Funda is the co-CEO at Norrsken Foundation - an impact ecosystem where “entrepreneurs can find everything they need to make saving the world their job”, with the vision to “enable the next impact unicorn - a company that has a positive impact on one billion lives”.

Prior to this role, Funda co-founded Norrsken' Impact Accelerator. In its two years, the accelerator received approximately 5000 applications from 120 countries & invested in 40 of the most promising early stage impact tech startups from around the world. Funda also held the COO role at Norrsken Foundation's COO where she was responsible for the operations, partnerships and expansion to Africa and Europe. She also headed Norrsken House and was in charge of setting up and running their first entrepreneurial hub in Stockholm. Funda has been part of the management team since she joined Norrsken in its early days.

Prior to joining Norrsken, Funda worked as a market analyst, a management consultant, and led an international acceleration program helping social entrepreneurs scale to new markets.

Funda earned a Ph.D. in strategic management from IESE Business School, where she focused on impact ventures and their scaling strategies. She also spent time in Silicon Valley as a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Born in Turkey, Funda’s international journey also brought her through Melbourne, Barcelona, Cairo and Madurai before moving to Stockholm several years ago.

Abubakar Suleiman is an economist and a banker with over 20 years experience in consulting and financial services. As the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Plc, his top priority is to optimize the impact of financial intermediation in critical sectors that can catalyze growth and create a future of shared prosperity for all Nigerians. These sectors are Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation, and are at the H.E.A.R.T of Sterling.

Before his current role, he served as an Executive Director and Chief Finance Officer of the bank and was the executive sponsor of the Bank’s non-interest banking business (Sterling Alternative Finance). Abubakar holds a bachelor’s degree (B.Sc) in Economics from the University of Abuja and a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Major Programme Management from Said Business School, University of Oxford.

His previous work experience includes tax advisory at Arthur Andersen and financial markets with Citibank Nigeria. He is a firm believer in the role of efficient markets, emerging technologies, and small businesses in unlocking productivity, improving national competitiveness, and driving inclusive economic growth.

He currently serves on the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), and the Advisory Boards of Lagos Business School (LBS), Enterprise Development Center (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University and the Bantu Blockchain Foundation.

Cristina is General Partner & Chief Catalyst Officer at White Star Capital, responsible to catalyse growth by connecting talented entrepreneurs globally, collaborating across ecosystems with family offices, institutional investors and strategic corporates, and create sustainable value for all stakeholders. White Star Capital is a multi-stage technology investment platform investing in exceptional entrepreneurs with global ambitions, where the team leverages expertise and networks to help scale businesses internationally. WSC invests across North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia, and has grown to manage over $1bn in AUM. Cristina has been responsible to set up WSC Asia Fund and HQ in Singapore, and the MENA HQ in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Prior to joining White Star Capital, she spent over twenty years in the luxury, consumer, and tech industries, working for the likes of LVMH, Gucci, Prada, Apple HK & China and Lane Crawford Joyce Group, focusing on strategic planning, international business expansion, innovation and global growth. 

Cristina has been investing her own capital over 25 companies and several funds through VenturaXVentures. She is member of the Global Family Office Circle and co-invests and partners with family offices globally. VXV Mission is to create an ecosystem that ignites impact and creates value for all stakeholders by: Connecting global talent: Human, Financial & Value Capital (Entrepreneurs, FO, PE, VCs), Catalysing growth by collaborating across ecosystems focusing on sustainable investment, and Creating value by advising and co-investing in purpose driven entrepreneurs with Family Offices and investment funds.

Cristina earned the Erasmus Grant and studied Communication Sciences from Ramon Lull University in Barcelona and Milano. She did her Global Executive MBA at IESE, is a Business Coach certificate by IESE and is Alumni at Harvard Business School, Stanford, Insead, Kauffman Fellows and certified by Wealth Management Institute of Singapore on Ray Dalio Principles of Investment.

Sebastian is a seasoned climate finance professional with more than 25 years of experience in the financial sector related to energy and venture capital. He started his career with two years of relief work in Bosnia Hercegovina during the Balkan War leading the planning and implementation of large scale projects for organisations such as UNHCR, the Lutheran World Federation, Caritas and the German Foreign Ministry. After completing an MBA, he joined Schroders, an independent UK based merchant bank in London where he advised governments and large utilities on Privatisations, M&A transactions and project financings. In 1999 he moved to Barcelona to initiate and direct the SME focused private equity arm of a local investment bank and five years later, in 2004, co-founded an investment firm, SI Capital, focused on climate finance. As a co-founder of SI Capital, one of the pioneer VC firms within the climate finance space in Europe, Sebastian has shown the entrepreneurial ability to raise and manage funds, invest in and add significant value to portfolio companies, and exit them. With transactions executed in excess of €500m, Sebastian is a strong advocate for significant capital having to be allocated to remedy climate change and social injustice and actively fosters collaborative approaches to this end. Additionally, in 2019, he co-founded Oryx Impact to help mobilize capital for impact investments in Africa to promote more sustainable, resilient and inclusive communities with the aim of reducing local and global inequities and forced migration.

Sebastian contributes as Speaker to numerous sector specific conferences each year. He has been member of more than 20 boards of directors of companies in sectors such as clean energy, finance, education, technology and sustainable logistics.