Fear & Fail Vienna Meetup - Topic: Social Impact Enterprises

We would like to explore and dig deep to find the common fears that limit the potential of Social Impact organisations. We'd like to end up the event with a unified, aligned and agreed call to action.

Here our speakers:

Michael K. Reiter
Michael started his career as creative manager for a German furniture brand, located close to Mainz. After moving to Vienna, he was responsible for several brands in the consumer (B2C) and the professional (B2B) business as marketing manager at Henkel CEE GmbH. Parallel to his job as corporate identity manager at Haas Food Equipment, a mechanical engineering company, he founded “die Fairmittlerei” with three friends. Now he is splitting time between giving trainings to Start ups and developing “die Fairmittlerei” to the next level.

Christina Forster
Christina believes that everyone has a story to tell. And a good one, too. Her own story started in the field of journalism but already in 2005 she moved from print to online. However, it was only during her 8 years in London when she discovered how Content Marketing, Storytelling and Responsible Communication can enable sustainable success for a business - something that became her biggest passion. Since then Christina is helping clients - ranging from big corporation to small social enterprises - to tell their impact by creating human centred communication strategies for internal and external use. Throughout her career Christina has worked in the fashion, sports, music but also media and IT industry with companies such as Red Bull, Nivea, Boden or Cisco Austria. In 2018, she cofounded Heartbeats Innovation & Communication, the first professional service agency in CEE focusing on responsible innovation and communication.

Andra Slaats
Andra moved from Romania to Austria in 2004. When people ask her how long she’s been in Austria for, she loves saying: 14 years,or otherwise 2 marriages and 2 divorces’ time . She loves seing the reaction of people at that.
Andra Slaats worked as Project- and Export Manager in the luxury cosmetics sector. In 2013 she left the industry to become a social entrepreneur. As the co- founder of Younited Cultures, she combines her passion for product development and design with her desire to promote the positive side of migration, a side seldom promoted by the media. Her storytelling scarves and socks are inspired by the lives of successful migrants. She wants to rebrand migration by telling its stories through products.
She never thought she’d end up selling socks one day. But if it helps to bring her message of „celebrating migration“ out, she’d do just about anything. Even selling socks. “And that’s the beauty of it all”, she says.
With a heart for social change, Andra recently joined the Hil-Foundation as project manager and wants to contribute to its vision to empower disadvantaged people to lead a fulfilling life.
In her private time she mentors im/migrants and loves helping refugees integrate on the job market by connecting them with her networks.

Robert A. Arrucha
"Roberto has 10 years of experience in global entrepreneurship, 2 as professor and 2 as a mentor. His way of life mixes constant creativity, brutal honesty, contagious passion and a results driven focus.
Roberto was born in Mexico, holds studies in Law, Economy and Business. He is the founder of Latinomics, a recognized Latin American NGO based in Europe where he works with emerging social leaders.
He is also the founder of Social Innovation Hub, the first nomad development agency working directly with grassroots NGOs and social entrepreneurs in emerging countries. Roberto is an impact Investor in more than 10 social initiatives in 6 countries.
Roberto's dedication and passion for social entrepreneurship brought him to 8 countries across 4 continents: India, Vietnam, Thailand, Kenya, Rwanda, Mexico, Czech Rep. and Austria."