a better, more sustainable world driven by technology and a commitment to leaving things better than they were.