Speakers / Social entrepreneurs / Knowledge advisor

Chiara Alluisini

chiara-alluisini

Secretary general of Fondazione Marcegaglia

Chiara, a graduate in Business Administration from Bocconi University and in Peace Sciences from the University of Pisa, has been Secretary General of Fondazione Marcegaglia since its establishment in 2010. From late 2015 to mid-2023, she was responsible for projects in Italy and abroad, coordinating local staff at the Rwanda office.

linkedin.com/in/chiara-alluisini-58727033

Claudio Arestivo

Co-founder Moltivolti social enterprise

Claudio Arestivo, Palermo, 43 years old. For about 20 years, by passion and work he has been engaged in paths of activation of social networks and community development with a particular interest in the theme of migration and Human Rights.
He founded in 2011 the first co-working space in Palermo (Link Officine Mediterranee) joined by 14 organizations active on the local and international territory.
In 2012 he co-founded Per Esempio Onlus, an organization active locally and internationally in the field of learning, nonformal education and social inclusion for which he now serves as legal representative.
In 2014 he co-founded the social enterprise Moltivolti, a multicultural co-working restaurant in the heart of the Ballarò district in Palermo within which 38 people of 14 different nationalities work today.
In 2018, he is one of the founders of Mediterranea Saving Human, the NGO engaged in search and rescue activities in the Central Mediterranean area and with which he has been involved in missions at sea and in awareness-raising and training activities on the issue of Human Rights.

linkedin.com/in/claudio-arestivo

Mauro Berruto

mauro-berruto

Mentor, Inspirational Speaker

Head Coach of the Italian men’s national volleyball team (2010/15), bronze medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games. A graduate in Philosophy from the University of Turin (with an anthropological field research in Madagascar), he arrives at the Italian national team after a decade as Head Coach in Serie A1 (in Italy and Greece) and after an experience, from 2005 to 2010, as a CT of the Finnish national team (historic 4th place at the 2007 European Championships).
Mauro is a lecturer at the Holden School – Contemporary Humanities, of which he was also CEO. An acclaimed keynote speaker, he is also an educator, human performance expert and author of two novels, “Independiente Sporting” (Baldini&Castoldi) and “Capolavori. Allenare, allenarsi, guardare altrove” (Add publisher) that have also become plays.
Since October 13, 2022, he has been a deputy of the Italian Republic, a member of the 7th Committee of the Chamber of Deputies dealing with culture, education and sports.

linkedin.com/in/mauro-berruto-24620120

Giusi Biaggi

giusy-biaggi

President of CGM

President of the CGM National Consortium since May 2022, Giusi Biaggi began her career in the world of social cooperation as an educator. After graduating in Science of Education, she attended a second-level master’s degree in Civil Economy, Political Economy, Social Planning and Organization, and Management of Nonprofit Organizations at the Bicocca University of Milan. Since 2005, he has been working at the Nazareth Social Cooperative in Cremona, where he has been President since 2019.
From May 2016 to May 2022, she was a Director of Federsolidarietà Lombardia, with responsibility for the minors’ area, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Consorzio Sol.co Cremona. Biaggi is also currently Chair of the Board of Directors of Cremona Welfare srl, and a board member of CGMoving.

linkedin.com/in/giusi-biaggi-9382ab176

Chiara Boroli

chiara-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.

Caroline Caporossi

Caroline Caporossi
Founder & Executive Director Roots Social Enterprise

Caroline Caporossi is a 29-year old Italian-American social entrepreneur and founder of the Association for the Integration of Women (AIW), a non-profit organization dedicated to migrant womens’ integration in Modena, Italy. Caroline grew up in a third-generation Italian immigrant household in the United States. At University she specialized in International Relations and Spanish, and she began her career advocating to increase services for the Latino community in Washington D.C and South Carolina. Upon graduation in 2016, she relocated to Modena, Italy where she served as the Program Development Officer at Food for Soul, the international nonprofit founded by Chef Massimo Bottura. In April 2020, after having witnessed the extreme need for economic integration services for migrant women in her community, Caroline founded the AIW, and in 2022 opened the social enterprise restaurant Roots (rootsmodena.com), a unique food-based integration model as a long-term solution, which was awarded the “Youth Innovation and Leadership Award” in January of 2021 by the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth – Migration.

linkedin.com/in/caroline-caporossi-811385164

Carola Carazzone

carola-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 Vice-President of Philea- Philanthropy Europe Association. 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.

linkedin.com/in/carola-carazzone

Immacolata Carpiniello

Immacolata Carpiniello
CEO Cooperativa Lazzarelle

Graduated in Political Science at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” and with a Master’s Degree in training and politics gender at the University of Rome 3, she has been working in the field of gender policies since 2000. Senior designer, cultural mediator, expert in labor policies and social inclusion, she participated as a researcher, consultant or project manager in various European research and social intervention projects aimed, in particular, at a women, inmates and migrants.
She is CEO and project manager of the Lazzarelle Cooperative, a social enterprise founded in 2010, which produces coffee in the women’s section of Pozzuoli prison. In 2020, in the historic center of Naples, she opened the Bistrot Lazzarelle, where 7 detained and non-incarcerated women work today.
She is a Cultural Mediator and from 2001 to 2011 she was a member of the national association on the detention of Antigone NGO. She has been involved in research focused on prisoners’ and social rights, migration flows, innovation and social enterprises.
She is an expert on the creation and management of social enterprises.
In 2019 she won the Entrepreneurs Award for the Civil Economy and in 2022 she received the Knighthood of the Italian Republic (OMRI) award from the President of the Republic.

