How ARNO Brings Impact to North Macedonia (+ a poetic bonus)

How's the impact investing space in North Macedonia? Don't know? Let's fix that.Recently, Impact Europe launched a new EU-funded market building programme called Invest For Change, focusing on an underserved region: the Western Balkans. By way of introduction, we sat down with Marjan Icoski and Irina Janevska of ARNO, our new partner in the country, for a chat on their impact ecosystem and what is needed to push the envelope.As a bonus, we bring back the creator of Impact People, Ben DeVries, for one last poetic rodeo. Be sure to stick around until the end!****Get to know ARNOConnect to Marjan and Irina on LinkedInJoin us at Impact Week and connect with our market building work

Join Eleni Theodorou for a conversation on leadership, empathy, community and more, spanning her work as Managing Director of We Share Forward Foundation to the many alliances to which she contributes. What’s the role of listening in impact leadership? How do diverse stakeholders and co-funders come together around impact goals? What’s next for Europe’s foundations? What’s the role of catalytic capital in 2025? How do we make more capital impact capital? Tune in to find out! We Share Forward  Find Eleni on LinkedIn  Discover the communities of practice in Health and Agrifood, spotlighted in the episode  Join Eleni at Impact Week, 18-20 November  Listen to Eleni on a previous episode of Impact People  

Anastasiia Dieieva (CEO, Tokarev Foundation) has described the work of Tokarev Foundation as ‘tech philanthropy.’ But what does that mean in the context of wartime Ukraine? Anastasiia has answers – and big questions – to share. She’s joined by Darii, a young scientist supported by Tokarev’s programs, to add a perspective on EdTech’s future. Read Tokarev Foundation’s 2024 Impact Report and check out their website to learn more Check out the documentary We Are U, which features Darii, and the YouTube channel of SaveEd, who produced it Join the Impact Europe crew at Impact Week Malmo – early-bird tickets now available!   

We’re at ChangeNOW in Paris — three days, 40.000 people, bold ideas everywhere, and one big question: Whose minds do we still need to change — and how?In this special episode of Impact People, we take you into the heart of ChangeNOW 2025 — weaving together raw, honest reflections from founders, funders, thinkers, and doers who pitched at Funds For Change, the stage we co-organised. Tune in to hear what’s giving changemakers hope, what’s keeping them up at night — and who they wish had been listening.

The Impact Generation was assembled by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and tasked with putting together a youth impact agenda. We heard from them on Impact People last year in Torino – and this year in Bilbao, they’re back! Tune in to hear them ask big questions, share learnings and ponder what being ‘likeminded’ really means.  About the Impact Generation (in Italian)  https://www.compagniadisanpaolo.it/it/news/impact-week-2024-continua-il-percorso-degli-impact-generators/  Listen to the Impact Generation episode from Torino   https://open.spotify.com/episode/70ZNVoQstc9i13pLowHDBN?si=478defbc972e4f9f  Mentioned in the episode  Better Together for Youth – a whitepaper  https://www.impacteurope.net/insights/better-together-youth  Youth Hackathon  https://www.impacteurope.net/insights/five-young-afghan-students-shine-bilbaos-impact-week 

In a rare quiet room at the very buzzy Impact Week, seven Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows sat down to talk. What unfolded was a conversation unlike the others in this series: about the life of founders – sometimes wonderful, sometimes not. Our guests shared their experiences on balancing family, business partners and expectations; their biggest questions for each other; and what it takes to keep going when the odds are against you.  Jackie  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/diana-jue-jackie-stenson  Jessica https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/jessica-menon   Monika  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/monika-tomecka Sofie  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/sofie-blakstad Jife  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/jife-williams-adeola-asabia  Ishani https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/ishani-roy Rana  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/rana-sanyal * https://www.impacteurope.net/ 

The Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows are innovators, changemakers and impact entrepreneurs par excellence. Five of the Fellows came on Impact People to let us inside their world – three in this episode, two more in Part 2. We start with Amaia Rodriguez, whose company Gravity Wave removes plastic from the ocean to give it a new value. Then there’s Salma; she founded Green Watech, a solution that transforms wastewater. Finally, we hear from Titi about 9ijakids, a learning tool that uses interactive quizzes and games to help reinforce what children learn in school. Join us for insights on what it means to be an impact entrepreneur, the big questions they’re asking and how the Cartier Women’s Initiative enables and accelerates their work.  Amaia https://www.thegravitywave.com/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/amaia-rodriguez  Salma  https://www.greenwatech.com/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/salma-bougarrani  Titihttps://9ijakids.com/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/titi-adewusi Meet these Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows – and many more – at Impact Week in Bilbao!  https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home  

Part 2 of a multi-part episode on the work lives of five Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows. Ishani founded Serein, which helps companies prevent harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Next, we hear from Rana, founder of RS Research, a next-generation therapeutics company developing novel nanomedicines based on innovative drug delivery platforms to treat patients fighting cancer. Join us for insights on what it means to ask big questions and reach the answers in innovative, impactful ways.    Ishanihttps://serein.in/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/ishani-roy Rana https://rsresearch.net/ https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/rana-sanyal Meet these Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows – and many more – at Impact Week in Bilbao!  https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home 

Empowering Systemic Investing: what needs to be done? It’s a big question for the impact ecosystem. It’s also the title of an upcoming session at Impact Week, moderated by Shiva Dustdar, Director, Head and Dean of the EIB Institute. Shiva talks about the concept, big news from EIB, books she’s reading and lots more.   https://institute.eib.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivadustdar/  https://ssir.org/articles/entry/systemic_investing_for_social_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Cooked_Adam_Smith%27s_Dinner%3F https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home 

The EIB Institute and EIF launched the Empowering Equity Academy in June to encourage female students in STEM and sustainability subjects to consider careers in venture capital and private equity. Mara and Laura, students with backgrounds in clean energy transition, have joined the Academy and are now learning a lot about how finance can create the world they want to live in. Join Mara, Laura and Ben for an in-depth introduction to their upcoming session at Impact Week, “Empowering Gender and STEM in finance. From the grassroots!” https://institute.eib.org/2024/06/empowering-equity-academy-is-launched/ https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-balasa/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-linuesa/