Speakers / Social entrepreneurs / Knowledge advisor - Social Enterprise Open Camp 2021

Francesco Abbà

abba

Francesco Abbà, from Lodi, has a long experience as a consultant on issues of management and finance for the cooperatives in the CGM network. Since 1990 he is auditor on behalf of Confcooperative. He has been member of the Board in some cooperatives and consortia of the Milan area. In 2014 he was elected Chairman of CGM Finance. Since 2017 he is member of the Board of Cooperfidi Italia, a mutual guarantee institution for cooperatives and social enterprises. He has experience of social enterprises and cooperatives operating in the health sector, social housing, and urban regeneration.

Hamed Ahmadi

Ahmadi

(born in Bamyan, Afghanistan in 1981), founded Orient Experience and Africa Experience, two restaurants based on the culinary travel experience of migrants from the Middle East and Africa. After spending his childhood and adolescence in Iran, Hamed completed his university studies and decided to return to his Motherland: Afghanistan. Here, he developed a passion for cinema, which brought him to Italy for the first time in 2006 , invited to the Venice Film Festival with 2 colleagues. Many extremist in Afghanistan did not approve the film, and Hamed was forced to seek political asylum in Italy. Here he worked a variety of jobs until he became a Cultural and Linguistic Mediator.
This profession allows him to meet a number of young refugees who, unlike him, had to go through a strenuous and dangerous journey to reach Italy. Their experience – joined a common interest for food and cuisine – let them create a journey menu, made up of their childhood meals, contaminated with recipes of the countries they crossed during their migratory paths. In 2012 Hamed buys a deli in the centre of Venice, which becomes the Orient Experience. Thanks to the success of this first initiative, he opened the second takeaway (now a restaurant) in Campo Santa Margherita. Finally, they opened a third restaurant: Africa Experience, with a new menu, inspired by the journey of African migrants.

Zahra Ahmadi

Ahmadi

Founder of Saharpaz Kitchen & Mehman e Sahar, Afghanistan

Zahra is a young female entrepreneur who started her career by managing the restaurant Orient experience in Kabul. She later founded two own other restaurants: Saharpaz kitchen, the first online kitchen during the Covid-19 lockdown, was founded in 2020. Zahra started the business cooking at home and then expanded it becoming the busiest restaurant in the city of Kabul. She created more than 30 jobs and trained some women chefs who later got hired in the restaurant.
Mehman e Sahar, the second restaurant owned and founded by Zahra, was about to be launched on August 15. It should have become the biggest and the first cultural restaurant in the city of Kabul, but it became impossible as the Taliban took over the power by the same day.
When Zahra first arrived in Kabul, seeing the street kids begging, she started to encourage these children to stop begging. Today, more than 15 children sell pens instead of begging on the streets.

Mauro Berruto

berruto

Mentor

Mauro is professor in “Instability” at the Holden Contemporary Humanities School, where he has also been CEO. On March 18, 2021 he was nominated, by the Party secretary Enrico Letta, member of the Democratic Party (Pd) secretariat with responsibility for sports. He has got a Philosophy degree from the University of Turin with an anthropologic research project taken place in Madagascar.After 10 years of being volleyball Head Coach in the A1 series in Italy and Greece, he worked with the Finnish National Team where they came in a historical 4^th place at the 2007 European Championships. He was head coach of the men’s national volleyball team from 2010 to 2015, where he won 6 consecutive medals at the most prestigious international tournaments, including a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games.He is a valued Keynote speaker, trainer, and human performance expert. He has written two novels, “Independiente Sporting” (Baldini&Castoldi) is the most recent one and has also become a theatral show called “Sporting”.

linkedin.com/in/mauro-berruto

Philippe Birker

Birker

Co-Founder & COO at Climate Farmers

Philippe, after graduating from Maastricht University in 2013, with a master in Entrepreneurship & SME Management and a master in Organizational Psychology worked for several Impact Start-ups in Amsterdam and Berlin in business development.
Philippe grew up on the country side and he always felt the calling back to nature. So in 2016 he and some friends purchased an old abandoned village in the Sierra Estrella mountain range in Portugal and started to transform it into an ecovillage.
Through this experience he discovered the amazing potential of regenerative agriculture to reverse climate change and together with his co-founder Ivo Degn, he started Climate Farmers in 2020.
Philippe is also part of Love Foundation, an NGO with 500 members worldwide that he co-founded in 2013 and Ashokas Changemakerexchange. He also holds a Guiness Book World Record in simultaneous fire breathing and was selected as one of top 100 leaders in Sustainability in the Netherlands.

Luca Bolognesi

bolognesi

Founder Bella Dentro

After his academic journey, which started with a Bachelor of Science in Business & Finance in the UK and ended with an International Management Master at ESADE Business School, Luca undertakes his first entrepreneurial experience in Berlin founding a tech start-up that focused on geo-located services for smartphones. After a year, he moved to Geneva where he started his 6-years professional journey in Procter & Gamble, first as a financial analyst for the EMEA region (2,5 years) and thereafter as Brand Manager for the Swiffer Brand in Europe /3,5 years). He then moved on to the next chapter of his life and founded Bella Dentro in 2018 together with Camilla Archi.

Chiara Boroli

Boroli

Chairman Fondazione de Agostini

Chiara Boroli lives and works in Milan, Italy. After her graduation, she entered the De Agostini Group and held various positions until becoming Responsible for external relations of the holding De Agostini S.p.A. and Board member of various companies of the group. Since 2007, year of foundation of the De Agostini Foundation, Chiara Boroli has become the General Secretary of the Foundation, a position that she has held until October 2020, when she was nominated Chairman. Since April 2013, she has been part of the Assifero national council, since January 2017 she has been a member of the executive committee and since June 2021 he has held the position of Deputy Vice President of the association . Since 2015 she has been President of the Italian Literary Agency.

