Women at the Helm of Angel Investing

As we celebrate women all over the world in the month of March, we at EBAN would like to highlight the amazing women business angel network managers that lead the European early stage investment ecosystem and enable angel investments to take place. Congratulations to each and every one of them for their great contributions and here’s to even more women BAN managers, as well as business angels and entrepreneurs in the future!

Read about these exceptional women below:

Amel Gaily

Managing Director at FiBAN – Finnish Business Angels Network

Amel is the managing Director at FiBAN, she comes from Nordea, where she has worked within Private Banking, in various positions, as well as with financial crime due diligence. Prior to working in the financial services industry, Amel worked in the aviation industry for multiple years.
A native of Espoo, Amel has lived in several different countries and three different continents. Amel studied economics at the University of Turku and Corporate Governance at Hanken School of Economics. Amel is bilingual, both Finnish and English are her native languages.
Travelling, spending time with her family and sports all play a big role in Amel´s life. Amel is also fascinated by art, lately she has been particularly interested in the art of stand-up comedy.

Amparo de San José

CEO at IESE’s Business Angels Network

Amparo de San José is CEO at IESE’s Business Angels Network since 2009. The network has reached a record investment year in 2017 with 32 deals and +4 million invested, added to complete a +190 startups portfolio. In 2013, IESE was recognized with the EBAN Award for Best European Business Angel Network. Previously, de San José served as consultant for InterAmerican Development Bank in Washington, and keeps occasional collaboration with the institution on entrepreneurship issues. At LATAM, she has been part of several consulting projects devoted to entrepreneurship and startup creation, and is a member of the XCALA initiative for the creation of business angels networks. Her study Accelerators and Social Entrepreneurship: Acceleration Models and Support Ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean has recently been published, along with three case studies conducted at a local scale and the AEBAN Business Angels Report 2016 (an annual report on the situation of business angel investment in Spain). Currently, she is the lead person behind Startup Europe Latin America and Women Angels for Entrepreneurs in Spain.

Anca Albu

Managing Director at SICTIC

Anca has been active in the development of the global tech startup ecosystem since 2010. Before joining SICTIC , she was one of the first to join the core Startup Weekend team and support the company into becoming the biggest entrepreneurial education organization worldwide. Also, she had an instrumental role in growing and connecting the European entrepreneurial community with her own organization CEE Changers, and also connecting VC’s with tech startups from NYC to London and Amsterdam.

Angelina Pak

Managing Partner and Head of Investor Relations of the International Investor Organization INVESTORO

By now, INVESTORO membership base consists of more than 200 private investors and global early stage VCs. Angelina has more than 8 years experience in early stage investment market development and working with business angels networks in Russia. As a Head of programs and projects of INVESTORO she has organized Venture Capital Course SEED ANGELS (by the International Investor Organization INVESTORO and Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO) and International Early Stage Investments Summit VOX ANGELIS (VOX ANGELIS 2019 was mentioned among the top 10 things that positively influenced Russian venture capital market in 2019).

Anu Oks

Managing Director at EstBAN – Estonian Business Angels Network

CEO Estonian Business Angels Network and startup ecosystem builder working with angel investors and startup teams on a daily basis. As EstBAN CEO she is building a bridge between startups and investors – thereby offering the best investment opportunities to investors and great “smart-money” value for startups. Formerly she worked as TalTech Mektory Startup Programme Manager and coordinated the work of TalTech innovation and business centre. She worked with super-early-stage startups with the pre-incubation program and was helping to improve the relationships between industries and academics. Her passion has been helping deep-tech startup teams and research groups with an entrepreneurial mindset and support. She also worked in Enterprise Estonia (2011-2015) as coordinator of international experts supporting the application’s evaluation.

Arti Bareja

Investor Relations at ClearlySo 

Arti has 8 years of experience in the banking sector doing M&A and Portfolio Management. More recently, she has worked for Fair Finance building their SME lending business based on the principles of responsible lending. She joined ClearlySo in 2018 with a mandate to grow their impact focused individual investor network and has been deeply involved in the portal project to bring scalability to the investor network. Arti holds a BA(Hons) in Mathematics from Delhi University and a MSc in Economics from LSE. In her spare time, she likes to run and read.

Biljana Ramljak

Coordinator at CEED Macedonia – Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development

Biljana Ramljak is with CEED team almost for 6 years. As a Financial and Administrative Assistant previously worked 5 years in the investment fund SEAF Macedonia and SPMG company for private equity funds management. She had entrepreneurial experience, 5 years conducted independently own business, and there so she understands some of the problems that young entrepreneurs have. Certified CEED Finance. She speaks English and Slavic languages spoken in the Balkans.

Carmen Martinez Lopez

Manager at Big Ban angels – Business Angels Network

Graduated in Environmental Sciences from the Miguel Hernández de Elche University with specialized training in R + D + i and Project Management. Throughout her professional career she has worked as an Innovation Manager and European Project Manager in sectors as diverse as sustainability, communication and educational innovation.

