Yonca Braeckman is the founder and CEO of Impact Shakers, a global impact ecosystem tackling complex societal and environmental challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship. She is a mission-driven entrepreneur and investor in underrepresented founders. She helped build the Belgian and European tech startup ecosystems and is a sought after startup mentor and jury member. She has advised and mentored hundreds of startups and considers herself a misfit champion. She was selected for the new group of Belgian changemakers “40 under 40” to help advance bold societal goals and was named as one of the "Top 100 most influential women in the European startup and VC ecosystem" in 2023.
Alina Klarner is the head of ventures for Impact Shakers. Her mission is to grow the pie for everyone by diversifying the impact investor base and matching capital to overlooked founders who are building and scaling solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental and societal issues. Alina is the Investment Committee Lead for the Impact Shakers Microfund and an active angel investor and LP. She has been featured in Forbes for her contribution to investing in diverse founders and was shortlisted for the 2022 UK Business Angel Association’s “Investment in Diversity Champion” award. Prior to joining Impact Shakers, Alina spent over a decade in Advisory Services and Private Equity, where she held roles including Operations Director, interim CFO, Board Advisor and Transformation Director. Most recently, Alina worked for a PE growth fund with $8bn under management globally, managing a portfolio of fast-growing B2B SaaS businesses in Northern and Central Europe. She is also an Accredited Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW in the UK.
