Petar-Pierre Matek

Philip Stark

Board member of KONDOR Global, former President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), Managing Director of GE Hungary and Partner of PwC Hungary. One of the first impact investors in Hungary. His current focus is Sharity Impact - recognised as TOP10 innovation this year -, a digital technology platform which is able to add positive social/environmental impact to business activities like communication, marketing, advertising, PR or employer branding, in a measurable way, which could be useful for ESG reporting purposes too. Farkas Barsony - the founder of the impact marketing concept - is the President of the Impact Committee at the Hungarian Marketing Association. Board member of THBE and United Way Hungary.

Ewa Konczal joined EVPA in May 2014 and is the Market Building Lead. Ewa is spreading the knowledge about impact finance in Eastern Europe and MENA. She manages the first Polish VP Fund Valores, initiative of PE community in Poland. Ewa has over 15 years of experience in social entrepreneurship as Representative of Ashoka in Poland and as Ashoka Director for Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to Ashoka, Ewa worked in India with Global March Against Child Labor, and in Egypt with AIESEC and Egyptian-Polish Businessman Association. She has set up the Magic Mountain Foundation, using mountain sports and natural horsemanship as tools for change for people with disadvantages. Ewa is the recipient of the AIESEC Alumni Entrepreneurship & Leadership Award. She holds a Master's degree in Marketing and Management.

Raphael is Impact Investment Manager at Erste Social Finance, focusing on real estate investments. He started his career in Sydney at a property consultancy and then joined an International Real Estate Developer as an Investment Manager covering the CEE and afterwards the German market, before taking on the responsibility for the ESG and Sustainable Finance department. He holds a background in business law from the Vienna University of Economics and Business and in property development from the University of New South Wales.

Gergő is a certified economist specializing in risk management and corporate finance, sustainability manager, registered tax expert, risk management manager and Basel 3, ICAAP, SREP expert. He joined KPMG in 2008 and is currently involved in various risk and regulation-related projects for both domestic and foreign institutional and corporate clients. He gained extensive experience in assignments involving financial and sustainability regulations and sustainable financing. He frequently publishes articles, gives interviews and lectures on a wide range of regulatory topics and green finance.

Co-founded and scaled a business until its acquisition by a regional PE firm. Entrepreneur with SAAS, education, IT consulting, and seed VC experience. Business and corporate development expert. Believes in impact business and social enterprise. Non-traditional background in visual media, communications, and fine art. Currently Chairman of the Board at Green Fox Academy and Chief Investment Officer at STRT.
Forbes 30 Under 30, 3x TEDx Speaker

Sándor Buda is active in the investment fund management sector since 1998. He’s an economist who majored in law at the University of Economics of Budapest (now Corvinus University Budapest). At the beginning he worked on managing bond and equity funds before joining Europa Property Fund Management Plc, where he contributed to the successfull launch of the first Hungarian open-end property investment fund. Later he became the company’s CFO and CEO. He continued his professional journey at MFB Invest as a consulting director for SME investments and chief operational manager for EU funded domestic venture capital programs. In the meantime he participated in setting up the domestic VC and PE funds which were financed by EU’s Structural and Investment Funds between 2014 and 2020. In addition he took up the role of COO and Board Member at Biggeorge Fund Management where he supervised the company’s property investment funds. Since 2020 he was the COO of Hiventures and since 2022 he is the CEO of MFB Invest Ltd and EXIM Invest Ltd where he carries out domestic and regional investments in a fund of funds structure. He’s married, father of one child.

After supporting large for-profit and government entities in becoming more efficient and profitable as a consultant at EY (Ernst & Young), Deloitte, and Proactive Management Consulting, Gábor was called to use his expertise in management and strategy in a different field: to help organizations and people with a social purpose reach their full impact potential.
After a formative two years working with nonprofits at IFUA Nonprofit Partner, Gábor became one of the three founding members of SIMPACT at the end of 2016.
Since then, he and his team coordinated and implemented strategic planning, social entrepreneurship and investment, impact management, research, and organizational development assignments across the CEE region.
They also built bridges between NGOs, social entrepreneurs, churches, grant-givers, corporations and individuals, through impact measurement, skills-based volunteering, capacity-building programmes, and other initiatives.
After a long track record of successful collaborations with the ERSTE Foundation, Erste Group, Badur Foundation, Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, IFUA Nonprofit Partner, ScaleImpact, Velux Foundations, and many other partners, SIMPACT also become one of the initiators of the Marc Impact Programme, a joint initiative by the ERSTE Foundation, Erste Social Finance, IFUA Nonprofit Partner, and SIMPACT.