Caroline Amblard-Sai

Operations Manager Angels Santé

Caroline is of French-American background and educated both in the US and France. After a master’s degree in International Business, she gained extensive business and Communication experience in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She is currently the Operations Manager of Angels Santé, the largest business angel network in Europe solely dedicated to healthcare and well as the European Coordinator for the EIT Health Investor Network, which brings together private equity investors and healthcare startups raising between 500 K to 10 M €. This EIT Health program is led and operated by Angels Santé. Caroline, who is passionate about early stage cross-border investment, is based in Paris.

Daiva Jankauskaite

Managing Director at Lithuanian Business Angel Network || Head of Climate-KIC Hub Lithuania

Daiva has been the Managing Director of the Lithuanian Business Angels Network (LitBAN) since April 2019, and became the Head of Climate-KIC Hub Lithuania in February 2020. During her career she has worked as Event Manager at SUPERNOVA Kaunas, Project Manager at National Kaumas Drama Theatre and Administrative Director at Mobile Angels.

Eileen Moloney

Senior Consultant at CorkBIC

Bachelor of Arts Degree, Psychology (University College, Galway).  Qualified Mediator (Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London) EILEEN MOLONEY practised as a lawyer in the UK and the USA before returning to Ireland in 1984 to lead marketing for North Star VAR. Eileen co-founded Expert Edge Computer Systems in 1986 delivering expert system software solutions, heading up its UK start-up in London in 1991. Went on to provide Business Development & Marketing Consultancy to small and medium sized enterprises with limited marketing focus and to larger companies penetrating new markets (’92-94). Delivered Training Programmes for the IPA on Leadership & Modern Management Methods to top level Civil Servants in Europe. Joined CorkBIC in 1997 to develop the Graduate (later Genesis) Enterprise Programme (delivered via CorkBIC) – a one year rapid incubation for start-up companies. Has delivered several business start-up programmes. She is an Accredited Mediator for Commercial Dispute Resolution with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London. Specific expertise in organisational development, sales and marketing and entrepreneur assessment.

Eva Sever

Project Manager for Startup-Investor Relations

Eva Sever has been with Business Angels of Slovenia for more than 2 years now. Business Angels of Slovenia is the oldest and most inclusive venture capital club in Slovenia and is organized as an extremely lean organization with a president and one project manager. Eva is the project manager, responsible for operations of the club as well as startup scouting and investor & partner relations. Her main role is to make useful connections where nurturing a large network is of specific value. Eva is intrapreneurial, curious and direct. Since 2018 she helped organize seven demo days with approximately 50 different startups taking the pitching stage. She also contributed to the organisation of last years’ Next Round investment conference with 300 participants. In 2019 she coordinated 400 of consulting hours to 16 startups.

Fionnuala Wall

Marketing Manager at CorkBIC

BA Hons in European Studies and French & Spanish; Diploma in Marketing. Fionnuala has a wealth of experience in marketing having worked within most areas of marketing with organisations such as COLT Telecom, Macalla Software, Deecal International and Oracle. Prior to joining CorkBIC, as Country Marketing Manager for COLT Telecom Ireland, Fionnuala was responsible for sales campaigns, lead generation, PR, new product launches and event organisation. Fionnuala joined CorkBIC in 2010 and works to promote CorkBIC’s services focusing on event organisation, PR, and communications.  Maintaining a professional web presence, issuing online newsletters as well as social media also play an important role in marketing CorkBIC to start-ups and the business community. Specific expertise in the organisation and management of events, public relations, online marketing and communications.

Florence Korhonen

Founder and Chair at NFBAN – Nordic Female Business Angel Network

Florence Korhonen is an entrepreneur and angel investor. She is a member of the Finnish Business Angels Network(FIBAN), and is the chairperson of the recently established Nordic Female Business Angels Network(NFBAN). Florence Korhonen started her career in business as an entrepreneur of Medical Assistive Devices in Helsinki, which she operated for 6 years. She is currently the CEO at Miraflo Ventures Ltd, an investment company based in Finland that passionately believes that its Angel investor role is not simply one of financial investment but must have a social and/or environmental return. She knows that Impact Investing for balanced economic and social prosperity is the way of the future and energetically promotes this notion both among investors in her network and system sector decision makers whose cooperation is critical. Her own investment portfolio presently focuses on Impact Investing in seed and early stage startups and in support of capable female entrepreneurs, to whom she often offers a co-working space at Miraflo Invest in downtown Helsinki. She is also a visiting investor coach at the AppCampus.

Irma Borst

Founder/CEO of MatchingWINGS

Irma combines scientific knowledge (PhD in Management of Technology & Innovation, Entrepreneurship lecturer for master students, Director New Business Development programme RSM Executive Education) with practical experience of developing business plans and assessing plans (a/o SME business plan assessor as EC expert).