linkedin.com/in/imma-carpiniello-853aaa20

Emilio Casalini

Cultural planner, journalist, writer and TV host

Emilio Casalini is a cultural projectist, journalist, writer and TV host. After 20 years as a correspondent in RAI for investigative programs including “Report”, with which he won the Ilaria Alpi prize in 2012, since 2014 he has been working on storytelling tools for tangible and intangible heritage and the enhancement of territories’ identities. He wrote the book “Rifondata sulla Bellezza” (“Refounded on Beauty”) which then became a radio program for RAIRADIO3 “Bella Davvero” and a TV program for RAI3 prime time, “GenerAzione Bellezza”, now in its third edition. He teaches on these topics at 24ore Business School, Bicocca University in Milan and Tor Vergata University in Rome, and is a territorial storytelling consultant for public, local and regional governments. Since 2019, he has been the creative director of the project to enhance territories through community: sciacca5sensi.it

linkedin.com/in/emilio-casalini-b0b75785

Elena Casolari

elena-casolari

CEO & Partner of Opes Italia & Chairwoman of Fondazione Opes-Lcef

Elena believes in the transformative power of impact investing and social enterprise movement; she is an advocate and practitioner of gender smart investing. She is partner and CEO of OPES Italia Sicaf EuVECA that invests in impact enterprises in Italy and co-founder and chair of Fondazione OPES-LCEF, impact investment vehicles that provides financial resources and management support to early stage social enterprises whose businesses serve low income people and disadvantaged communities.
For 10 years Elena led an international NGO and before that she spent 12 years in the investment banking industry covering emerging markets. Elena serves as a Director at Fondazione Umano Progresso, she is board member of Selco India and Develhope, Cooperswitch, Outlane Freedome and Scuole Manfredini in Italy. She is member of the General Council of Fondazione Compagnia San Paolo, one of the leading banking Foundation in Italy, and member of the Scientific Committee of Aiccon. After her graduation in Management, Elena was a Monbushoo fellow at the Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo for two years.

linkedin.com/in/elena-casolari-6535646b

Malick Ceesay

Manager of BarConi, Moltivolti

Malick, originally from Gambia and living in Palermo, Italy, is now an important part of the social enterprise Moltivolti.
Currently, Malick holds the position of manager at BarConi, an ice cream shop located in the heart of Ballarò and managed by Moltivolti which gives employment opportunities to three young people with similar migration backgrounds to Malick. The name “BarConi” represents the hope of building a solid future in the employment field, a project he embraced from the beginning and now manages with dedication and passion.
He is also involved in accompanying tourists as part of Moltivolti’s “Through My Eyes” project. In this context, he enthusiastically guides tourists and travelers through city itineraries, sharing his unique perspective and personal story as a migrant.
In his spare time, he works as a freelance photographer. His adventure in photography began in 2018, thanks to his participation in a documentary project in the Danisinni neighborhood of Palermo where he had the opportunity to meet Professor Walter Balducci of La Sapienza University in Rome, and continued thanks to an internship at “Cotti in fragranza” as a photography and communication assistant.

Baraka Jeremie Chijenga

Co-founder and CEO of Kilimo Fresh Foods Africa

Baraka is a technology enthusiast and visionary farmer with over nine years of experience working in the technology and agriculture sectors. He’s currently the Co-founder and CEO of Kilimo Fresh Foods Africa, a social enterprise that leverages technology to connect smallholder farmers and fresh produce buyers to fair and reliable markets, providing smallholder farmers with stable pricing and direct access to the market for their crops. Before founding Kilimo Fresh, Baraka spent the first four years of his career as a smallholder farmer in Morogoro, Tanzania. During this time, he struggled with food waste and lower margins for his produce due to a number of unnecessary, non-value addition small chains in the whole agricultural chain. It was because of these challenges that he started Kilimo Fresh to solve the problem not only for himself but also for other farmers in his community. Baraka currently holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Entrepreneurship Development and Technology, and he envisions creating a global marketplace for Tanzanian farm produce and eradicating post-harvest losses.