Giuseppe Bruno

bruno

Presidente CGM

Giuseppe is President of CGM National Consortium, one of the largest networks of Italian social enterprises. Over the years he has developed innovative models in the fields of energy, social tourism, social agriculture, housing and urban regeneration, all aimed at job placement and community support.
Always active in the world of cooperation, after years of volunteering, he first became president of the Movimento Azzurro association until 2000. In 1999 he founded the social coop Il Puzzle with attention to childhood and adolescence. He then coordinates complex social welfare, educational and social health services. He was President of the Reti Meridiane Consortium and National Vice President of Federsolidarietà-Confcooperative. Since 2016 he has been president of Confcooperative Basilicata.

Mario Calderini

Calderini

Professor at Politecnico di Milano, School of Management

Mario Calderini, a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Manchester, is full Professor at Politecnico di Milano, School of Management, where he teaches Social Innovation. He is the Director of Tiresia, the Politecnico di Milano School of Management’s Research Centre for Impact Finance and Innovation. He has been the Director of Alta Scuola Politecnica and Executive Vice President of Fondazione Politecnico. He has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Minister of University Research and Innovation and a Government’s Sherpa for the G7 Italian Presidency 2017. His numerous publications in highly ranked international journals cover several topics in the field of innovation and social impact finance. He has been a member of the G8 Task Force for Social Impact Investment, he chaired the Italian Advisory Board on Social Impact Finance, he is the President of the Scientific Committee of the Social Impact Agenda for Italy Association (Italy’s NAB). He sits in the Italian Government’s Advisory Group on Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Measurement and he contributed to promote the social innovation agenda in Italy, launching the sector’s first public consultation. He has been part of the Government’s Advisory Group that drafted the new law on social entrepreneurship. He is currently a member of the Government’s Task Force on Social Impact Investment. He is the President of the Advisory Board for Research and Innovation Strategy of the Lombardy Region Government. He sits in the Advisory Board of Unicredit. He is the President of Social Fare and he is a member of the Board of Directors of Nesta Italy.

linkedin.com/in/mario-calderini

Patrizia Canova

canova

Head of Communication and Strategic Partnership Opes-Lcef

An expert in Media Literacy, intercultural communication and cinema who has authored numerous educational and social documentaries, Patrizia has been a teacher by passion for 35 years. She served as Head of Communication and Advisor to the ACRA Foundation for 17 years. Since the early 1990s, Patrizia has also worked as a media and cinema consultant and trainer for Cinecittà Holding, MIUR, IRRSAE Lombardia, AGIS Lombarda, the Cinematographic Activity Sector of the Lombardy Region, the Autonomous Province of Trento and several other Italian provinces. She is a member of the Board of Directors of CEM (Centro educazione alla Mondialità).

Carola Carazzone

carazzone

General Secretary of Assifero

Carola is a lawyer specialised in human rights with a master’s degree in development economics. After 15 years of experience in international cooperation, she has been the general secretary of Assifero (the national membership association of Italian grant-making foundations and private institutional philanthropy) since 2014. Carola is the first Italian woman to be member and Chairman of the Board (since 2021) of DAFNE (Donors and Foundations Networks in Europe). She is member of the Board of Ariadne (European Funders for Social Change and Human Rights), ECFI (European Community Foundation Initiative), Alliance Magazine and Ashoka Italia. In 2017 she was Senior Fellow at the Centre on Philanthropy and Civil Society of the City University of New York.

Jacqueline Casini

casini

Senior Director Communications, Marketing & Corporate Responsibility, Lufthansa Cargo

Jacqueline has been Senior Director Communications, Marketing & Corporate Responsibility at Lufthansa Cargo since November 2016. Her responsibilities include the strategic development of Lufthansa Cargo’s internal and external corporate communications and worldwide marketing communications of Europeans leading cargo airline. In her role, she and her team also drive Lufthansa Cargo’s activities on sustainability which includes environmental management as well as social commitment. The goal is to make Lufthansa Cargo the most efficient cargo airline. It includes among others the support of activities of Cargo Human Care, an aid project founded by Lufthansa Cargo employees. Cargo Human Care has been supporting people in Kenya during the last 13 years, giving them access to education and medical care.
Jacqueline Casini studied Economics at the Free University of Berlin.

Elena Casolari

casolari

Chairman of the Board Fondazione Opes-Lcef e CEO Opes Italia

Elena Casolari is CEO of OPES Italia Sicaf EuVECA, cofounder and executive President of the Opes-Lcef Foundation, and member of the Opes-Lcef Trust. For 10 years, Elena has been CEO of Acra, one of the main Italian NGOs, and prior to that she worked for 12 years in various investment banks dealing with emerging markets (HSBC, Dresdner and Nikko Security). She currently sits on the Boards of Directors of Fondazione Umano Progresso, Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia, Life Based Value srl and is member of the General Council of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo.

Simona Clemenza

Clemenza

CEO Aspesi

A fashion veteran, Clemenza has previously held senior roles at brands such as Gianfranco Ferré, Krizia – where she was CEO – and Karl Lagerfeld – where from 2012 to 2017 she held the role of vice president, global sales and licensing. Since 2019 Simona is the CEO of Aspesi owned by the Armonia Sgr investment fund.
In 2018, Clemenza also made it onto Forbes’ list of the 100 most successful Italians who distinguished themselves in their respective fields.

Emilio Ciarlo

Ciarlo

Head of external relations of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation

Lawyer, international business consultant, he worked in the Italian Parliament in the field of foreign and european policy then he has been political advisor to the italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Development. Since 2016 he has been working in the Italian Agency for International Coooperation leading the external relations office. He is in charge of dealing with international organization and bilateral agencies, he is a member of the Italian Centre for international development and writes regularly on Huffington Post.