Kasia Wierzbowska

Female startup ecosystem activist. Women empowerment expert. Social innovator. Co-founder of Black Swan fund. LAP alumna

Social Entrepreneur, Social Innovator, Founder and President of the Board of Female Entrepreneurship Foundation, Founder of Entrepreneurial Women Network, Mentor, natural born Networker, Co-founder of Black Swan Fund – network of women’s business angels, Co-founder of Black Swan, VC. LAP Alumna. Female startup ecosystem activist, women empowerment and gender equality expert.

Laura Egg

Managing Director at aaia – Austrian Angel Investors Association

The Tyrolean-born Laura Egg has been active in the Viennese startup scene for more than a year and previously completed a degree in Business & Management in Innsbruck. After experience in the Tyrolean startup community, she led her enthusiasm for innovative business models and new technologies to the VC fund APEX Ventures in early 2019. As an investment analyst, she was responsible for deal flow management and communication with startups and investors at the early-stage Deep Tech VC fund. Since March 2020, she has taken on the role of management in aaia and has set itself the goal of positioning the network across Europe and fully exploiting the potential of the location.

Lisa-Marie Fassl

Managing Director at aaia – Austrian Angel Investors Association

Active in the startup scene for several years, the native of Burgenland has already gone through several stations and got to know the ecosystem from different perspectives. She is particularly interested in projects with digital components and supports startups hands-on in their further development. In addition to her function at aaia, she is involved as a co-founder of Female Founders and on the advisory board of the ideas drive in Graz.

Nagore Ardanza Urtiaga

Coordinator of Orkestra’s Crecer+ Investor Network

Coordinator of Orkestra’s Crecer+ Investor Network, Mentor on the GAZTENPRESA mentoring programme with the YBI methodology. An entrepreneur and CEO of a bioscience firm that she founded in 2004, she previously worked as an executive assistant for 10 years in a firm focusing on financial intermediation with high political risk countries. Bachelor’s degree in Law, University of Deusto, she completed an Advanced Management Programme at IE and a Master’s degree in International Business Management at EOI (industrial organisation school) and the course entitled Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) Harvard university organised by Orkestra and Universidad e Deusto.

Nina Labkovich

Belarus Business Angels Network Managing Director

Belarus Business Angels Network Managing Director since March 2019. 8+ years of experience in the Belarus Startup Ecosystem in the first and largest   Startup Hub in the country “Imaguru Startup Hub” as Global Entrepreneurship Week Belarus Coordinator, AidVenture Project Assistant,  Business Angels Academy Coordinator.

Regina Llopis

AEBAN Spain  – Vice President

Ph.D. in Mathematics applied to Artificial Intelligence from UC BERKELEY, PADE Executive Training IESE Business School. Aplicaciones en Informática Avanzada and Group AIA’s Founder and President. AIA has been transferring basic science and providing AI (ML and Data Analytics) solutions to business and industries, Building Algorithms for a Better World, for over 30 years working with leading Companies and NASA. Co-Founder and President of WA4STEAM (Women Angels 4 Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Architecture and Mathematics). Vice President of AEBAN 2019-2021. Business Angel with over 30 investments. Member of the Advisory Board of Science, Technology and Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain’s Government, Member of the Advisory Council National Pact for the Knowledge Society of the Catalonia Government. Global Ambassador & Board Director IWEC. Boards of Non-Listed companies and SMEs in EUROPE & US.

Siobhán Killen

Comms & Events Coordinator at  HBAN – Halo Business Angel Network

Siobhán is an experienced professional administrator who joined the HBAN team in 2017. Her primary background is in higher education  and the arts from which she draws extensively as part of her work in the start-up eco-system. With considerable experience in event management, recruitment and customer service, Siobhán brings a diverse range of skills to her role in HBAN. In addition, Siobhán specialises in social media, graphic design, website management. She has also worked in theatre across Ireland working as a stage manager and technical director. Siobhán holds a BA Honours Degree in English (UCD) as well as a qualification in Film Production.

Sisse Melsen

Operation manager at DanBAN – Danish Business Angels

Sisse Melsen is the head of operations at DanBAN, the biggest Angel network in Denmark, counting 140 approved members. Personally I have a long history within the Danish start-up ecosystem, first as an entrepreneur and later on as a tech journalist. My work in DanBan involves everything from matchmaking, supporting syndications, planning trips and guiding/helping both start-ups and business angels with whatever challenges and questions the might have. I have a master degree in experience economy from Aarhus university which support my mission to make every little event count, as a valuable and rewarding experience for every stakeholder in our community.

Tetyana Romanyukha

Executive Director at UANGEL – Ukrainian business angels network

As a former VC fund & startup accelerator executive Tanya worked with deal flow and startups on a daily basis. She gained experience in business processes and development, as well as cooperation and investor-startup relations. Being a startup community insider gives a chance to become a connector in a startup-investor possible cooperation.

Chloé Kuder

Network & Operations Manager at Newable Private Investing