Stefania Coni

stefania coni

International Projects Coordinator at Fondazione CRT

Stefania Coni has been the International Projects Coordinator at Fondazione CRT since 2010, where she develops and manages international and European projects and partnerships on topics ranging from social innovation, impact entrepreneurship, to European funding, the SDGs, and venture philanthropy. Through her role she actively participates in the main philanthropic networks (e.g. Philea, European Venture Philanthropy Association) and collaborates with international organizations such as the OECD and UN.
Before her role in Fondazione CRT, Stefania was in the research department of the Foundation, prior to which she was the Coordinator of Osservatorio Culturale del Piemonte (Cultural Observatory of Piedmont) and Research Assistant in the Department of European and International Cultural Relations at the Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli.

linkedin.com/in/stefania-coni

Luisa Ferreira

luisa-ferreira

Head of Social Program, EIB Institute

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.

linkedin.com/in/luisa-ferreira-586b6326

Martino Ghielmi

Martino Ghielmi
Founder of vadoinafrica.com

Born in Milan and raised in the woodlands of Valcuvia, Martino Ghielmi has a big dream of facilitating constructive synergies between Italy and Africa, a continent he stumbled upon in his early 20s as an athletics enthusiast.
With a degree in Afro-Asian Studies, he worked in cooperation in Nairobi, Kenya, and then gained corporate experience in consulting. Later he was part of the startup team of an Italian foundation specializing in training African entrepreneurs working in 13 different African countries.
Vadoinafrica.com was born as a countercurrent blog that became in a few months the reference point for thousands of professionals and entrepreneurs aware that they were not dealing with “a poor country, but with a rich continent.” Today it is a community of more than 30,000 people who share the mission of ViA Group, a consulting and training firm that connects Italy to the world’s youngest continent.
Husband of Maddalena and father of Sara, he is convinced that Africa will be the big surprise of this century.

linkedin.com/in/martinoghielmi

Tania Gianesin

tania gianesin

Co-founder of the Moleskine Foundation

Member of the General Council and the Executive Board of the Moleskine Foundation.
Tania has a role of consultant and transversal advisor in several areas: Fundraising, Learning, Network, Partnership.
She has been dealing with unconventional educational practices for almost 30 years, in various disciplines: music, journalism, ethical fashion, food & wellbeing, sensoriality and synaesthetics. He deeply believes in Creativity for Social Change and in its therapeutic power, in whatever form it manifests itself. In this regard, she constantly deals with research and innovation in various fields.
She is a member of the Board of Kunstverein Milano and of the Scientific Committee of B & W-the migrant trend in Rome. She shares and promotes the values and the cause of the Fashion Revolution movement (Italy and worldwide).

linkedin.com/in/tania-gianesin-4371057

Harish Hande

Harish-Hande

Founder of SELCO-India

In 1995, Harish Hande founded SELCO-India, one of the most accredited social enterprises in the Indian scene. SELCO offers modular solutions that exploit solar energy, guaranteeing services for the benefit of the poorest. In addition to SELCO-India, Harish has also founded SELCO Foundation and SELCO incubator to support social start-ups in renewables. For his work for SELCO Harish has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award (founded in 1958, considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize). Harish is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and holds a Ph.D. in engineering applied to solar energy received from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (USA).

linkedin.com/in/harish-hande-67b226

Celia Hodson

Founder of Hey Girls

Celia founded Hey Girls in 2018 with daughters Kate and Bec, after the family experienced the hardships of period poverty.
Starting at her kitchen table, Celia and her team have taken the Hey Girls mission across the UK and Australia, donating more than 30 million environmentally-friendly period products to those in need.
Hey Girls won Social Enterprise of the Year Scotland and were finalists for the Social Enterprise UK Award in 2022.
Celia was named Great British Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019, with the nation inspired by her story as a single parent on benefits tackling one of the world’s most unjust problems.
With a background in global third sector support groups and national policy lobbying organisations, Celia is devoted to creating businesses for social good, rather than shareholder value.

linkedin.com/in/celiahodson

Peter 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.

linkedin.com/in/peterholbrook

Njambi Kibe

Njambi Kibe
Director & Co-Founder at Purefresh

Njambi is a Director and Co-Founder at Purefresh, a social enterprise that enables communities access safe drinking water at an affordable price.
Njambi built her career in agri-business, where she designed and executed programmes for community mobilization and organization as well as development and establishment of smallholder agri-businesses and associations. It is after this start the agricultural community world that she collaborated with her husband to incorporate Purefresh.
Njambi is passionate about improving livelihoods, especially for women and believes in equipping people for greatness and success. In addition, Njambi is a member of the Board at Life Bloom Services International, which supports and guides vulnerable women and survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation into a safe and dignified future.
In her free time, Njambi enjoys the outdoors; nature walks and drives.

linkedin.com/in/njambi-kibe-6714bb16b

Pauline Koelbl

Pauline Koelbl
Founder & Managing Partner, ShEquity

ShEquity’s Founder & Managing Partner, Pauline is a gender-lens investor and a leading innovation expert in developing & emerging economies, currently focusing on addressing the US$42 billion gender funding gap in Africa and accelerating the achievement of #SDGs. Through ShEquity, Pauline is catalyzing Africa’s inclusive growth by investing in early-stage, impactful, innovative and scalable women-led and owned businesses in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Pauline is also the co-founder of PROWAH (Professional Women of African Heritage) and is currently serving on a variety of Boards of impact driven Investment Funds, Companies, and Organizations. She has 12+ years’ experience catalyzing innovation and supporting SMES/startups across Africa. Her passion lies in innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic empowerment of youth and women.
In 2022, Pauline was recognized as one of 100 Leaders building ‘Meaningful Business’, combining profit and purpose to help achieve the UN Global Goals.
A double Fulbright -Scholar and Fellow-, Pauline holds an Executive Education in Innovation for Economic Development from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government; a Master’s Degree (MA) in Poverty and Development, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in International Studies (Honors) from the University of Arizona (UoA), USA.