Niccolò Cipriani

cipriani

Founder of the brand Rifò

Niccolò Cipriani, combines in his work the background in cooperation and sustainable development with the family tradition used in the Prato textile sector. Always driven by interests such as internationalization, he leaves for Vietnam, to investigate issues related to social entrepreneurship, micro-credit, and professional training. He realizes that the clothes marketed in the West, if unsold, would end up in landfills or incinerators and he decides to give a second life to those clothes that people no longer wear. Thus, in 2017 Rifò was born, a project that produces high-quality garments and accessories, made with 100% regenerated yarns from textile fibers of wool, cashmere, and denim, from which Rifò creates soft ethical products at km zero.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/niccol%C3%B2-cipriani-1308b553/

Alessio Colombo

Colombo

COO & Co-founder Ricehouse

Alessio is a geologist and expert in materials sciences. For years he has been working with issues related to sustainability and research and development of new sustainable materials.
He is COO and co-founder of Ricehouse, an innovative start-up and benefit coorporation that develops construction materials and services deriving from residues from the rice agri-food chain.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessio-colombo-61b593197/

Petra Dillenberger

Dillenberger

Vice President Global Key Account Management, Lufthansa Systems

Petra has more than 30 years experience in different management positions at Lufthansa Systems, a company providing process and IT solutions to the airline industry. In this positions she was responsible for Lufthansa Systems business with dedicated airlines including profit and loss responsibility. Her experience in securing deals and sponsoring these in customer projects ranges from the first implementation of SAP R/3 by Lufthansa Systems for the handling and automation of entire accounting processes for travel agency chains to the relocation of rule-based business processes from France to India for a GDS.
She also worked on international IT concepts, such as the development of an IT strategy for a Chinese airline company or network management for an Australien airline. One of her later projects comprised the implementation of a common flight planning platform for a group of strategic partner airlines followed by the design of a new hub and operations platform for an airline in the Middle East. Bringing multible skills, humans and nations together is one of her strenghts. Her competence and fairness is vividly demonstrated by successful long-term customer relationships.

Luca Di Lorenzo

di lorenzo

Head of “Third Sector and Critical Consumption” in Assimoco

Luca is Head of “Third Sector and Critical Consumption” in Assimoco.
He started working in the Agency and, after an experience in the Claims Department as a Liquidator, he landed in the Commercial field where he matured most of his professional career in close contact with the distribution networks.
He coordinated and directed the requalification and development of innovative and niche businesses, further expanding and diversifying his professional background.
In continuity with the experience gained and with the aim of giving greater impetus to a sector deemed highly strategic for the Assimoco Group, in February 2019 he took over the leadership of the newly established “Third Sector and Critical Consumption” Business Unit, starting the EticaPro Project.

Claire Dove

dove

UK Government, Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Representative

As VCSE Representative, Claire acts as an intermediary between the Government and the voluntary and social enterprise sectors to champion the Social Value Act and an improvement in commissioning practices. Claire was appointed as VCSE Crown Representative in February 2018. As a key player in the social enterprise movement for over 40 years, she brings a wealth of experience to the role. Claire nationally and internationally is known for her work in the sector and for ten years chaired Social Enterprise UK. She worked with government and leaders from the sector to create the first strategy for the Social Enterprise movement. She ensured that Social Enterprises had a voice within Westminster and Whitehall, this included working with the teams to introduce the Social Value Act which is now embedded into many local government frameworks and worked with Cabinet Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to develop the Social Value Model.
Claire led the highly successful Blackburne House Group, until she retired in July 2020. Blackburne House offers an outstanding educational offer to women alongside running its award-winning School for Social Entrepreneurship and successful social enterprises. Claire has received many awards for her role within the sector, which includes an MBE, OBE, the Queens Lifetime achievement award for Enterprise promotion, and again honoured in the 2020 New Year’s honours list with a CBE.

Starlin Farah

farah

Co-founder & COO Ecodudu, Kenya

Starlin is the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Ecodudu, an aspiring leader in the waste-to-value industry for the provision of alternative protein and organic fertilizer. Starlin leads the production team and works closely with the research and development group to streamline production systems. She is passionate about empowerment of youth and women in business, particularly within the agricultural sector.
In 2017, Starlin and her co-founder were named the Environmental Entrepreneurs of the year by the BMCE Bank of Africa through the African Entrepreneurship Award. In 2019, she was also a Go-Gettaz Agripreneur Prize Finalist with Generation Africa. Starlin is a practicing Medical Doctor having earned a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) from Kenyatta University in December 2020.

Marta Ferraris Fusarini

ferraris

Communication & Marketing manager of Coffeefrom

Marta is Communication & Marketing manager of Coffeefrom, the second spin off by Il Giardinone Cooperativa Sociale. She works with project partners and oversees external relations. Marta contributed to the COSV Research “Young, social, and circular economy entrepreneurship landscape in Italy”, where Coffeefrom is considered a best-practice for the business model.

Luisa Ferreira

ferreira

Economic Advisor, Head of the European Investment Bank Institute’s Program

Luisa is the Head of the Institute’s Social Program where she notably created and developed the Social Innovation Tournament, a reference in the European Innovation eco-system. She started at the Institute when it was founded in 2012 and was responsible for the development and management of the Knowledge and Social Programs. Luisa Ferreira joined the European Investment Bank in 1999 as a senior education economist, then an economic advisor in the Projects Directorate where she was responsible for the economic appraisal of projects and research work in the education (with special emphasis on the financing aspects of higher education) and social sectors. She was also Head of the EIB-Universities Research Action Program. Between 2003 and 2004 she was a senior education analyst in the Education Directorate of the OECD, where she was responsible for a project on the role of education and training policy in promoting equity and social cohesion. Prior to joining the EIB she worked as a senior human resources economist at the World Bank (1992-1999), mainly involved in project and research work on education and social protection issues in Eastern Africa and Latin America. She also held teaching positions in Portugal at the Portuguese Catholic University and at the New University of Lisbon and research positions in the USA. She graduated in economics from the Portuguese Catholic University (Portugal), completed the course work for the MSc at the New University of Lisbon, and holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). Luisa is the President of the Board of the Jos and Mimieke Foundation, and is regularly invited as member of the jury in competitions in the area of social entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