Ana is Social Impact Investment Lead at ERSTE Foundation, an organization which addresses today´s diverse crisis scenarios in multiple ways. Firstly, as an assertive core-shareholder of Erste Group, one of the largest financial service providers in CEE, with a responsibility for businesses and society that derives from its history. And secondly, as an active contributor to European social, democratic and cultural life. In this capacity, Ana is tasked with spearheading the design, development, and implementation of ERSTE Foundation Social Impact Investment Strategy. This comprehensive strategy encompasses the preparation of the launch of a future impact equity fund, the establishment of a non-financial support (capacity building) program for high-impact entrepreneurs at the CEE level (Marc), and gathering learnings on how to best monitor impact. Social finance and impact investments are performed by Erste Social Finance, which is held by ERSTE Foundation and ERSTE Group to further foster prosperity and financial health in CEE. With 14 years of banking experience, Ana's background includes diverse roles in corporate finance and investment banking, with a focus on Mergers & Acquisitions and Equity Capital Markets. She also brings a wealth of expertise in impact, innovation, sustainable capacity building, and financing. As the Co-Founder and member of the Board of Advisors at Marc, Ana believes that high-impact entrepreneurs will drive the social and ecological transformation of the next decade, and we are all committed in Marc to equipping them with tools and financing they need to succeed.

Member of the Board and Partner at Apelso Trust Hungary with appr. 25 years of management experience of Private Banking/Wealth Management. He started his career at local Private Banking pioneer Raiffeisen Private Banking and later gained global experience at BNP Paribas Wealth Management in Budapest. Under his management Erste Private Banking became one of the leaders on the Hungarian Private Banking market. Between 2018 and 2022 he was responsible for the CEE level Private Banking steering of Erste Group and then of Raiffeisen International in Vienna. Founder and chair of the Association for Succession (GaUE) in Hungary.

Managing Partner of Green Brother, with more than two decades of B2B sales and management experience, a degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA in Finance. He is the manager of EIT InnoEnergy RIS HUB and EIT Urban Mobility RIS HUB, angel investor in environmental impact innovations. He applies his market value-oriented, strategic thinking to his consulting work in bringing innovations to market and attracting investors. His areas of expertise are energy, transport and the circular economy. Since 2014, he has been a member of the EIC Accelerator team of experts, during which time he has been involved in more than 30 international and several domestic business development projects. Since 2017, he has been a member of the EIT InnoEnergy and since 2020 of the EIT Urban Mobility international community. Since 2023, member of the Hungarian Business Angel Association and the Association of Socially Beneficial Investors. In 2020-21 he led the contribution to the development of the Hungarian Battery Industry Strategy 2020-21, including the domestic industry relations.

Catalyst of a better business, managing patner of the Swiss-Hungarian Inspiring Culture. It supports business people in their development so that they can create highter added value fo the stakeholders and achieve their key results. He has supported many organizations with his work in the last 20 years throughout Europe, the Middle East and the USA. Previously he worked as a senior manager for international companies in the IT and health industries.
He is member of the international team of consultants within the independant Blueprint for Better Business foundation, who believe that a better society can be created if business enterprises focus more on increasing the public good, protect human dignity and the environment, while bringing a fair return to owners and creditors. This can be achieved through individual and group acting responsibility and concrete behaviour change, which is the task of everyone involved.

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Uli Grabenwarter, is Director - Equity Investments at European Investment Fund (EIF). In this capacity he oversees EIF’s equity investment activities across the entire investment spectrum including fund investments in Technology Transfer, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Private Credit, Impact Investing, and Infrastructure funds. Previously he was responsible for EIF’s strategic development in the equity investment and in this context has led the build-up of the Social Impact Accelerator, the first pan-European impact investing fund-of-funds. From 2010 to 2012 he conducted a 20 months research project on impact investing in collaboration with IESE University of Navarra in Barcelona and the Family Office Circle Foundation based in Switzerland, analysing best-market-practices for impact investing in the private equity and venture capital space. He is a visiting Professor for Private Equity and Venture Capital at IESE University of Navarra in Barcelona and, in his personal capacity, is an angel investor in life sciences companies. From 2018 to 2021 he served as a Trustees of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (www.GSGII.org), He currently is on the Board of several asset management companies and family office structures. He regularly publishes articles and white papers on venture capital and impact investing. Uli is also member of several expert groups on impact investing and impact metrics across Europe. Uli holds a master’s degree in business and finance of the University of Graz.