linkedin.com/in/pauline-koelbl-36112327

Percy Lemtuke

CEO at Savanna Circuits

Percy has an impregnable sense of ambition, and, thanks to it, he is living his dream.
The CEO of manufacturer Savanna Circuits has won more than 21 global innovation awards in agriculture. For someone with a background in IT, he has acquired multiple certifications in engineering, including six patents. He has also patented two ideas in IT.
Percy grew up and attended school in West Pokot before studying informatics at Rongo University. He is a computational intelligence Master’s student at the University of Nairobi.
After graduating in 2016, he worked as an ICT systems administrator at West Pokot County where, he says, he discovered the limitations of devolved units in addressing local challenges, particularly those affecting farmers. In 2018, he founded Savanna Circuits Technologies to solve the problem of post-harvest loss in the dairy value chain.
The company has also expanded to other value chains, to manufacture dehydrators for vegetables and cold chains for fish and vaccines. It employs more than 100 people, directly and indirectly, creating livelihoods for thousands.

Desiree Li Bassi

Desiree Li Bassi
Head of Hospitality for Sciacca’s Museo Diffuso dei 5 Sensi

Désirée Li Bassi, who is bilingual in Italian and French, moved to France at the age of 18 to earn her degree and build a future abroad. However, her choice to leave, her experiences, and her nostalgia for her homeland soon made her realize how much she was in love with her country and how much good there was still to be done for her area. During her final year of studies, she therefore turned down a scholarship at the University of Nice and returned to Italy, combining her university studies with work experience within the tourism industry. In 2020 she graduated from the University of Rome Sapienza with a thesis entitled “Sustainable development applied to tourism: the experience of the 5 senses of Sciacca”, and, returning to the city where she grew up, she began working with the Community Cooperative “Identità e Bellezza” (Identity & Beauty) that manages the Sciacca Ecomuseum.
Over time she became its Head of Hospitality following HCD techniques and standards based on authenticity, empathy, emotions, storytelling. She welcomes “temporary citizens” by fostering connections between the users and the territory, taking care of the logistical accommodation and entertainment of the guests, guaranteeing them an emotional and memorable journey, in close contact with the community and the peculiar identities of the place. She is also Wonderful Italy Manager of the Sciacca Satellite and Hospitality Referent for Smartway.
In January 2022, she co-founded IMPACTA social enterprise SRL, a HUB of europroject changemakers with the aim of providing method and tools for territories to generate social, cultural, environmental and economic impact in the place where they live.

linkedin.com/in/désirée-li-bassi-1bb89b98

Marta Luca

Marta Luca
General Manager of Snam Foundation

As expert in social issues related to diversity, inclusion and social sector, Marta joined Snam Foundation in 2022 to lead the implementation of its new strategy to strengthen the Foundation role at national level. At Snam she, holds the position of Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, bringing with her 20 years of experience in Human Resources. She has worked with international companies (both in the US and Italy) across diverse industries, including Wells Fargo, Stellantis, Barilla and Luxottica holding multiple roles within corporate functions. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Organisational Communication (USA), a Master’s degree in HR Management (USA) and she is a certified counsellor.

linkedin.com/in/martaluca

Angelo Maiolo

President of Cooperativa Sociale Alborea
Angelo Maiolo is the President of Cooperativa Sociale Alborea, a social cooperative he co-founded in 2016, where he is in charge of managing social inclusion projects aimed mainly at the reintegration of inmates from Brescia’s Verziano prison. A chef by education, he is involved in creating professionalizing work for people who, at the end of their detention, can pursue a sustainable employment future.
A member of the Board of the Brescia Prison and Territory Association, he actively collaborates with the local penitentiary institutions, as well as with all the agencies involved in ensuring a network of assistance woven in the territory for inmates at the end of their sentences or in criminal execution outside prison.

Sara Mburugu

Investment Associate at Fondazione Opes-Lcef

Sara, prior to joining OPES-LCEF, spent over 8 years executing corporate deals in the Capital Markets and supporting SMEs to become bankable by providing bespoke technical assistance and support through business advisory services and linking clients to financiers, markets and relevant resources. She is passionate about tackling climate change, creative deal structuring, the detective work of due diligence to uncover the growth potential in businesses and most of all, linking these businesses to resources as I believe that funding the missing middle is a lynchpin to growing these businesses to the next level and alleviating poverty.

linkedin.com/in/sarah-mburugu

Elena Mencaroni

Elena Mencaroni
Assistant Director Fondazione Con Il Sud

After graduating in Management of social economy and some experiences in the design and implementation of social innovation initiatives, Elena joined Fondazione Con il Sud, where she has been working for three years in the general management area.
Fondazione Con il Sud is the first organization that invested in the social and economic development of the south of Italy through private resources. We approach the challenges the region faces partnering with local civil society and third sector organizations to make a lasting, meaningful change operating in different sectors: support to vulnerable people, social welfare, economic and social justice.

linkedin.com/in/elena-mencaroni

Caterina Micolano

caterina micolano
President of cooperativa sociale Alice and founder of Ethicarei