Elena Ferrero

ferrero

CEO & Co-Founder Atelier Riforma

Elena is 28 years old, has a interdisciplinary university education, a great interest in science and sustainability, and a strong vocation for social innovation. She is co-founder, together with Sara Secondo, of Atelier Riforma, a social innovative startup with the aim of boosting the transition of the fashion industry towards the circular economy. The project is aimed at giving a second life to discarded clothes, re-inserting them into the economic cycle. The team is developing the first technology that automates the cataloging and sorting of textile waste in order to direct it towards circular uses, such as reuse, recycling and upcycling.

Anna Fiscale

fiscale

Chairman of the Board and Founder Progetto Quid

Anna, after taken her Master’s Degree in International Relations at Sciences Po (Paris) and working for several development projects in India and Haiti, returned to her hometown Verona where she started the social cooperative Quid in 2013. Quid employs 150 people, mostly women, with vulnerable pasts. The company recovers, otherwise wasted, high-quality surplus fabrics from prestigious fashion brands. The fabrics are transformed into limited-edition fashion items. The collections are sold in nine shops throughout Italy and online. Quid is also collaborating with many large companies as a supplier of fashion and home accessories sold under double labels.

Laura Gallo

Gallo

Chairman of the board of Il Giardinone & founder of Fungobox and Coffeefrom, Italy

Laura is Chairman of the board of Il Giardinone Cooperativa Sociale, and founder of the two circular economy projects Fungobox and Coffeefrom. After graduating in Political Economy, she soon became aware of environmental issues and of the sustainable development actions in the Third World. She therefore started her career in non-profit organizations in 2004, working also in India as project coordinator. Since then, she has covered administrative and managing roles, while a strong sensitivity towards social impact on quality of life.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-gallo-a551695/

Marco Gerevini

Gerevini

Fondazione Housing Sociale – Managing Director
Board member social ventures Giordano dell’Amore

Marco is currently the Managing Director of Fondazione Housing Sociale, a private and non profit entity working for the purposes of public and social interest. The foundation was created in 2004 to develop the Social Housing Programme, initially conceived by Fondazione Cariplo. It is now a reference point for the promotion of the sector, the facilitation of projects and the monitoring of their quality. Marco is currently also member of the board of Fondazione Social Venture Giordano Dell’Amore, created by Fondazione Cariplo with the mission to support the diffusion of an impact investing culture and market in Italy.
Until 2012, he was in charge of the M&A and Corporate Finance activities in Italy for The Royal Bank of Scotland. Previous experiences in ABN AMRO Bank, SBC Warburg and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Ludovica Ghizzoni

Ghizzoni

Fondazione Italiana Accenture – Strategic Partnerships & Fund Raising

Ludovica joined the team of Fondazione Italiana Accenture recently, in September 2021. Over the last 17 years (2004 – 2021) Ludovica has been an international official of the United Nations, based in Geneva, at the International Trade Centre (UN/WTO), contributing to the development of trade policies and institutions and to the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises from more than 35 developing countries and countries in emerging economies. Previously, Ludovica worked c/o Accenture, in the strategic function in support of the natural resource industry and c/o Savarè, chemical company specialized in hot-melt adhesives in the R&D and quality area. Ludovica is graduated as Environmental Engineer from Politecnico of Milan.

Massimo Giusti

giusti

President and CEO of Sefea Impact SGR

Massimo Giusti is President and CEO of Sefea Impact SGR. As social cooperator expert in the Third Sector, Sustainable Finance and Real Estate Sector, over the years he has been founder of various social cooperatives and consortia and held top positions in Confcooperative, Federsolidarietà, Third Sector National Forum, as well as in the National Agency for non profit organizations.
He has also held top-level positions in the banking sector and for over 15 years operated in the system of banking foundations and their national network (ACRI). He has held and still holds top positions in private and ecclesiastical foundations.
Massimo is currently Secretary General of the Control body on volunteering service centers; independent and non-executive director for the Hera spa Group, coveringthe role of Chairman of Ethics and Sustainability Committee.
President of the “ARCO” Pension Fund as well as Director of the “PEGASO” Pension Fund, Finance Committee referent to ESG issues.
He is “Decorato Pontificio” and decorated with Order of Merit of Italian Republic.

Jannek Hagen

Hagen

Managing Director, BESTSELLER Foundation

Jannek is the Managing Director at BESTSELLER Foundation, doing direct investments and offering other support for environmental protection, job-creation and sustainable growth. The current priority is on entrepreneurship, development and growth of green SMMEs in Sub Saharan Africa. Jannek is on the Board of several of the Foundation’s portfolio companies.
BESTSELLER Foundation is a private foundation, supported by fashion group BESTSELLER. Since 2015 we have supported a number of projects and businesses with positive social and environment impact targets at the core of their model. The BESTSELLER Foundation supports entrepreneurs and invest in businesses that work for supporting the wellbeing of our natural world, for creating better jobs and opportunity, for sustainable growth.

Peter Holbrook

holbrook

CEO Social Enterprise UK

Peter Holbrook became CEO of Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) in 2010. SEUK represents 100,000 businesses, most of which are in the UK – all of which are social enterprises, operating across the whole of the economy. It works to promote social enterprise as a model for changing both business and society. SEUK develops policy, undertakes research, influences the political agenda, promote the benefits of social enterprise through the media, campaigns and events. 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 chaired the Social Enterprise World Forum until 2015. Peter has previously worked for Oxfam, Greenpeace and various disability charities. He has experience of working in overseas development, community development and public health. Peter started his career with Marks and Spencer PLC and spent several years with Body Shop International. He was appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2015.

