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The Team

Inpulse has a dedicated team of multilingual and multi-skilled professionals committed to bringing  positive changes in the life of financially excluded people through adequate support. We are based in three countries (Belgium, Poland et France): 10 staff in Brussels, 3 staff members in Warsaw and 1 in Paris. The team managers and investment team have extensive experience in due diligence, risk management and portfolio monitoring of investees in the social economy, microfinance and the informal sectors. The geographical scope of our staff experience covers the entirety of the European Union, neighboring countries, Africa and Latin America.

Bruno Dunkel

Bruno Dunkel

General Manager

Bruno has 24 years of experience in equity financing of cooperative enterprises at the European level through Soficatra, a risk capital investment company for the Social Economy in Europe. He has been collaborating on the CoopEst project since its inception (i.e. over 6 years). Bruno is a member of the CoopEst Executive Committee and in this capacity is involved in all the development challenges of this vehicle of social finance, operating in Central and Eastern Europe and currently holding a portfolio of €38 M across 31 partner financial institutions. He is a graduate in Economic Science from the Free University of Brussels and also studied Political Science at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Native in French, Bruno speaks German, English and Italian.

Michal Radziwill

Michal Radziwill

Manager

Michal has 28 years experience in various areas of finance and audit. He is bilingual in Polish and French, fluent in English, Russian and German. He has worked for audit firms (Deloitte & Touche and Mazars) as well as international corporations. In 2000, Michał joined TISE, then the private equity arm of the bank BISE. Since 2006 Michał has actively contributed to the creation of CoopEst and the development of its investment activity. Simultaneously with the duties of Chairman of the Executive Committee of CoopEst, he used to hold the position of General Manager of TISE SA (Warsaw) until 2019. Michał graduated from the Economics and Finance Department at Institute d’études Plotinus – Sciences Po (Paris) in 1991 and from the Department of Applied Linguistics at Warsaw University in 1988. Bilingual Polish/French, Michal speaks English, Russian and German.

Nicolas Blondeau

Nicolas Blondeau

Manager

Nicolas is an enthusiastic and committed professional with 20 years of experience in the microfinance sector. He first started his career in the field (Brazil, Kosovo and Guatemala), and then worked for private and public investment companies in Europe (Incofin IM, BIO and ADA). In his different responsibilities, Nicolas developed an extensive knowledge of the microfinance sector, especially in Africa, f.i. as Board memberof a Tanzanian MFI or following up a leading African investment fund. Nicolas holds a bachelor in Business Administration from the Louvain-la-Neuve University, in Belgium, and a Master in Development Cooperation from the Free Brussels University. Nicolas speaks French, Dutch, English and Spanish.

Izabela Norek

Izabela Norek

Investment Manager

Izabela, with 22 years of experience, took the position of CoopEst Risk Manager in 2009 and in 2012 joined the CoopEst Executive Committee. Her professional career has always been linked to business development, including a start-up phase and 12 years of managing a microfinance organization in Poland, for which she raised over 3 M€ of grants. During that period she gained an in-depth knowledge of microfinance, supplemented by study tours of various MFIs in Europe, Asia and Latin America. In addition, for two years she served as Board member of the Polish Association of Loan Funds. She holds a Masters’ degree in English philology and a post-graduate Diploma in Business from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She has also attended courses at Oregon State University and the University of Colorado, USA. Native Polish, Izabela is fluent in English, conversational in Russian and currently learning French.

Justine Palermo

Justine Palermo

Investment Manager

Justine joined Inpulse as a Business Development Officer in November 2014. Previous to Inpulse, Justine was working at Adie International (international subsidiary of the French MFI Adie chaired by M.Nowak) where she was in charge to support the creation and development of microfinance projects in Europe and the Mediterranean basin (Belgium, Greece, Tunisia, Kosovo) from the business planning to the MFI operational set-up. She also has a strong experience in social finance through her experience at Credit Coopératif and Finansol. Justine holds a master’s degree in International Public Management of Sciences-Po Paris. Justine speaks French, English, and has knowledge of Chinese (Mandarin).

Monika Czerwinska

Monika Czerwinska

Investment Officer

Monika joined CoopEst in 2007. She, performs analyses of nancial institutions, takes part in due diligence and portfolio monitoring. Her professional experience covers a wide range of areas connected with the cooperative sector, micro nance and social economy. Immediately after her studies she started working for TISE, a Polish company nancing SMEs and NGOs Monika holds a Master Degree in Management from SGGW (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) and in European Studies from SGH (Warsaw School of Economics). Native Polish, Monika speaks English and French.