Born in Vercelli, adopted by Milan.
She likes to call herself a social worker, lent to the world of communication and social procurement. President of the social cooperative Alice since 2018, she founded and directs @Ethicarei, the first Italian ethical production district for the luxury world.
She directed the communication and marketing area of the SIGILLO project of the @Ministry of Justice, to promote the development of women’s social enterprises operating within Italian penitentiaries in the manufacturing world. A lecturer and trainer for schools, companies and Third Sector Organizations in the field of sustainable development, she collaborates on an ongoing basis with Universities and Research Institutes for the experimentation of innovative approaches to social sustainability throughout the country.

linkedin.com/in/caterina-micolano-b8b99219

Liliane Munezero Ndabaneze

Liliane Munezero Ndabaneze
CEO and Co-founder WidEnergy Africa Ltd

Liliane M. Ndabaneze is CEO and Co-Founder at WidEnergy Africa Ltd a social for-profit company based in Zambia – Africa, established in September 2016. WidEnergy’s mission is to empower women to become the champions and advocates of clean and renewable energy.
Before moving to Zambia, Liliane worked with the IMF in Burundi and Washington D.C, USA. Liliane holds a bachelor’s degree in Economic and is passionate about women’s empowerment. She has excellent leadership skills and consistently manages the company’s impact metrics, always showing an engagement to improve the living conditions of people, especially women and girls. Liliane served as Vice-Chair of the Solar Industry Association of Zambia (SIAZ) in 2021. To date, WidEnergy has empowered and led a team of close to 50 full time employees where 60% of them are female.

linkedin.com/in/liliane-munezero-ndabaneze-chabuka-357a4317

Samuel Munguti

Co-founder and CEO of Shamba Pride

Samuel Munguti is the Co-founder and CEO of Shamba Pride. Shamba Pride connects rural farmers to technology powered digishops solving decade long product quality, price exploitation, extension access and market challenges. Prior to founding Shamba Pride, Samuel was COO at Farm Shop. He began his last mile distribution career in agriculture and FMCG industry last 12 years, where he managed product research and development, last mile distribution, sales and marketing for several multinationals across Africa including Coca-Cola, L’Oréal and Colgate Palmolive. Samuel has a Bachelors degree and MBA. He is passionate about power of technology in solving key agriculture and food security challenges.

linkedin.com/in/samuelmunguti

Nancy Mutuku

Co-founder and Chief Officer, Administration at Shamba Pride

Nancy Mutuku is Co-founder and Chief Officer, Administration at Shamba Pride. Nancy is passionate about farming and strongly beliefs in power of social entrepreneurship in building a thriving Africa continent. She has wide experience in for profit and none profit organizations both startups and established companies having worked in several agrochemical and FMCG companies prior to founding Shamba Pride. Nancy has a Bachelors degree in Agribusiness.

Francine Munyaneza

Francine Munyaneza
CEO & Founder of MUNYAX ECO

CEO & Founder of MUNYAX ECO, Francine holds a Master’s degree in Business and Administration from Université Catholique de Louvain. She worked with various international institutions and companies including the International Committee of the Red Cross and at senior management level with top North American corporations as well as leading humanitarian organizations (ICRC, MSF).
After 15 years of globetrotting around the world (middle east, Europe, Africa, Asia and America) she came back to Rwanda in 2013 to start two activities: a solar energy company MUNYAX ECO and a green building project “La Maison Verte”.

linkedin.com/in/francine-munyaneza

Marina Mussapi

Marina Mussapi
Strategy Implementation Manager at Moleskine Foundation

Marina brings nearly a decade of expertise in consultancy and project management within the cultural sector to her role at the Moleskine Foundation. Her journey has been marked by a commitment to cultivating creativity, fostering social impact, and driving change in cultural institutions.
Having collaborated with renowned strategic consulting firms in Italy and internationally, Marina honed her skills in strategic and business planning, market analysis, feasibility studies, and economic and social impact assessments. Her work spanned diverse cultural realms, from museums and theaters to festivals and grassroots organizations.
From 2016 to 2022, she worked as a project manager and program developer at BASE Milano, being in charge of institutional fundraising, and educational programs.
In her current role as Strategy Implementation Manager at the Moleskine Foundation, she coordinates the Creativity Pioneers Fund, a collaborative philanthropic fund that supports and champions organizations that harness the power of creativity to drive meaningful social change.
Marina’s educational journey began in her hometown of Milan, where she earned a degree in Cultural Economics and Management from Bocconi University. She later pursued a Master’s in Management of Creative Business Processes at the Copenhagen Business School.

linkedin.com/in/marina-mussapi-88427727

Aitor Ojanguren

Founder of Koiki

Aitor Ojanguren, 60, Bilbao-Spain, Industrial Engineer by ETSII de Bilbao, MBA by Houston University, over 30 years experience in European Logistic and Transport Sector. Founder in 2005 of Celeritas a Spanish transport operator, sold to Lagardère multinational in 2014. In 2014 he founds Koiki as a social entrepreneurship project, within the last mile sector, following Muhammad Yunus and Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia) as inspiration sources.

