European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Kirsten van den Hul is director of DutchCulture, the Dutch network and knowledge organisation for international cultural cooperation. Before assuming her current position, she worked as an independent consultant through her own company, The Change Agent, on different transition projects, mainly in the public sector. Previously, van den Hul served as member of parliament for the Dutch Labour Party, where she focused on culture, education, gender equality, foreign trade and development. An Eastern Europe specialist, she was also active on the crossroads between culture, human rights and international cooperation and worked for several international NGOs, including international women’s fund Mama Cash and the European Cultural Foundation.  Van den Hul was also a columnist for newspapers and magazines, contributed to a number of publications and wrote a book, “(S)hevolution”. In addition, she notably held the role of Dutch UN Women’s Representative.

Wietse is an award-winning Dutch social entrepreneur and conservationist, pioneering regenerative blue economy ventures. Wietse has received wide recognition for his innovative approach to mobilising businesses, governments and citizens to form uncommon partnerships for the social, economic and ecological regeneration of European coastal and ocean areas. His current venture, the Sea Ranger Service, trains unemployed young people from port cities with the help of navy veterans to manage Marine Protected Areas in European seas. A new type of professional sailing vessel has been developed for the Sea Rangers, with cost-effective sea operation and zero emissions.

Jan-Willem van Putten is a Dutch social entrepreneur and policy expert. He is co-founder of both The School for Moral Ambition and Training for Good, which focus on priming a new generation of leaders to confront pressing global challenges and make a lasting impact on society. Through his work, he strives not only to talk about a better world, but also to take action towards one. As Fellowship Director at The School for Moral Ambition, van Putten manages programmes that empower individuals to drive change in sustainable food production and tobacco industry control. Training for Good works to equip young European policymakers and journalists to recognise and reduce risks from emerging technologies.

Mathieu is Chief Executive Officer of Société Générale Private Banking France, prior to which he was Deputy CEO at the company’s Swiss branch. Before taking on these positions, he was Chief of Staff to the CEO of Société Générale, one of the major banking services companies in Europe. He joined the company in 2001, after having worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for 3 years, and quickly climbed the professional ladder within the company. He was selected for the company’s Executive Programme for the top performing employees. He is a sponsor of the 2010-2012 HEC Entrepreneur Diversity Programme and is a Member of the Executive Committee of the Fondation Croissance Responsable (Responsible Growth Foundation).

Charles Edouard is Founder and Head of Emmaüs Défi, a branch of Emmaüs France, which functions as a non-discriminating company providing jobs to all those who cannot find work in today’s market. He has an atypical background having previously worked in the IT sector at companies such as Netscape, Escalate and SAP France. Only later did he decide to dedicate his career to social entrepreneurship. Charles Edouard also teaches a Social Business and Poverty Entrepreneurship class at the HEC School in Paris. He has attended several universities such as Ecole Polytechnique, ParisTech and Stanford, from which he received a Master’s degree in Engineering Management.

A tech innovator and entrepreneur from Slovakia, Maria Vircikova specialises in machine learning and human-computer interaction. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of MATSUKO, which aims to revolutionise everyday communications through a 3D hologram connection based on mixed reality. The world’s first real-time app for holographic presence, MATSUKO allows users to embark on a holographic experience through the use of smartphones and mixed reality glasses. Inspired not only by technology, but psychology and sociology, Vircikova believes that artificial intelligence can be used as a human-centric tool to meaningfully connect individuals, rather than fracture communities. Prior to embarking on this entrepreneurial endeavour, Vircikova performed research at the Technical University of Kosice’s Center for Intelligent Technologies, where she also taught classes on AI, humanoid robotics, human-robot interaction and service robotics. In recognition of her expertise and accomplishments, she has also notably been awarded the European Tech Women Award.

Maria was the CEO of Fereikos-Helix, a company that oversees the development of organic snail farming globally and CEO of Maria Vlachou LTD, specialising in the branding, packaging and export of Greek high-quality agricultural products. In 2011, Maria she was awarded the Greek Entrepreneur of the Year prize and in 2013, she was included in the Fortune list of “40 under 40” in Greece. In addition, she was on the advisory board of Hellenic Start-Up Association and mentor at several start-up initiatives such as Startup live Athens.

Maria left us too soon on 24 July 2019.