Laurence May

Laurence May

Risk and Compliance Manager

Laurence joined Inpulse as Risk and Compliance Manager in July 2017.For 30 years, Laurence has been developing a wide range of experience, in particular in Finance and Compliance. After a first experience of eight years at Cabinet Mazars as a financial auditor, she joined the Finance Department of Credit Lyonnais. In 2002, she joined Caisse d’Epargne Group, as member of the Board of Caisse d’Epargne Ouest, in charge of Finance and Risks. In 2007, she became the Chief Compliance Officer of BPCE Group. She launched the Compliance practice in BPCE Group. As member of the Board of BPCE, she spearheaded the liaison with various regulatory bodies. In 2013, she built from the ground up Natixis Bank in Belgium. Laurence graduated from HEC Paris and is a certified accountant. Native in French, Laurence speaks German and English.

Francesco Grieco

Francesco Grieco

SPM & Communication Manager

Francesco joined Inpulse as Social Performance Officer in September 2014. Previous to Inpulse Francesco was Program Manager at the European Microfinance Network in Brussels and worked for 6 years in Morocco where he served as Program Manager for the Development Cooperation Office of the Italian Embassy carrying out an initiative aiming at strengthening a selection of local MFIs through technical and financial support. Francesco holds a master degree in International Relations from the University of Bologna and a master degree in Microfinance from the University of Brussels. In 2008 he took part in the Boulder Microfinance Program of the ITCILO. Francesco speaks Italian, French and English.

Valérie Valente

Valérie Valente

Administration and Support

Valérie joined Inpulse as Executive Secretary in 2014. She contributed to the administration support of CoopEst and more recently CoopMed since their inception. From 1997 to 2014 Valérie was Executive Secretary at Soficatra an investment company with a special focus on Social Economy SMEs (i.e cooperatives, mutuals) in the European Union. Valérie speaks French, English and Italian.

Karina Navarro

Karina Navarro

Green Project Development Officer

Karina joined Inpulse as a Project Officer in November 2018. She has more than 10 years’ experience in private and governmental institutions in Latin America as auditor, researcher, coordinator and consultant on socio-environment management, sustainable development and legal compliance. She has carried out research and coordinated projects on green microfinance, renewable energy generation development, environmental risk management in energy sector, sustainable water management and sustainable solid waste management. She holds a Master Degree in Microfinance from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management Brussels, a Master Degree in Integrated Management Systems (Environmental, Safety and Corporate Social Responsibility) from the University International de la Rioja in Spain and a Master Degree in Integrated Environmental Management from the Research Center El Colef in Mexico. Karina speaks Spanish, English and French.

Imad Haidar

Imad Haidar

Investment Officer

Imad joined Inpulse in November 2018. Previously, he started his career as an accountant in a commercial company for 3 years in Syria before working as a loan officer then as a compliance officer at the First Microfinance Institution for three years in Syria. As an intern, he conducted a market research for microfinance institution in Uganda in 2017. He holds a licentiate degree in Economics from Damascus University and a master degree in Microfinance from the Solvay School of Economics & Management Brussels. Imad speaks Arabic, English, Dutch and currently learning French.

Zahra KHIMDJEE

Zahra KHIMDJEE

Senior Investment Adviser

Zahra joined Inpulse in May 2019. Zahra has 20 years of experience in the inclusive finance and development fields. Previously, she was Senior Investment Officer at Grameen-Jameel (GJ). She has worked on market studies and assessments of MFIs in North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa; she has also managed GJ’s investment portfolio. Zahra has prior investment experience within the Aga Khan Development Network in Madagascar. Zahra holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Science-Po Paris and in Management in Developing Countries from Dauphine University, Paris. Zahra speaks French, English and has knowledge of Gujrati and Malagasy.

Matteo Ragno

Matteo Ragno

Risk & Compliance Project Officer

Matteo joined Inpulse in April 2022. In his previous experience, he worked as senior consultant at Deloitte with strong hands-on experience in ERP solutions. Matteo carried out projects in supply chain, quality and procurement. He holds a specialized master in Microfinance in Solvay Brussels School and a master’s degree in public economics in Verona University. As a student, he conducted research for Banca Etica on the impact of soft information in lending process. Matteo speaks Italian, English and French

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