EBAN Impact

Martijn Blom is social entrepreneur and informal investor. Co-founder of De Investeerdersclub and co-author of the ‘handboek informal investment’ (in Dutch) that was released in 2012.

Together with his business partner he participates in several successful social impact ventures. Most striking being Nazava Waterfilters in Indonesia, serving bottom of the pyramid, growing at fast rate and recently being awarded a prestigious Tech Award in Silicon Valley. He is currently advising on the setup of a Social Impact Fund and indirectly involved with the introduction of Ashoka to the Netherlands.

Martijn is a popular speaker and writer on the themes of impact investment en informal investment in general. With the De Investeerdersclub he has been involved as active partner at several organizations and contests, like “Growing SME’s”, “Village Capital”, “Make it happen” and “Get in the Ring”.

Ellinor discovered her passion for financing sustainable business models in 2012 when working as an investment manager for German impact fund Bonventure. Before Ashoka Germany approached her to become a co-founder of FASE, she also supported social entrepreneurs in her role as a fundraiser and social impact lecturer at the Munich-based Social Entrepreneurship Akademie (SEA). For FASE, Ellinor contributes her broad network of investors, multiplyers and supporters as well as her extensive marketing and fundraising knowledge to build a pool of engaged impact investors. Through her father, Rolf Dienst, a seasoned venture capitalist, she knows the VC business from scratch and leverages her own entrepreneurial experience as a start-up founder. Ellinor is a frequent panelist for impact investing and social finance in workshops and conferences within and outside the impact sector. Originally, she obtained a bachelor degree in hotel and restaurant management from Lausanne and Oxford and ran marketing initiatives for premier brands such as Dom Pérignon, Dior and Falke.

A life dedicated to impact investment. Huseyin R. Demirhisar (49), is an experienced impact investment, asset management and finance professional with a career, spanning corporate finance, PE, VC, and investment banking. He is currently the Founding CEO of BiD Capital Partners, impact investment advisory and management firm in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Benelux. His angel investment activities are focused on Impact Investment and Tech4Good domain. Currently he also manages Rwanda Startup Fund and sits at the Steering Committee. Before BiD CP, he was the founder of Angel Wings Ventures, NL, impact investment advisory firm and was the Head of Investments and Portfolio as a GP and LP at PYMWYMIC- leading impact investor in Benelux. Prior to that, he was the CFO/CIO of AmsterdamPark Capital Partners, a Dutch family office, where he led PE and VC activities and was Senior VP at ING Wholesale Bank, he led structured Project Finance deals in Power and Energy sectors for EMEA region. His early career was with Royal Dutch Shell Group, in the roles of Country Treasury Director and M&A Investment Manager for EMEA and India regions. He is a board member European Business Angel Network and serves as a Senator for Rwanda at WBAF. Huseyin holds an MSc in Banking and Finance from the University of Stirling, UK. Bachelor’s in American Studies / System Engineering. He holds also Intl’ Accountant certification.

Meri Helleranta is a vocal advocate for cost-effective investments that create measurable social benefits for the disadvantaged. During her 14 years with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank she designed and executed health and social sector programs in both Africa and Latin America. As an investor, she is part of the Rising Tide Network (RTE3 Europe) and as an avid public speaker, she has focused on encouraging entrepreneurs and other investors to find their passion in social development. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Eastern Finland.

Janne Jormalainen is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He is active in the angel investment scene in Northern Europe, he has invested to over twenty high tech and education companies. He is chairman of the board in six companies and chairman of the board of the Finnish Business Angel Network, FiBAN. He is a frequently heard speaker in conferences and seminars.

Janne made his early career in a large corporate environment, then moving to entrepreneurship. At Nokia, he was in charge of multiple functions and businesses; managing for example the mobile accessory, IoT and wearables business unit with 860 M€ in annual revenues. He has lived and worked in the USA, Europe and Southeast Asia. Since 2005 he has been working as an entrepreneur in multiple industries and founded several companies. In 2015 he sold SPU, a company producing energy efficient building materials, to Kingspan Plc.

Janne holds a master’s degree from Tampere University of technology. He considers himself as a resident of the world with his current home in Espoo, Finland. He is passionate about the opportunities technology and entrepreneurship can bring to the human race.