Max is a European serial entrepreneur and Chief Business Officer of Deposit Solutions. Previously Max was Partner and CEO Europe for SkyBridge Capital, the global alternative investment firm, and Director and Head of Investors at the World Economic Forum in Geneva and New York. Furthermore, he was a Co-Founder & Managing Director at Public One Strategy Consulting, and part of the initial team of the technology company Mondus Limited that originated out of Oxford University. He serves as Senior Advisor Europe to the Berggruen Institute and is a former Senior Advisor on Global Business at the Asia-Pacific Research Center of Stanford University.

Caroline is a Swedish entrepreneur at the helm of deep tech and green tech start-ups. She co-founded AirForestry to reinvent sustainable forestry by enabling better biodiversity, gentler thinning and higher uptake of carbon dioxide through the use of electric drones. She is also the Co-Founder of Volumental, using 3D scanning and AI to shape a future free from sizes and creating a world where every body fits, and a Partner at Walerud Ventures, a pre-seed investment firm with a focus on green tech start-ups. Having advised the Swedish government on its start-up policy, she continues to promote entrepreneurship as a Member of the Sting Incubator Advisory Board, Prince Daniel’s Fellow and mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, a deep tech incubator. Caroline has been named the Swedish Supertalent of the Year and among Sweden’s top serial entrepreneurs under 40 by the country’s Business Week magazine.

After working in various jobs including as a camera assistant, electrician and assistant director in film and television, Andi joined the film production company Network Movie in 2002 as a producer. Projects then included the first series of the international co-production “The Team” for which Andi was Creative Producer, several series of the crime drama, “Soko Köln” (PD Cologne), several TV-movies including an adaptation of Frank Schätzing’s bestseller, “Die Dunkle Seite” (The Dark Side). While fulfilling these responsibilities, he studied directing at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne and wrote and directed several short films and commercials.

Eberhart is an engineer specialising in energy generation for heating, power and vehicle fuel from both conventional and sustainable sources. He also has expert knowledge of the feasibility of the development and practical application of energy generation based on local conditions. Born in Mexico and educated in Germany, Eberhart has a vital understanding of industrialised and developing countries alike. He has been responsible for national renewable gas projects in Germany, and for the mechanical design and commissioning of gas processing plants in developing countries. He has a strong understanding of the global energy market, current obstacles and future perspectives, with experience of various multi-million euro investment contract negotiations around the world.

Chanyu is a German serial entrepreneur, passionate foodie and start-up mentor from Berlin. In 2009 she co-founded her first successful ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) start-up Customer Alliance which is currently used by over 3,500 hotels in 35 countries. Chanyu has since co-founded several food-tech start-ups, including eating.de backed by star investor Peter Thiel and her1, which offers tips and products for a healthy and nutritious lifestyle. Her latest start-up, ONO LABS, provides women with 100% natural nutrition before, during and after pregnancy.

Darya is an Irish entrepreneur and influential global pioneer of the role that ‘augmented reality’ (AR) can play in education. She recently created CleverBooks to provide personalised educational content for students by utilising three-dimensional AR technologies. Darya has been widely recognised for her work, having won the Digital Female Leaders Award in Entrepreneurship as well as being named an Innovator by the Irish Times and a Young Irish Entrepreneur. She has been featured in Inc.com, Forbes, CBS and many other global media platforms for her efforts to bridge the technology gap in classrooms around the world and boost student outcomes.

Tomas is an award-winning Slovakian architect. Apart from being a partner at the architectural firm Nice&Wise, he is the Co-founder, CEO and Design Director of Ecocapsule, a start-up that designed a portable house with long off-grid life span, worldwide portability and flexibility. As such, the Ecocapsule is suitable for a wide range of applications: from an independent research station or a tourist lodge to an emergency housing or a humanitarian-action unit. For this project, Tomas won the People’s Choice Award at the Start-up Awards Slovakia and the Silver Medal at the K-design Awards in Korea.

Julia is principal investigator in the research area “plasma medicine”, a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary field of research requiring synergistic contributions from physicists, engineers, chemists, micro- and cell-biologists and physicians. To carry out this fundamental but also translational research she created a “plasma medicine network” including partners from more than 20 institutions in Germany, England, the USA and Russia. Julia is also Co-founder of the company terraplasma GmbH – a technology company, founded in May 2011 as a spin-off from the Max Planck Society. The mission of terraplasma GmbH is to develop and bring to market different cold atmospheric plasma devices. Julia holds a PhD in Biophysics from the Technical University in Munich.