Edina joined the EIB in 2009, looking for a job with purpose after working for a large law firm. As the EIB representative on a special mission to the Danube Region, she helped set up a multi-country “centre of excellence” to provide strategic and project development support to cross-border and regional projects. Later, she joined EIB Advisory Services where her small team helped engineer the European Investment Advisory Hub, a mechanism that provides expert advice to European Investment projects, promoting sustainable investment.
Edina earned her juris doctor degree focusing on human rights. She regularly volunteered at and organised humanitarian relief and philanthropy projects, and was engaged in performing arts as a choreographer, dancer or stylist. She is a certified corporate sustainability advisor (NYU Stern) and is an avid guest lecturer at universities on the topic of sustainability, net positive and the law of unintended consequences.

Impact investment manager with business intelligence and product management background. Passionate about education and supporting nonprofit organizations.

Fundraising advisor and facilitator between impact & climate-tech startups and VCs. He works with early stage startups (Pre-Seed & Seed) - mostly from the CEE region - helping them get investment ready, introducing them to relevant investors and maximizing their fundraising potential.

Orsolya believes that she is the luckiest person when you ask her about her work. Being good, doing good – this is her credo, which, apart from her personal life’s actions, is really her job description. She leads the Social Banking in Hungary where she and her 2-members team innovates ideas how to live social responsibility, what to make in order to decrease social distances. She likes to see the big picture as well as the details. Always open for new ideas, her motto is: everything gives inspiration, just need to wait, which puzzle fits to another.

Levente Richárd Kovács is a business development and accounting specialist who has been the investment manager at Hiventures since 2021. He founded his professional career in the Big4 world, where he spent more than five years. He uses the experience he gained there for the consistent and systemic development of the startup ecosystem. Levente is passionate about impact investing, believing strongly that people vote with their money, and aims to drive positive social and environmental change through strategic investments.

Nikolaus Hutter is a Partner and co-founder of Relevant Ventures, a purpose venture catalyst operating out of Belgrade, Kampala, and Vienna. Relevant develops, pilots, and scales enterprise and investment solutions to address humanitarian and planetary crisis. Relevant’s mission is to accelerate the shift to a purpose-driven economy by piloting it today with a focus on the blind spots: the people, places, and topics that markets neglect.

An economist by training, Nikolaus has 25+ years experience as an entrepreneur and investment professional internationally. He has worked for 10+ years in Venture Capital, has developed and delivered purpose accelerator programs reaching 1.000s of impact businesses globally, and has been working with global NGOs on enterprise and investment for over a decade.

Cyril has been an investment manager within the venture capital team of EIF for the last eight years. Since 2019, he heads the team in charge of managing EIF equity social impact investments and portfolio, from social impact fund investments, social impact bonds and investments in impact incubators. His entire career within EIF has been dedicated to impact related activities, starting with microfinance in 2008. In this context, he was responsible for the implementation of the JASMINE programme, an EU initiative aimed at boosting the institutional capacity of microfinance institutions in Europe. Prior to joining EIF, Cyril gained unique field experience working with microfinance institutions in the Middle East.

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Based in Vienna with a global background, Darya has a background in fintech, marketing, and now leads the charge in impact investing. She manages acceleration programs in partnership with Erste Foundation, Red Cross, and Deloitte Austria as a part of Impact Hub Vienna team. Darya is especially passionate about empowering female-founded ventures. She also runs a book club centered on modern social issues.

Nora Bogsch fulfils the position of head of secretariat of THBE since November 2020. With her background and vast experience in tourism and event organisation she wishes to add an asset to the association. After having worked with a variety of nations in the niche market of incentive and conference tourism and collaborating with the top 5 star hotels, fine-dining restaurants, catering and technical companies, event locations of Budapest and its surrounding, event organising comes natural to her. However, with her new role, adding a real meaning, a true mission behind meetings, events and communication adds a great value to her work, which she cherishes.