Stephanie Jones

Jones

Programme Manager for Clean Energy, Good Energies Foundation

Stephanie is the Programme Manager for Clean Energy at the Good Energies Foundation, one of the philanthropies of the Brenninkmeijer family. She is responsible for the portfolio of grants and investments promoting renewable energy access, poverty alleviation, and climate change mitigation, in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally she leads Good Energies’ high-level coordination with other climate and energy donors. She previously worked as a Program Manager for the non-profit Consortium for Energy Efficiency in the United States facilitating nation-wide strategy for efficiency programs. She studied Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and has a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a focus on industrial ecology and land conservation.

Chantal Kamatari

Kamatari

CSR Manager and Board Member Munyax Eco

Chantal Kamatari is an experienced Performance Manager, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified at Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She has a demonstrated history of working in the banking industry and is currently Head of Sustainability Centre of Expertise within a major European bank in Belgium, covering ESG (Environment, Social & Governance), Risk Management, and Sustainable Business Development. Chantal is also a board member of Munyax Eco, a company registered in Rwanda and active in solar energy as well as in the energy efficiency sectors by advising and installing environmental friendly equipments.

Stefano Liberti

liberti

Journalist and filmmaker

Stefano is a journalist and filmmaker, who regularly publishes international reportages in Italian and foreign magazines. He has written several books and directed various films. In 2009 he won the Indro Montanelli award for writing with the book “A sud di Lampedusa. Five years of travel on the migrant routes ”(Minimum Fax, 2008). His book “Land Grabbing. Journeys in the new colonialism ”(Verso Books, 2013) has been widely translated. His latest book is “Terra bruciata. How the environmental crisis is changing Italy and our lives (Rizzoli, 2020).His latest documentary is “Soyalism” (co-directed with Enrico Parenti), screened in dozens of festivals around the world.

Vesna Lucca

lucca

Founder Corporate Unplugged

Vesna transforms companies into brands that people love and respect – allowing them to grow and have great impact. She supports companies define their blueprint and transform their business – through clarity, ideas that last, and communication. Vesna is a Conscious Business Strategist and expert in Brand & Communications. She has worked with and inspired many leaders of multinational companies. After two decades in leadership roles in the global corporate world, she has contributed to and seen the impact that companies have when they commit to a purpose bigger than themselves. Vesna’s podcast “Corporate Unplugged” (www.corporateunplugged.com) features thought leaders, progressive businesspeople, and entrepreneurs from all over the world. The ideas that emerge in the podcast provide holistic insight and tools on how to grow business impact. She collaborates with leading professors in their research on leadership, innovation, design and meaning as value driver. Vesna is the founder of the Corporate Unplugged Forum. A forum for leaders with the courage to care. Her global business network provides a strong platform for growth for her clients and her ability to embrace a multitude of perspectives, her sense of clarity, creative thinking and strong empathy comes from her multi-cultural life experience. She originates from Serbia, travels extensively, and is based in Sweden and Italy.

Jane Maigua

Maigua

Founder & Managing Director of Exotic EPZ, Kenya

Jane is the Managing Director of Exotic EPZ Ltd and has worked for over 25 years in sustainable enterprise development focusing on catalyzing startups, and the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her passion and drive for sustainable business’ led her to invest into an agriprocessing business where she has partnered with two like-minded women. This is the only women owned macadamia processing company established in Kenya. Jane, a visionary leader of high integrity, has steered Exotic from dormancy to a fully profitable company in three years. She has created jobs for more than 100 people and a market for the produce of thousands of smallholder farmers. Jane has won various awards in the agribusiness space. She holds a master’s in Business Leadership, a bachelors in Appropriate Technology, and is a fellow in Stanford Seed University.

Caterina Micolano

micolano

Chairman Cooperativa Alice

Caterina is Chairman of the Board of Cooperativa Alice since 2018. She defines herself as a social worker lent to the world of marketing and social communication. She is also the founder of the Sustainable Development School (www.sustainabledevelopmentschool.it), Chairman of the Social Enterprise Feat srl, and a consultant on sustainability issues for companies and institutions.
Since 1993, she works with new economic models based on the collaboration between the worlds of fashion and the social entrepreneurship. She is a TEDX speaker.

Adan Mohammed

Mohammed

Co-founder & CEO Ecodudu, Kenya

Adan is the co-founder and CEO at Ecodudu Ltd. He leads the engineering team at Ecodudu to develop systems that will revolutionize the farm operation processes and increase farm productivity and efficiency. This entails designing, evaluating, and integrating solutions into current systems to automate various farm operations. He has previously worked in the animal feeds sector at Ruiru Feeds for two years. Thereafter, he began his own animal feeds distribution business.
Adan has received the Kenya National Innovation Award in 2016 and the Environmental Entrepreneur of the year by the BMCE Bank of Africa through the African Entrepreneurship Award in 2017. Adan holds a Bsc. in Engineering from Kenyatta University and a Bsc. in Business Administration and Management from The University of London.