linkedin.com/in/aitorojanguren

Eric Onchonga

Co-Founder & CEO Irrihub

Eric is a dynamic and visionary leader, serving as the CEO and Co-founder of Irri-hub ke, an agritech company revolutionizing smallholder farming with climate-smart irrigation systems. With over 12 years of experience, Eric’s innovative strategies and deep market understanding drive Irri-hub Ke’s growth and impact. Pursuing his master’s at the University of Nairobi and holding a certificate from Harvard University, Eric is a top innovator recognized by the World Economic Forum and the winner of the African Youth Development Challenge in 2021. His unwavering commitment to empowering farmers through technology has earned him global acclaim.

linkedin.com/in/eric-onchonga-55245255

George Otieno Ochola

George Otieno Ochola
Co-Founder & Director The White Gazelle Tours & Enterprises

Born and raised in Korogocho, one of the biggest Slums in Kenya. He Founded The White Gazelle Tours & Enterprises in 2005, a travel agency that specializes, promotes Socio-Tourism and invest in its earnings, in uplifting and promotion of the living standards of various Socio-groups and institutions, managed by Youths, Women & Elderly withing Kenyan slums such as Korogocho, Kibera etc., through formation of various entrepreneurship.

Daniel Onyango

Daniel Onyango
Performing artist & Co-founder of Hope Raisers Initiative

Daniel Onyango has devoted his career to empowering young people in disadvantaged communities in Nairobi. He is a performing artist, community organizer, and social innovator who co-founded Hope Raisers Initiative, a community-based organization that amplifies the voices of young people through arts, sports, and cultural expression.
For over 18 years, he has supported collaborative projects and community development initiatives aimed at strengthening and encouraging youth and children involvement. Daniel has extensive experience working with disadvantaged youths and children in Nairobi’s informal settlements, and he has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Nairobi. Currently based in Sweden, he continues to play an active role in promoting cultural integration and understanding through various social and cultural projects.

linkedin.com/in/daniel-onyango-15547120b

Laura Orestano

laura orestano

CEO at SocialFare

Laura Orestano is CEO at SocialFare, the first Center for Social Innovation in Italy and President of the first impact seed fund in Italy, SocialFare Seed. Laura has extensive experience in social entrepreneurship and social innovation ecosystems and has worked for large multinational corporations and institutions worldwide in UK, USA, Luxembourg and Germany. She is awarded with other titles: EU Expert on Social Innovation, Jury Member at EU Social Innovation Competition, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and in 2016 was awarded with the WEF Prize “Trailblazer Innovative Woman of the Decade”. She has been recently appointed ActionAid Italia Board Member.

linkedin.com/in/lauraorestano

Ilaria Peano

ilaria peano

Senior Program Officer in the Research and Education area at Fondazione CRT

Ilaria Peano has worked at Fondazione CRT since 2006 where she is a Senior Program Officer in the Research and Education area. She is in charge of several education projects, including Talenti per l’Impresa, a project that provides young graduates with the managerial and business skills needed to start up innovative businesses.
Ilaria is also among the community managers of the Talenti community, a network of more than 1,600 alumni that plays a key role in the evolution of Fondazione CRT’s policies and projects.
In recent years, she has deepened her knowledge of impact evaluation.
Since 2020 she has been involved in the Community of Practice on Impact Measurement and Management promoted by the Esade Center for Social Impact.

linkedin.com/in/ilaria-peano-7714217

Faith Pella

Chief Strategy and Growth at Kilimo Fresh Foods Africa Limited

Faith Pella is an accomplished fintech leader and digital transformation enthusiast in Tanzania with 15 years of experience working in the Fintech and Digital solutions.
In 2013 she was the Country Manager at Cellulant Tanzania Limited. She then grew to regional roles at Cellulant Corporation in the position of Group Head of Risk and Compliance and as Chief Operation Officer at Cellulant Nigeria.
She grew her passion for Agriculture as a business opportunity to enhance Agricultural activities through Technology and Innovation, she later returned home and Co-founded the Agribusiness Kilimo Fresh. In 2020 she was appointed as the Board Member of Tanzania Startup Association. Then later became the Chief Executive Officer of Y9 Microfinance with objective to push for digital and financial inclusion for Women and underbanked youths in Tanzania.
She is currently developing strategies to improve the distribution and supply chain of Fresh produce leveraging technology and innovation to impact the lives of smallholder farmers and local retailors of fresh produce whilst reducing food wastage and promote economic and financial inclusion as the Chief of Strategy and Growth at Kilimo Fresh Food Africa Limited.

linkedin.com/in/faith-pella-a6094059

Antonio Perdichizzi

Antonio Perdichizzi
Founder and President of the Social Enterprise Isola Catania

Antonio Perdichizzi is the founder and president of the Social Enterprise Isola Catania, an impact community hub that aims to generate opportunities for young people in Sicily by creating a virtuous community of extraordinary places, people and organizations. President of Junior Achievement Italia, the most important non-profit organization in the world dedicated to entrepreneurial and financial education at school. He contributes to the growth of his territory also through the presidency of the Small Industry Committee of Confindustria Catania, participation in the Advisory Board of Unicredit in Sicily and, on an entrepreneurial level, with Arcadia Holding, with which he invests in innovative startups and SMEs in the south.