More than 10 years of experience in finance, fundraising, business development and carbon finance.

Nicolas dedicates all his networks and competences to positive impact companies to bring the more concretes leverages as possible to ecological transition.

As the Director of Secretariat, Jacopo tracks issues of strategic importance to the early-stage investing ecosystem. He also strives to identify opportunities to influence the EU decision making processes, working closely with industry’s stakeholders to promote the excellence and expertise of EBAN’s Board Members to the European audience. Jacopo is also responsible of the coordination and implementation of EBAN’s activities in EU funded projects. Being the first contact point of the Association, he is also looking after members’ interests and helping ensure they obtain best value from their membership. Jacopo holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master of Science degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Thanks to his education and his strong academic background both in marketing and in financial management, Jacopo has a successful track record with international work experiences. He is a native Italian speaker and perfectly bilingual both in English and Spanish.

Robert graduated from the Carlson School of Management MBA program and the Warsaw School of Economics as well as individual intercollegiate studies at Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin University of Technology and Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. Co-founder and Managing Partner at CobinAngels, business angel network, entrepreneur, investor.

He is an expert in diffusion of innovation, business models and organization and development of new ventures. Mentor and member of evaluation teams in start-up contests, investor and coach in several innovative technology startups. Member of the supervisory boards and control bodies of a number of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, including WorkService S.A. He has extensive experience gained while working on managerial positions in global technology companies such as Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, recently Atos.

He supervised and was responsible for the implementation of a number of innovative projects in Poland like STORK EU, projects in collaboration with Atos Research & Innovation and ASE Scientific Community. He created and supervised the implementation of strategies in the area of introducing new products and technologies as well as marketing and sales on the Polish and regional markets of Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, Egypt and Turkey. He also held a number of functions in industry and social organizations including President of Business Students Club, Member of the Board of Polish Chamber of Information and Telecommunications, Warsaw Executive MBA Alumni Association and French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Poland. Initiator of the Business Angels Poland Confederation and a member representing Poland in Business Angels Europe Association and EBAN Space Executive Committee.

Cécile is a project manager working on various assignments.

She is the Community Manager of LBAN (Luxembourg Business Angel Network) and the coordinator of the EBAN (European Business Angel Network) Impact Investing Committee. She used such opportunities to feed her interest for social and environmental projects and impact investing as a whole.

Cécile is also the cofounder of Tiime (www.tiimeisnow.org), an initiative aiming at increasing awareness / access to socially responsible opportunities, delivering sustainable social impact projects, connecting a community of like-minded individuals and organizations and empowering social purpose actors, such as social enterprises/entrepreneurs, individuals, etc, with the relevant knowledge and tools. Tiime’s vision is a world where social impact is consciously and systematically embraced by organisations and individuals alike.

Before that Cécile has been an International Tax Manager working within Deloitte’s M&A practice for 7 years.

Cécile also had the opportunity to volunteer for 6 months at the Food Bank of NYC.

She holds a master degree in business and tax law from Lyon University (France) and speaks English and French.

David van Dijk is co-founder and Director General of ABAN, the African Business Angel Network, a non profit association founded early 2015 to catalyse early stage investing in Africa. He is also Managing Director of Stichting IGNITE, a non-profit organization supporting entrepreneurs in conflict affected countries and he is part of the Investment Committee of the IGNITE Fund. He is a member of the Impact Investment Committee of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN). In addition he manages the mentorship program of VC4Africa, the largest online community of entrepreneurs and investors dedicated to building game changing companies on the continent. Prior David worked for Dutch shipping company Nedlloyd and Danish shipping company Maersk managing and setting up (occasionally closing down) companies in Egypt, West Africa, Russia / former CIS, India and the US. David holds degrees from the University of Oregon, Nijenrode, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam & Clingendael, Netherlands institute of International Relations.

Doug is a serial entrepreneur and ex- CFO of Apple CEE. He is also Founder of ADC Blackfire Entertainment, a toy company, and Blackfire Education, an international school supplier, which he recently exited. Now he’s a mentor and angel investor, focused mostly on early-stage impact start-ups, and also the Sales Director for Augmented Robotics, an augmented reality company focused on the toy industry.