The gateway for impact investors to the EU long-term budget: InvestEU and ESF+
The gateway for impact investors to the EU long-term budget: InvestEU and ESF+
The EU long-term budget 2021-2027 and NextGenerationEU form the largest package ever financed through the EU budget, of EUR 2 trillion. We will highlight opportunities and mechanisms for impact investors to engage in and access the two most important EU funding programmes: ESF+ and InvestEU.
Frank Lee
Frank is acting head of the European Investment Advisory Hub, a pan European advisory service managed by EIB on behalf of the European Commission, and part of the "Juncker Plan" for economic recovery launched in 2015. He has more recently led the negotiations with the Commission on establishing the successor to this initiative - the Invest EU Advisory Hub - that will provide advisory support for investment projects across the EU during the 2021-2027 period.
Frank is also head of the Financial Instruments Advisory division, which manages the fi-compass advisory platform (www.fi-compass.eu) - funded by the European Commission and promoting the use of financial instruments funded with EU and public funds.
Frank has been involved in managing and co-financing EU-funded financial instruments since 2007, contributing to the launch of the "JESSICA" initiative - promoting the use of financial instruments to support more sustainable urban development, and involved in establishing the EIB's fund management activities in this regard.
Silvia Manca
Silvia Manca is responsible for the social impact programs within the Institutional Business Development team at the European Investment Fund (part of the European Investment Bank Group).
She joined the EIF in 2008 as a project manager, and she has been working in the design and implementation of new programs between EIF and other institutions to support access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, with a particular focus on microfinance, social entrepreneurship and impact investing.
Prior to joining EIF, Silvia held positions at State Street Bank. She holds a Master's degree in Economics and Management of Arts, Culture and Communication from Bocconi University in Milano, and studies in international management at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS).
Peter Surek
Peter Surek is Head of Social banking at Erste Group and CEO of Erste Social Finance Holding. He is a retail and social banker with 20+ years of experience in different Central and Eastern European markets. After graduation at the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia, he started his career in Tatra banka, Slovakia from the bottom and spent 8 years going through almost all the positions in the retail branch network. Within his engagement with Raiffeisen Bank International he was managing multiple projects in Austria, Albania and Croatia and in 2009-2011 he co-founded the new direct bank, leading products and business processes development.
In 2011 he joined Erste Group as the Head of the new established Retail MIS unit. After getting to know the social background of Erste, he decided to leave his retail career for developing social banking in the CEE countries. Since May 2013 he leads the new created unit Social banking development, reporting directly to Erste Group CEO. Within the last years he has consistently implemented social banking in all Erste core markets, building thus Europe-wide unique platform for financial inclusion. Since 2019 he acts as member of European Microfinance Network's Board of Directors.