linkedin.com/in/antonioperdichizzi

Marina Pittini

Marina Pittini
President Pietro Pittini Foundation

Marina Pittini is the President of the Fondazione Pietro Pittini since March 2017. The foundation was born in 1988 to help the employees of the Pittini Group, a holding of industrial steel mills and production plants. On March 2017 Marina decided to dedicate herself entirely to the Fondazione Pietro Pittini, a foundation dedicated to the youth. Sport, art, science and merit are the drivers of the foundation to boost quality education. Sensitive to social causes as well as the centrality and value of the manufacturing sector, in her new capacity she is engaged in the creation of projects aimed at the development of her own Region as a laboratory of innovation and experimentation to connect technology, science and education for the future generations; the goal is to generate inclusive economics through programs that implement those best practices that aim at foster youth entrepreneurship .
Graduated in business administration at Venice University of Ca’ Foscari, she started her career as auditor in KPMG Milan in industrial and finance sector: afterward Marina grew working in the companies of the family group and in almost 20 year she gained experience in business administration and finance covering different roles. She has been member of the main boards of the group companies and is now part of several boards in manufacturing and finance entities.

linkedin.com/in/marina-pittini-a448b417a

Valentina Primo

Valentina Primo
Founder and CEO Startups Without Borders

Valentina is an entrepreneur and a journalist with a Masters in peace studies, Human Rights, and EU policies. She is the founder of Startups Without Borders, an Advisor for SXSW Pitch and Board Member of Roma Startup.
Her company, Startups Without Borders, builds world-class events, entrepreneurship programs and media where diversity takes center stage, offering a space for migrant, refugee and local entrepreneurs to thrive. Their annual Startups Without Borders Summit was featured amongst the Top 60 startup events to follow in 2021, and hosted 3,000 people in Egypt.
Valentina has been involved in the Middle East’s entrepreneurial landscape since 2013, having launched Egypt’s largest platform on entrepreneurship, Startup Scene Middle East, in 2017. She has given speeches at conferences worldwide and was awarded the Women Economic Forum’s Women in Excellence Award 2019.

linkedin.com/in/valentinaprimo

Giulio Quaggiotto

Giulio Quaggiotto
Former Head of Strategic Innovation, UNDP

Giulio Quaggiotto was until recently the Head of UNDP’s Strategic Innovation unit. His career includes experiences at Climate KIC, Nesta, WWF and the World Bank, among others. He was also the manager of the Jakarta Lab of the UN Global Pulse, a flagship innovation initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General on big data for public policies. Giulio’s most recent work has focused on systems transformation. He’s an MIT Research Fellow on lead user innovation and a Policy Fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). You can find his tweets at @gquaggiotto.

linkedin.com/in/gquaggiotto

Aarthi Ramasubramanian

Aarthi Ramasubramanian
Fund Manager at Fondazione Opes-Lcef

As an early stage Investor, Advisor & Entrepreneur, Aarthi has spent the last decade across different segments like Impact investment, entrepreneurship & Investment Banking.
She has also helped design a Gender lens approach to investing in early stage enterprises. Over the period of her career she has invested over $30mn in companies, facilitated $80 mn investment in Fund of Funds & also advised M&A transactions. Having been an entrepreneur herself, she also has the unique distinction of being on both sides of the table, as an investor & investee.
She has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management, majoring in Finance from the KJ Somaiya Institute and a Bachelors in Industrial Biotechnology from Anna University.

linkedin.com/in/aarthi-ramasubramanian-872704a

Viviana Rizzuto

Viviana Rizzuto
Founder & President Museo Diffuso dei 5 Sensi Sciaccaa

Engineer and Innovation Manager, Viviana has over 17 years of international experience in various sectors and multicultural communities with a continuous action focused on connecting people and ideas for the implementation of successful innovative projects.
Since 2007 she has held managerial roles at companies in the Biomedical Engineering sector and for American multinationals for which she coordinates interdisciplinary teams managing to ground processes that optimize resource management and the on-time, on-quality, on-cost achievement of business results.
In 2017 she returns permanently to Italy to put the skills she has gained in management and process innovation at the service of a territory with immense resources, too often not adequately exploited. In 2019 she founds and chairs the “Museo Diffuso dei 5 Sensi” in Sciacca (Agrigento), an association created to enhance the resources of the territory, its identities and the people who live there.
In April 2020 she founded and directs, also in Sciacca, the Community Cooperative “Identità & Bellezza” (Identity & Beauty), the first community cooperative in Sicily, with which she elaborates and implements method, tools and governance to entrust the keys of sustainable social, cultural and economic development of the territory to the community that inhabits it.
In January 2022 she founded and chairs “Impacta” social enterprise srl, a hub of europroject changemakers with the aim of providing method and tools to territories to generate social, cultural, environmental and economic impact.
Since March 2022, she has also been working as a europrojector for PRISM Social Enterprise.
In 2023 she was awarded the “Female Excellence – Donnattiva Award 2023” for being an example of a “Woman capable of triggering reflection, change and cooperation”.

