European Social Innovation Competition 2015

Roxana Damaschin-Tecu is NESsT’s Director of Portfolio. Based in Timisoara, Romania, she is responsible for implementing the NESsT portfolio of social enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America, further developing presence and impact throughout the regions. Prior to joining NESsT, Roxana worked in a social enterprise providing employment to people with disabilities. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in European Development Studies in Social and Educational Sciences and is the recipient of the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship in 2012.

Tomas Diez is an urbanist specialising in digital fabrication and its implications for the future of cities. He is the director of the FAB City project at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, one of the initiators of the Fab Lab Barcelona, and co-founder of the Smart Citizen project and the Studio 52 in Barcelona. He is a close collaborator of the worldwide Fab Lab network, in line with the Fab Lab Foundation and MIT.

Anne-Sophie Do was born in France and has shared her life between Canada, Asia and France. After graduating from Sciences Po, she went on to ESSEC business school where she studied finance. She has previously worked for an innovative consulting firm Hystra, dedicated to hybrid business models for the Bottom of the Pyramid before returning to her home country Vietnam where she worked for BNP Paribas as a corporate banker. She is currently Director for international development and consultancy at Le Comptoir de l’Innovation (the innovation branch of Groupe SOS, first social enterprise in France with 12000 employees).

Anna Fiscale is the Chairwoman of QUID, a social enterprise specialised in female empowerment. She developed her views on female unemployment and social innovation during her studies. After interning at the EU International Cooperation and Development office in Bruxelles, and working in Haiti in 2013, she founded QUID. Since its foundation QUID has opened 4 temporary stores and today employs 20 disadvantaged women. In 2014, QUID and was one of three winners of the 2014 European Social Innovation Competition.

Alexios Galinos is a development economist. He has been an advisor to Athens Municipality on economic development since 2003. He has led the establishment of a municipal agency whose objective is economic development and tourism in Athens, and he served as the organisation’s first Director-General from 2005 to 2007 before being appointed CEO. The Agency has recently become very active in the field of social entrepreneurship. He also served as Special Secretary and Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2007 and 2009. Prior to that he worked as a consultant at the World Bank and for NGOs in several countries including India and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Markus Hipp studied philosophy and Catholic theology in Munich from 1989 to 1994. Upon graduation, he spent two years as a lecturer in German and philosophy at the Czech universities of Budweis and Brno, before working in marketing and publishing in Munich and Augsburg. In 1998, he joined the Robert Bosch Foundation in Stuttgart as assistant to the executive director. In 2000, he became the Foundation’s deputy chief executive for Central and Eastern Europe, before being appointed to establish the Berlin office of the Robert Bosch Foundation in 2002, which he directed until August 2006. Since then he has been the executive director of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. The married father of four also holds a number of honorary posts in other organizations. He is a member of the advisory council of the Association of German Foundations in Berlin, a member of the board of trustees of the Breuninger Foundation, a board member of the Paretz Foundation as well as a founding director and member of MitOst e.V., an association for language and cultural exchange in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. In 2011 Markus Hipp became a board member of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA).

Kaat Peeters is general manager of Sociale Innovatie Fabriek, a networking organization that promotes, coaches and supports socially innovative concepts throughout Belgium. The Fabriek supports these ‘entrepreneurs’ in the designing and launching of their innovative concepts and projects. It gives them access to knowledge and expertise through a learning network. Formerly, Kaat was active for several years as director of the support center for amateur arts, worked at the ministry of Culture and has been working as cultural coördinator for a council. As part of these jobs, she established a European network and was responsible to develop two newly founded associations into solid organizations. Meanwhile, Kaat ran a Persian and Arabic interior objects shop and a Bed&Breakfast in the center of Ghent.

Pedro is co-founder, President and CEO of Beta-i – an organization dedicated at helping startups succeed and boosting entrepreneurial ecosystems in Lisbon. Pedro is the host and a mentor of SeedCamp Lisbon, a facilitator and co-director at Startup Weekend Lisbon, and was the co-director and a mentor of the first Founder Institute Lisbon, in addition to several other mentoring initiatives. In 2007 he co-founded and was a co-director of the Social Innovation Program at TESE – a social innovation hub based in Lisbon (in partnership with Young Foundation) for 3 years. Pedro is a fellow of Kauffman Global Partner Network, member of World Entrepreneurship Forum and Young Urban Leaders Network, co-founder of Startup Portugal and a member of APBA – Portuguese Business Angel Association, where he was an Executive Board Member for nearly three years.

Sam Sparrow is currently Director of Task Squad. Task Squad was a finalist in the first Global Impact Challenge in the UK and in the 2nd European Social Innovation Competition, attracting sponsorship from Google, and further funding from the Nominet Trust and the Centre for Social Action Innovation Fund. Task Squad is currently scaling within London and will open its second location in Manchester later in 2015. As a skilled volunteer, Sam has held positions as a local primary school governor, mentor to both young entrepreneurs and those starting out in social innovation and served as a grant panels member for the MSE Charity, assessing applications for financial support to individuals and small charities.

Agata Stafiej-Bartosik is Ashoka Country Director for Poland. Ashoka is one of the biggest social entrepreneurship networks in the world with over 3000 social entrepreneurs in more than 80 countries. Before she worked for PwC in the Sustainable Business Solutions Team. From 2003 to 2007 she was manager for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Danone group in Poland. She notably designed and launched the successful Share Your Meal program dealing with child malnutriton. She also co-founded The Foundation for Social Communication in Poland and SMartKolektiv in Serbia – organizations helping NGOs to use marketing tools in order to support their mission.

Daan Weddepohl is a pioneer in the field of sharing economy with Peerby.com, which is an app and website that enables people to borrow the things they need from others in their neighbourhood in 30 minutes. He is also an alumnus of TechStars and Founder Institute and a mentor for Rockstart Accelerator, a seed investment mentorship program that runs for an intensive 100 days. The program helps 10 promising startups to launch their products worldwide, get ready for growth investment or bootstrap into profitability. Additionally, the startups follow a summer program to prepare them for a 3-week trip to Silicon Valley.

Christer Windeløv-Lidzélius has been the Principal CEO of KaosPilot since 2006. Kaospilot is a hybrid business and design school, a multi-sided education in leadership and entrepreneurship. BusinessWeek has recognised Kaospilot as one of the best design schools in the world, and Fast Company has named it in its Startup Leagues Big 10, preparing you for the fast moving startup economy. The school was founded in Aarhus but it is also present in Bern and offers executive programs in Barcelona, New York or Cape Town. Prior to the current position Christer pursued a career as an entrepreneur, as well as a strategy/management consultant.