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.
Valentina Carbone is Professor of Sustainability and Supply Chain Management at ESCP Business School, Paris campus, France. She is the scientific director of the PhD Programme of the ESCP Business School.
In her research, she deals with inter-organisational and collective dynamics in global value chains and contemporary grand challenges, with a particular focus on how multi-stakeholder initiatives (such as RSPO) or new production and consumption models (such as sharing and circular economy) contribute to addressing environmental and social sustainability challenges. Her research has been financed by public sector bodies such as the European Commission or the French Ministry for Sustainable Development. It has been published in major international journals in the fields of supply chain and sustainability.
She established and co-directed the Chair on Circular Economy; she is responsible for the Sustainability Rethink specialization track and for an online Sustainability Management course for all MSc students at ESCP. Valentina is in charge of a monthly web show on environmental issues in supply chains, in French (https://supplychain-village.com/video-on-demand/supply-chain-durable/). She serves on the Board of Directors of HOP, an NGO fighting against planned obsolescence.
Nóra Obermayer, PhD, Habil., is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Pannonia in Veszprém, Hungary, where she serves as Head of the Department of Management, Vice-Dean for Development, and DBA Programme Leader.
Her academic profile brings together management, knowledge, digitalisation, and organisational transformation, with a strong focus on how people, organisations, and technologies shape one another in contemporary business environments. Her teaching portfolio includes intercultural management, strategic human resource management, strategic management, and knowledge management, reflecting a broad and applied understanding of managerial education. Her research interests cover knowledge management and knowledge sharing, organisational and national culture, artificial intelligence, digital technologies, social media, and Industry 4.0.
Professor Obermayer also leads the Digitalisation and Knowledge Management Research Group, part of the Multidisciplinary Centre of Research Excellence, and has been recognised for her academic contribution with distinctions including the Elsevier Scopus Young Researcher Award in the Engineering category and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary, Civil Division.
To discover the keynote speakers who participated in earlier years, we invite you to visit the ‘Previous Editions’ page.