linkedin.com/in/vivianarizzuto

Dorcas Sagonda

Dorcas Sagonda
Sales Coordinator at WidEnergy

Dorcas Sagonda is a 30-year-old single mother to an amazing 7-year-old boy, a trained journalist, and an entrepreneur who is passionate about creating impact and changing lives of the people in her community.
Dorcas’s journey in clean energy began in 2020 when she joined WidEnergy as a Customer care expert, then promoted to her current role as a sales coordinator which she has served in for the past 4 years.
Dorcas’ passion for women empowerment and girl child education are what describes who she is and what she believes in.
She has taken her passion for clean and affordable energy personal and has challenged herself to make an impact in the communities where her work takes her.

linkedin.com/in/dorcas-sagonda-11ba2114b

Nivi Sharma

Nivi Sharma
CEO of Bridges to Prosperity

Nivi is the CEO of Bridges to Prosperity, the global leader in rural infrastructure development, which uses technology for needs assessment, impact assessment, and engineering to aid rural infrastructure investments. She is an expert in innovation, impact, and scale-up strategies in ascending markets. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer of BRCK, a connectivity company that provides free public Wi-Fi. Nivi has dedicated her career to access; for children, youth, and adults. Where opportunities can be leveraged to help young people build, serve and lead, she is passionate about figuring out how. In 2011, she co-founded eLimu, the first company to digitize the Kenyan Primary School curriculum content for revision and literacy. Nivi is driven by learning, development, access, and impact. She serves on the boards of Standard Chartered Bank Kenya and The Open Institute Trust. Nivi holds a B.A. (Hons) degree in Economics from Ithaca College, New York, USA. She is a 2014 East Africa Acumen fellow and a Fast Forward Leaders’ Circle member. She lives in her hometown Nairobi, Kenya, with her husband, children, and dogs. They enjoy cooking and camping together.

linkedin.com/in/nivi-sharma

Giovanni Teneggi

giovanni-teneggi

Responsible for promoting community enterprises – Confcooperative

Giovanni, 55 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). 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. In recent years he has developed research, study and consulting activities for community economies. He coordinates the research and development area in Confcooperative Terre d’Emilia and Bmore, an enterprise services company. For national Confcooperative he oversees community enterprise development. He recently assumed the presidency of I.F.O.A.

linkedin.com/in/giovanni-teneggi-53635146

Luca Tesauro

Luca Tesauro
Founder, Chairman & CEO Giffoni Innovation Hub

With over twenty-five years of managerial experience, he works in various sectors of the creative and cultural industries, tourism and innovation. From 2004 to 2014 he was communication manager of the Giffoni Film Festival. In 2015 he founded Giffoni Innovation Hub of which he is CEO and President of the Board of Directors. Since 2017 he has been a member and pledger of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition of the European Commission. In 2018 he received the “la parte dei bambini” award from Telefono Azzurro and in 2019 the Innovation Award from the Rome Business School. Since October 2020 he has been the founding curator of the Global Shapers Naples Hub, a global network created on the initiative of the World Economic Forum. In 2022 he is included in the list of 100 innovators who have made a difference in Italy according to Startupitalia. In 2023 he is evangelist of Unisa Student Entrepreneurship & Innovation – Seiunisa.

linkedin.com/in/lucatesauro

Simona Torre

simona-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.

linkedin.com/in/simona-torre

Cristina Toscano

cristina-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.

linkedin.com/in/cristina-toscano-97b40319

Alex Toselli

Alex Toselli
Founder & Chair of the Download ONLUS Albergo Etico social enterprise

Alex has been the founder and chair of the Download ONLUS Albergo Etico Social Enterprise since 2015, the first cooperative dealing with the employment of people with disabilities through hotel activities. He has more than 20 years of experience working in Europe and North America in the financial sector and several senior roles in the non-profit sector. With Albergo Etico he has contributed to transforming what was just a dream into a virtuous example of social enterprise, capable of combining quality tourism with real social inclusion, showing how social innovation can focus on quality of life and talent, even for the most fragile people, creating opportunities for real integration and new professional figures. He has been recognised with several awards and prizes, including the “Campioni per l’Etica” award in the XIX° edition of the City Angels “Il Campione” Award.
During his studies, he obtained a degree in Political Science with a Political-international focus.

linkedin.com/in/alex-toselli-824068b1

Valeria Valotto

Valeria Valotto
Head of Social Impact and Vice-president at Quid

Born and raised in Verona and educated Europe-wide, Valeria is Head of Social Impact and Vice-president at Quid, where she oversees the company’s impact strategy – from researching and developing innovative programmes to measuring their impact on employees, environment, communities and, of course, the fashion industry.

linkedin.com/in/valeria-valotto-a95a362a

Chiara Ventura

chiara-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.

linkedin.com/in/chiara-ventura-7a2960a7

Flaviano Zandonai

flaviano-zandonai

Open Innovation Manager CGM

Sociologist, work in the field of social enterprise like researcher, traininer, consultant and publisher. Today is the Open Innovation Manager of Cgm National Consortium promoting communities of social entrepreneurs that aspire to develop and disseminate social and technological innovation. Last contributions on hybrid organizations, community asset regeneration and new forms of mutualism.

linkedin.com/in/flaviano-zandonai-271b521a7

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