Tiziana Monterisi

Monterisi

CEO & Co-founder Ricehouse

Tiziana is an architect, promoting from years the diffusion of bio-ecological solutions in architecture. She is committed to offering an alternative to the use of petrochemical materials in the constructions and to bringing the territory, the city and the house back to being a living organism.
Tiziana is CEO and co-founder of Ricehouse, a benefit coorporation and an innovative start-up that develops construction materials and services deriving from residues from the rice agri-food chain.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiziana-monterisi-6a59bb6a/

Liliane M. Ndabaneze Chabuka

Munezero

Co-Founder and CEO of WidEnergy Africa Ltd, Zambia

Liliane is the co-Founder and CEO of WidEnergy Africa Ltd, which was founded in September 2016 and offers solar solutions for the off-grid homes in Zambia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and is passionate about women empowerment. Liliane is working hard every day in a male dominated industry, towards making women the champions in clean energy distribution and active agents for climate change. She has previously also worked in the USA and Burundi.
As CEO of WidEnergy, Liliane oversees a dynamic multidisciplinary team with proven expertise in social entrepreneurship including solar products sales distribution, project management, supply chain, cost control, finance, business administration, monitoring and evaluation. She also manages the company’s impact metrics. Liliane has always shown an engagement to improve the living conditions of people, especially women and girls.

Francine Munyaneza

Francine

Founder and CEO of Munyax Eco

Francine is a Rwandese national, educated in finance and business management at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. She is the founder and CEO of Munyax Eco, a private company working in Rwanda to provide access to clean and renewable energy adapted and tested for the local needs. She is impacting the great lakes region with her clean renewable energy business and women empowerment agenda. Beyond her academic qualification, Francine has 20 years of “global and local” experience in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas working at senior management level with North American corporations as well as leading humanitarian organization (ICRC, MSF). These have taught her to read and addresses situations where the Government, the private sector and the civil society must coalesce seamlessly while keeping the collaborative outcome and approaches concrete, and economically sustainable.
She is known for her gender-oriented recruitment and sales strategy. It consists of bringing women into the fight against climate change by harnessing the use of clean and renewable energy, and market it at large to communities and to women. Thanks to her leadership, more than 1200 Solar thermal and PV systems (solar water heaters, photovoltaic systems, solar mini-grids, solar irrigation…) have been deployed so far.
She is also the founder of “La Maison Verte”, a project of a multi-floor green building to be constructed in one of the prime areas in Kigali.

Mutinta Mwiinnga

Mutinta

Monitoring and Evaluation Manager for WidEnergy Africa Ltd.

Mutinta holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Social Administration with a certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation. In the last three years, she is the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager for WidEnergy Africa Ltd, dedicated to the last mile-renewable distribution of reliable and affordable clean energy solutions. She has more than 10 years of experience in research, personnel management, training, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluation. She also has experience in working with multicultural teams in a complex and highly demanding donor funded project called Sexual & Reproductive Health (SARAI) and funded by USAID. She is passionate about women empowerment and contributes towards making women the champions in clean energy distribution and active agents for climate change.

Charity Ndegwa

Ndegwa

Founder & Director Operations of Exotic EPZ, Kenya

Charity has over 12 years of professional experience in business management and is currently the Co-Founder and Operations Director at Exotic EPZ. She provides overall operational leadership and oversees the day-to-day activities of the company including the manufacturing and production function, quality and compliance, human resource management, ensures efficient utilization of resources and contributes to the strategic planning of the business. Charity has a Master of Management in Agribusiness from Strathmore University and a bachelor’s degree in community resource management from Kenyatta University.

Elisabet Nyquist

nyquist

General Manager Opes-Lcef

Solid CEO and general management experience in small and medium sized companies achieving positive financial results and growth. She joined McKinsey & Company in 1987 after various work experiences in Sweden. She collaborated on projects in Scandinavia, Italy and Russia. Since 1991 she has been permanently operating in Italy where she has has been CEO for various companies, and member of the Board also of companies listed on the stock exchange. She has worked in the non-profit sector as consultant and Board member.

Specialties include:

Change management – Creating change, fostering growth and impose structure in complex and less structured organizations
Business management – broad managerial skills and capacity to integrate and coordinate various functions to reach efficiency in the organization;
Analytical skills and problem solving.

She graduated in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Stockholm and obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), from INSEAD, France.

Caterina Occhio

Occhio

Founder of SeeMe & CSR and Sustainability Advisor

Caterina has twenty years as CSR and sustainability advisor with a focus on luxury and fashion industry. She is currently supporting Maison Alaïa, Chloé, and Aspesi among others.
She is a former EU and UN development aid manager and has lately coordinated the UN social enterprise programs for the Med area, advising several UN initiatives to date including the UN Ethical Fashion Initiative.
Caterina is also a social entrepreneur and has founded SeeMe, a pioneer ethical jewelry brand whose heart-shaped jewelry is handcrafted by women survivors of violence.
She is an advocate for the global impact economy and a speaker and panelist at sustainable literacy events and global conferences discussing: climate and social justice, fair trade, gender equality, fashion, and the luxury industry’s challenges. Participations included: Conde Nast Luxury Conference, Social Enterprise World Forum, UN Fashion for development.
Caterina is also a Certified B-Corp leader and a member of the Board of Directors of the World Fair Trade Organisation. She has an M.A. in Geopolitics and M.A. in International Relations.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caterina-occhio-a227a97/

https://www.caterinaocchio.com/

https://seeme.org/

Francesca Oliva

oliva

Coo Equatorial Power Ltd.

Francesca has 15 years experience in working in cooperation projects in SSA countries. She has managed over time sustainable energy access and efficiency programs for which she has been holding the position of technical advisor in AVSI Foundation. Thanks to her experience in a business incubation center in Uganda, she has developed business coaching skills and has participated in delivering business development services to African business. She currently holds the position of COO for one of the most innovative mini-grid developers in Sub-Saharan Africa that delivers distributed energy services to rural and peri-urban communities.

Jacopo Ottaviani

OTTAVIANI

Chief Data Officer, Code for Africa

Jacopo is a computer scientist and senior strategist who works as Code for Africa’s Chief Data Officer (CDO). As an ICFJ Knight Fellow in 2016-2019, Jacopo shaped teams and designed programs supported by the World Bank, Google News Initiative, GIZ and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His mix of technical skills, as a computer scientist and data journalist, has resulted in a series of projects published by, among others, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Der Spiegel, El País and Internazionale. He worked on multiple projects supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the European Journalism Center. He is a member of the European Press Prize preparatory committee and works as a trainer with BBC Media Action.