Silke Horáková is the Co-Founder & General Partner of Tilia Impact Ventures, the first social impact fund in the Czech Republic and the co-owner of Albatros Media, a.s., the largest Czech book publishing company. In the past, Silke worked in senior positions for private equity funds and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and as the CEO of the Czech Private Equity & Venture Capital Association. She was also teaching Entrepreneurship Finance at the Prague University of Economics. Silke is the founder and chairperson of the supervisory board of the Albatros foundation, which supports socially disadvantaged children in education, and a co-founder of the Foundation for support of independent journalism in the Czech Republic. She served as a member of the Ashoka ASN global advisory board and is currently a board member of Impact Europe, the investing for impact network (former EVPA). Silke holds a PhD in Economics from the Berlin (East) University of Economics. In 2023, she was selected by Forbes as one of the 50 over 50 women leaders in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Johannes Weber is the General Partner and Co-Founder of Ananda Impact Ventures, a pioneering impact VC firm with €200M under management. Since 2010, Ananda has backed early-stage European technology startups tackling some of humanity’s most pressing problems, from biodiversity to space, antimicrobial resistance to forest fires, digital health to education. Johannes has been interested in the interface between entrepreneurship and "personal mastery" for many years and is enthusiastic about bringing and passing on his knowledge to the companies he finances. He recently oversaw the completion of Ananda's Social Fund I, which proved for the first time that impact investing can be both financially profitable and deliver a positive, measurable impact to the world.

Nicolas Firzli is founder of the World Pensions Council (WPc), the retirement & savings industry think-tank, co-chair of the G7 Pensions Roundtable held on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, founding-member of the Advisory Board for the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF), a World Bank and G20–led global initiative, and managing director of the Singapore Economic Forum (SEF)
He has co-developed notions such as ‘SDG–Driven Investment’, ‘Pension Superpowers’, the ‘Age of Geoeconomics’, ‘Modern Employee Capitalism’..., and chaired the Pensions and Asset Owners Roundtable at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (Paris COP21)
Nicolas is a graduate of Canada’s McGill University (Statistics & Financial Economics), an alumnus of the HEC Paris School of Management (MBA Corporate Strategy & Marketing) and the University of Paris Law School (LL.M. Corporate Law) and has conducted research at the University of Louvain (UCL) Doctoral School of Economics and Management in Waals Brabant (Belgium)
He is a regular contributor to BBC News, Bloomberg, RTÉ, Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster, and Asharq Business News, the Arabian Gulf financial news network. He is also active in ecumenical, interfaith dialogue, nonalignment, and the promotion of peaceful & inclusive sustainable development endeavours in Britain, the European Union and the Greater MENA—African—ASEAN continuumProperty/Construction Technology, the Chairman of the European PropTech Association and Partner in a new Climate Impact VC Investment Fund.

Matteo Bartolomeo, is CEO of Avanzi Etica Sicaf Euveca spa, an impact investment fund dedicated to early stage equity investments whose main investor is Banca Etica, the most important ethical bank in Italy. Matteo is co-founder of Avanzi spa, fund's mother company, a consulting firm and think tank dedicated to sustainable innovation since 1997 that has more than 40 employees and diversified activities.

Gregoire co-founded and invested in over 20 businesses across Eastern Europe and had 4 exits so far. His largest venture is TELUS International Europe, formerly named CallPoint, which he co-founded 16 years ago. The outsourcing company currently employs 8,000 team members in Romania and Bulgaria. His two latest startups are:
- bonapp.eco, launched in 2021, that combats food waste. The company’s app connects users with local food retailers, including grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, bakeries, coffee shops and hotels. Through the app, users can purchase food that is approaching its expiration date, at a discount.
- Refurbished smartphones online store Fenix, launched in 2020. I exited as a shareholder 14 months after its launch, selling the business to French group Recommerce.
He also performs ongoing investments in office, residential and commercial real estate. He is one of the first investors in Amber Forest, which is the largest green real estate project in the CEE (800 homes built on a 310,000 sqm land). I belong to the French Tech global community, which he serves as Co-Founder and President in Romania. They hold one event per month, with 250 to 500 guests, on average, on topics such as female leadership and sustainability. He supports several NGOs, primarily HOSPICE Casa Sperantei, which takes care of patients with life-limiting conditions and rare illnesses. He also runs the TELUS Foundation in Romania, which distributes 100,000 EUR per year to local NGOs.
He believes entrepreneurs have an increasing role to play in shaping a meaningful world. Their success must come with responsibility. Profits with purpose. Growth with progress. Prosperity with philanthropy.

