First confirmed Keynote Speaker: Angela Achitei
Social entrepreneur, international expert in social economy and social inclusion, trainer, investor, advocate of Romania’s social economy law and of social entrepreneurship in the Republic of Moldova, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2016) and Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise in Europe (2022).
Angela Achitei has been leading the ADV Romania Group—one of the promoters of the social economy in Romania and the Republic of Moldova—for more than 23 years. She is the co-founder of AFIN IFN S.A., the first Romanian-owned non-bank financial institution dedicated to the social-economy sector, and of the Social Finance Association, which provides mentoring and training in social finance. Her current project involves establishing a Social Investment Fund, planned to become operational in 2027. Angela and her team established the ADV Academy and the Social Enterprise Accelerator cluster, through which they have built 62 social enterprise start-ups in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine. Angela firmly believes that “what we do every day shapes our future.”
Keynote Speech at Strategica 2026: Social Economy: the Economic Model that Creates Value and Meaning
In this presentation, Angela Achiței will present the social economy as an effective economic solution to today’s challenges: social exclusion, inequality, and pressure on public budgets. Participants will deepen their understanding of what a social enterprise means in operational and governance terms, how the sector is structured and financed at the European level, and why it is considered strategic within the policy framework of the European Commission. Discussing advanced insights and lessons learned from the experience of ADV Group, the presentation will critically explore how economic performance and measurable social impact can be strategically designed and scaled within sustainable organizational structures. Angela’s keynote speech proposes an applied dialogue about impact-driven entrepreneurship, social innovation, and the role of universities in shaping a new generation of responsible economic leaders.
To discover the keynote speakers who participated in earlier years, we invite you to visit the ‘Previous Editions’ page. Detailed profiles of the invited speakers will be published here as soon as the confirmations are finalized.