Kwaku Owusu-Achaw

Owusu

West Africa Regional Manager, Shell Foundation

Kwaku is the West Africa Regional Manager for the Shell Foundation. In this role, he is responsible for the foundation’s footprint and strategic activities in the region. Kwaku joined the Shell Foundation in April 2017 and has been working across the Access to Energy and Sustainable Mobility portfolios. He supports a range of partners in various aspects of their business and has been key in scaling a number of these businesses across Africa.
Kwaku started his career in the asset management industry working with Fidelity Investments. Prior to joining Shell Foundation, he spent five years in Shell Group Trading working in global crude and products trading across market risk, FX and credit risk. Kwaku has a BA in Finance, Accounting and Management from the University of Nottingham and is a Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) level 2 candidate.

Danilo Ragona

Ragona

Founder Able To Enjoy, designer and traveler

Danilo is a designer, 41 years old. He graduated from the European Institute of Design in Turin and became an entrepreneur and documentary traveler to give life to his personal project of freedom and accessibility. Although an accident forced him to use a wheelchair to move, Danilo has not lost his spirit and has transformed his life into a creative laboratory.
Able To Enjoy was founded in 2006 A Made in Italy company able to enjoy and produce and market a series of products with an innovative design: first of all the multifunctional B-Free wheelchair with which in 2012 the Honorable Compass Award ADI gold and many other international awards.
Innovation, technology, personalization, identity, beauty, autonomy are some of the values that distinguish those who are able to enjoy.
Danilo has always wanted to abandon the pre-packaged scheme from pure medical aid and uses design as a key to the integration between the differences.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danilo-ragona-772b622b/

Sara Roversi

Roversi

Founder Future Food

Sara is an experienced entrepreneur and thought leader in the food ecosystem. As a seasoned growth expert, she works with globally recognized, high-profile think tanks on setting the agenda for the sustainable food industry. Described as a game-changer who knows how to drive change, she has a flair for exploration and prosperity thinking. Over the past 10 years, she has focused on a mission to take food leaders and youth to the next phase of action through education, research projects, and innovation challenges.
In 2013, she founded Future Food: a purpose-driven ecosystem facilitating positive transformation in life on earth, promoting food innovation as a strategic element to achieve sustainable and impactful growth. She is the Italian Focal Point for the UNESCO network of the Emblematic Communities of the Mediterranean Diet and recently co-founded the goodaftercovid19.org initiative. Sara is also a member of the Google Food Lab, B20 Task Force, and partner of the Food For Climate League.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sararoversi/

Felice Scalvini

scalvini

Chairman of the Board, Fondazione ASM

Felice is a lawyer that has dedicated himself to social cooperation since 1981. After some years of experience in finance, he has worked for its legislative recognition and the political and entrepreneurial infrastructure. He has promoted the birth of Federsolidarietà, CGM, Cosis, Forum del Terzo Settore, and has participated in the establishment of Banca Prossima. Felice has been Board member of Fondazione Cariplo and Chairman of Fondazione Housing Sociale. From 2013 to 2018, he was Social welfare counsilor of the Municipality of Brescia. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Fondazione ASM Foundation, director of Fondazione Ravasi Garzanti, and editor-in-chief of the magazine Impresa Sociale.

Nivi Sharma

sharma

COO BRCK

Nivi is COO of BRCK (brck.com), the onramp for frontier market internet users. Nivi has dedicated her career to digital access; for children, youth, and adults. She is passionate about the potential impact the internet can have on the economic and social development for the 800m Africans who are currently not connected. In 2011, Nivi co-founded eLimu (e-Limu.org), the first company to digitize the Kenyan Primary School curriculum for revision and literacy. Nivi is a 2014 East Africa Acumen fellow and a 2016 fellow of the Fast Forward leadership programme. In her spare time, she bakes, knits, paints, and folds origami.

Marzia Sica

sica

Manager of the “People” Goal, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo

Marzia works for Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo a philantropic organisation based in Turin, Italy. Currently she acts as manager of the “People” Goal, one of the three main areas through which Compagnia organizes its activity, in line with the 2030 Agenda’s SDGs. The “People” Goal manages interventions related to social housing and urban regeneration, the promotion of employment and social inclusion of vulnerable people, the support of the role of communities to contrast social inequalities, the well-being and education of children and adolescents, youth empowerment and actions in the field of migration, international cooperation and global citizenship education. Marzia has over twenty years of experience in managing social, education and local development projects on behalf of foundations, international organizations (UNDP and EU), NGOs, and other bodies. She is member of the governing bodies of several foundations and civil society organisations. She is active member of many national and international networks dealing with welfare and rights. Marzia had the opportunity to live and work in numerous countries around the world for over 10 years.

Giovanni Teneggi

teneggi

General Manager Confcooperative Reggio Emilia

Giovanni, 53 years old, was born in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. He lives there with his family. After been engaged in vocational training and business consulting, he joined the cooperative network Confcooperative (one of the leading Association within Italian cooperative movement), first with assignments on development of social cooperation, then with leadership role for Reggio Emilia province . He has held positions in public and private companies in the pharmaceutical, social and health and business service sectors. He was a member of the executive committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Reggio Emilia. Currently he is working to promote community enterprises, a model of business deeply ingrained in local communities. He has collaborated with organizations that promote local development including Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, Fondazione della Comunità di Brescia, AICCON, Avanzi, UNCEM, SocialFare, Luiss, CREA-ReteRurale, GAL, Riabitare l’Italia and many academic research centers and universities. He has published essays and articles on welfare and social and community economy with several publishing companies, among them, Donzelli (edited by De Rossi A., Riabitare l’Italia, 2018/2020), Il Mulino (edited by Osti G., Jachia E., AttivAree, 2019), Franco Angeli in Rural Sociology.