After obtaining a masters from Corvinus University and working nearly 20 years for multi-national companies, Szabolcs decided to follow his instincts: quit and start a venture creating an interactive, gamified training program for companies in the realm of sustainability. His startup motivates employees to get acquainted with the practical elements of sustainability and to integrate these into their daily lives. He’s super passionate about his work, his goals and colleagues. In his free time he’s an avid sportsman, running marathons, participating in triathlon races and has a passion for hiking. He has two teenage children.

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Michael Wroczynski is the CEO and founder of Samurai Labs, which provides proactive Trust & Safety AI to protect online communities from harm by acting autonomously before damage is done. With 22 years of experience developing Artificial Intelligence-based products, Michael is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about making the internet a safer place for everyone, especially children. In response to the rise of mental health crises during the COVID pandemic, Michael predicted their impact on society and drove Samurai to develop models that now identify and assist over 250 people in a suicidal crisis every day. Prior to founding Samurai, Michael founded Fido Intelligence, a leading A.I. lab that pioneered technology to detect pedophiles and violence on the internet. He also founded Medical Web Design, the first search engine for medical information. Michael is a medical doctor who earned his MD at the Medical University of Gdansk, Poland. He has also served as an advisor to startups, NGOs, and government agencies on topics ranging from entrepreneurship and machine learning/A.I. to combating hate speech and cyberbullying.

Elemér Eszter cofounder & managing partner of IMPACT Ventures Co. Ltd. the fund’s goal is to achieve measurable positive social and/or environmental impact alongside a financial return & leading impact investment in the CEE (Since 2018), Founder & managing partner of PBG FMC (First investor of Commsignia, Sector agnostic VC fund since 2014)
Graduated as a historian, & studied political sciences & economics in the US. Afterwards he became a serial entrepreneur.
Open, persistent & cooperative. A real entrepreneur, an experienced VC & a problem solver. Believes that anything can be solved through communication & cooperation. Disruptive mindset & turbulence are his superpowers. Cofounder of Hungarian Social & Environmental Impact Investors Association, & the president of HVCA.

Szabolcs Varga has been active in private wealth management for more than 25 years. He joined Bank Gutmann AG in 2004, become its partner in 2012 and has been acting as its Head of the Hungarian office. Szabolcs studied finance and business management at the Corvinus University of Budapest, law at ELTE, Budapest and holds an AMP Diploma from IESE Business School, Barcelona. He is the initiator of and participant in several initiatives for family businesses in Hungary and Central Europe. He co-founded the Family Business Association in Hungary and until the pandemic, he was the organiser of the Gutmann Family Business Professional Day, a series of professional workshops throughout the region. He is one of the initiators of the publication of David Bork’s The Little Handbook of Family Business in the region, including in Hungarian.

Szabolcs was an advocate in Bank Gutmann to set up an impact private equity fund and has been actively lobbying for the expansion of the Bank’s impact offering. One of his professional missions is to persuade wealthy Hungarian families to allocate some of their funds for making the world a better place and begin investing in the impact scene.

Gyula Márk Pleschinger graduated from Corvinus University in 2003 earning a degree in the Investment Analysis and Risk Management faculty. He joined Morgan Stanley International Ltd in the same year, subsequently assuming various roles in the Fixed income and FX Research Department. Most notably he was responsible for currency analysis in Central-Eastern Europe and South Africa. In 2010 Gyula returned to Hungary and started a new role as a senior equity salesperson in Raiffeisen Bank’s Treasury department. In 2015 he joined MKB Bank as head of Treasury sales, with the mandate to reorganise the team. In February 2019 Gyula assumed the role of MKB Private Banking director. In this capacity he is determined to increase his team’s footprint in wealth management and investment advisory with particular focus on sustainable solutions. Gyula Márk Pleschinger has been the director of MBH Bank Private Banking since the fusion of MKB Bank Plc. and Takarekbank Ltd. in 30 April 2023.

Erwin is one of the „Founding Fathers“ of Impact Investing in Germany. After several years in traditional investing at Wellington Partners, he launched his own start-up incubator. In 2002, he initiated the founding of BONVENTURE, the first impact investing fund in the German-speaking realm, with a group of socially committed investors. Since then, Erwin has continued to drive the development in the impact sector. As a business economist and with a PhD in statistics, he is one of the leading minds in the industry, especially in financing models for startups and data-driven impact analyses. For example, he co-authored the first uniform standard for impact reporting and is regularly interviewed by trade and consumer media on the latest developments in impact analysis.