Elena Casolari

Elena is co-founder and Executive President of Opes Impact Fund, the first impact investing vehicle in Italy that provides patient capital to young social enterprises in Africa and India. She is also the CEO of Fondazione Acra, an international NGO that promotes and supports sustainable and market-based solutions in 16 countries worldwide. Elena is also on the Board of Directors of Fondazione Umano Progresso, a family foundation that operates mainly in Italy, Uganda, and Brazil for the benefit of the most marginalized and excluded groups, and of E&E, a social enterprise in Tanzania that manages a vocational school for economically disadvantaged students in rural areas using the sustainable rural school model devised by the Paraguayan Foundation.

Elena also sits on the Boards of Directors of Social Enterprise World Forum C.i.C., in England, and the recent association Social Impact Agenda for Italy. She is part of the Steering Committee of Opportunity Collaboration, a global network of leaders who design and implement solutions for poverty. Previously, Elena has worked in emerging markets at some investment banks (HSBC, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, and Nikko Securities).

Elena graduated in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan and subsequently worked as a researcher at the Department of Commerce at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo for two years. Married with one child. One of her favorite quotes is from Martin Luther King.

"It's always the right time to do the right thing"