Simona Torre

torre

General manager of Italian Accenture Foundation

Simona Torre started her activity in Italian Accenture Foundation in 2018. Previously, she was part of the Global Technology Team of Buongiorno from 2000 to 2012, contributing to the development of the company from startup to European leader in the field of Interactive and Mobile Services. With the acquisition of NTT DOCOMO in 2012, Buongiorno was renamed DOCOMO Digital and Simona was commissioned to initiate and lead a Corporate Acceleration & Venture Program (b-ventures) aimed at accelerating the growth of technology startups, with particular attention to the Fintech sector, being also involved as a member of the Selection Committee of several acceleration programs funded by the European Commission. Previously, Simona worked at Accenture, specifically in the design and installation of IT solutions in the banking sector. Simona graduated in Statistical Sciences at the Alma Mater Studiorum University in Bologna.

Cristina Toscano

Toscano

Program Officer Fondazione Cariplo

Cristina has a degree in International Relations, a Master in Management of development (UN International Training Centre/ILO/Turin), and training in e-learning instructural design and digital transformation. She is working in the development cooperation sector since 1999 (decentralised cooperation, NGOs, United Nations, Foundations).
Cristina joined Fondazione Cariplo in 2008. She is Program officer in the field of development cooperation and team leader for not-for-profit organizations capacity building and organizational development initiatives. She leads the program Innovation for development, supported by Fondazione Cariplo and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, which mission is to foster tech innovation in development cooperation through open innovation, challenges, training, events, and networking.

Chiara Ventura

ventura

Program Officer Fondazione CRT

Chiara is a Senior Program Officer (Education and Scientific Research sector) in Fondazione CRT. She has worked in Fondazione CRT since 2004 and manages several education programs. “Talenti per l’Impresa” is a project designed to provide young graduates with the managerial and business skills needed to start up innovative businesses. She firmly believes in the importance of quality education, and in the important role of young generations as drivers of change. This is why in addition to the high quality learning experiences, the alumni of the Talenti programs are also provided with extensive networking and continuous learning – a key characteristic within the various education programs: the alumni of the programs constitute in fact a large active and inclusive community (1600 members).
In recent years, she has deepened her knowledge of impact evaluation and she considers it important to focus more on gender equality, sustainability and inequality reduction in her work.

Paolo Venturi

Venturi

Executive Director AICCON

Paolo Venturi is the director of AICCON and The FundRaising School. Professor in social entrepreneurship and social innovation at the University of Bologna (CAF in Welfare Community Manager – Master in Economics of Cooperation) and numerous other universities and institutions. He is member of the National Council of the Third Sector and of the Scientific Committee of the Symbola Foundation, of Corriere Buone Notizie, of the CNV – National Center for Volunteering and of the Social Impact Agenda for Italy. Member of the Advisory Board of Nesta Italia, of the Social Cooperation Council of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. Author of numerous publications including “DOVE. The dimension of place that recomposes business and society “and” Hybrid companies. Models of social innovation to regenerate values” published by Egea. He collaborates with numerous newspapers and blogs including Il Sole 24 Ore, Il Corriere della Sera and Vita Magazine.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolo-venturi-433a152b/

Anna Voltolini

voltolini

Executive Director of Gruppo Cooperativo CGM

Anna Voltolini is Executive Director of Gruppo Cooperativo CGM since 2017, where she has worked since 2011 dealing with institutional projects, network manager and corporate. Previously she collaborated as a consultant to the Assessor for School and Italian Culture of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano working in community engagement and in cultural welfare projects oriented in particular to a social vulnerable public with low level of schooling.

Felix von Schubert

Felix

Founder InFrontier

Felix has 25 years of private equity, investment and operating experience. He founded InFrontier Ltd in 2013 as a dedicated frontier market investment firm with offices in Kabul, Karachi and Tashkent. Since 2013 he has divided his time between Kabul and London and has conducted a number of investments in Afghanistan where InFrontier manages the only private equity fund in the country demonstrating the positive social and economic impact of for-profit private equity investments for developing nations. He is also co-founder and non-executive Chairman of NewSpace Capital, a Luxembourg based space technology fund and has previously co-founded Zouk Capital, a London based independent fund manager focused on environmental technologies and renewable energy infrastructure projects. Felix has received a MA in economics from University of Cologne, a CEP at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and was a visiting scholar at University of California at Berkeley.

Birgit Wenz

Wenz

Head of Lean /Supplier Steering for Airmail, Lufthansa Cargo

Birgit currently is Head of Lean /Supplier Steering for Airmail at Lufthansa Cargo. She has long experience in managing restructuring projects as well as heading international teams, developing new markets or setting up new teams according to design thinking methods. This is combined with excellent negotiations skills with partners and customers. She has been active as trainer of new leadership principles for managers of the Lufthansa Group and has been setting up a group wide change network. Previously she has had various business development positions in the Lufthansa Group and Bosch Telecom. Since 2020, she is trustee to OPES LCEF Foundation. She holds an MBA from University of Cologne and Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo Japan and is fluent in German and English, as well as a good knowledge of French, Japanese and Latin.

Flaviano Zandonai

Zandonai

Open Innovation Manager CGM

Sociologist, work in the field of social enterprise for about twenty years, carrying out research, training, consulting and publishing. He was senior researcher at Euricse, secretary of Iris Network and Today is Open Innovation Manager in the Cgm Cooperative Group in wich operate to promote communities of social entrepreneurs that want develop and disseminate innovation. He collaborates with the magazine Vita and manages “Tempi ibridi”, a blog dedicated to institutional innovation and the new value chains between profit and nonprofit. @editormanque

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