About Us

Meet the team behind the European Center for Social Finance.

Our Team

We are a group of professionals working at the intersection of theory, practice, and policy to advance the field of social finance across Europe.

Barbara Scheck

Barbara Scheck

Professor for Entrepreneurship

Barbara is the Professor for Entrepreneurship at Munich Business School. Her research focuses on the financing of social enterprises, impact and mission-related investing and impact assessment.
Wolfgang Spiess-Knafl

Wolfgang Spiess-Knafl

Social Finance Expert

Wolfgang studied management engineering and has a background in investment banking. He has been active in social finance since 2009, with a current focus on emerging technologies.
Clémentine Blazy

Clémentine Blazy

Social Finance Expert

Clémentine studied management and business at ESSEC and Sciences Po. She joined ECSF in 2020 and is involved in Technical Assistance programs for the European Commission.
Giulia Parola

Giulia Parola

Project Lead

Giulia works as a Project Lead at ECSF. Her research focuses on academic-practitioner collaborations in European projects.
Adewale Olowode Olushola

Adewale Olowode Olushola

Project Manager

Adewale studied Demography and Social protection systems. He is working as the project manager on the YES! Young Entrepreneurs Succeed funded by the EEA & Norway Grants.
Kamila Wodka

Kamila Wodka

Project Coordinator

Kamila is an experienced project coordinator with a strong background in managing international initiatives like Horizon Europe and Erasmus+.

Our Mission

The European Center for Social Finance was founded to establish best practices and distribute knowledge on the financing of social services and social innovations.

At Munich Business School, we work with a network of partner organizations across Europe to bridge borders and contribute to the development of the social finance sector.

What is Social Finance?

Social finance is the field of financing social enterprises. Social enterprises are enterprises which use entrepreneurial approaches and commercial tools to solve social problems and deliver value to the society.

In our definition, social finance is an expanded toolbox which also includes those instruments used in the wider philanthropic space, including equity, debt, grants, revenue share agreements, recoverable grants, or convertible notes.

Learn more about Social Finance →