Berlin Metropolitan Area
Martin is the founder and Manging Director of Social Synergy Deutschland e.V. (SSD). The regional focus is on Ukraine. SSD aims to contribute to the creation of steady, consistent, and durable impact over time through institution-building of matured, small, and medium non-profits' and enterprises by enhancing their intangible (institutional) capital. SSD invests patient capital and on-the-ground technical advisory to impact-oriented and social enterprises as well as mature non-profit-organizations, supporting them in developing and streamlining their business models to leverage their potential. Its mission builds on the unique and proven approach called ’Investing at Margin’ as developed and continuously refined since 2013 by Social Synergy Foundation (SSF), based in Mumbai, India. Martin is an Impact Investor and Social Entrepreneur with a long-standing career and background in the banking and strategic consulting business. He is currently also the Head of the Supervisory Board at the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund (USVF). The USVF was founded in 2020. The fund is a venture philanthropy organization that provides financial and non-financial support to strengthen social enterprises and develop social entrepreneurship. The work of the USVF is based on the initiative of social investors (individuals and institutions) with the aim of catalyzing the impact of social entrepreneurs and initiating systemic, high-quality changes in Ukraine. From 2018 until 2025 Martin was the founding Managing Director and later a Senior Advisor of Bundesverband Impact Investing (BVII). Martin spent several years in India. In 2010 he launched Fem Sustainable Social Solutions (FemS3), a social enterprise-incubator based out of Bangalore (India) focussing on seed investments and capacity building.
Within the next three years, a viable incubation platform will be established in Ukraine, where businesses, investors, scientists, and other relevant stakeholders will collaboratively develop innovative and sustainable products and services. The Ukrainian Social Venture Fund (USVF), founded in 2020 in Kyiv, will play a key role as organizer and intermediary in this process. Within the next three years, we will establish a viable incubation platform in Ukraine, where businesses, investors, scientists, and other relevant stakeholders will collaboratively develop innovative and sustainable products and services. The Ukrainian Social Venture Fund (USVF), founded in 2020 in Kyiv, will play a key role as organizer and intermediary in this process. This platform is a central element when it comes to a social, inclusive, sustainable, and innovative reconstruction of Ukraine. It is intended to open doors for German and other international investors. We aim to collaborate closely with the Reconstruction Ukraine platform, an initiative of the German Federal Government and, where possible, with key stakeholders and network partners, such as the Fraunhofer Zukunftsstiftung, the Social Enterprise Network Germany (SEND e.V.), to develop the Ukrainian ecosystem for public welfare-oriented, impact-driven enterprises to promote Ukraine's reconstruction.
As a trusted and experienced partner, Social Synergy Deutschland e.V. (SSD) supports investors, public institutions and foundations. We provide advisory and support in designing, implementing and governing interventions, platforms and partnerships in complex social and local development contexts. We have set ourselves the goal of helping to develop the Ukrainian impact ecosystem in cooperation with the German government’s Ukraine Reconstruction Platform (https://www.ukraine-wiederaufbauen.de). This key component of an inclusive, sustainable, and innovative reconstruction of Ukraine is intended to serve as a gateway for German and international investors in the medium term. Over the next three years, a sustainable incubation platform is to be established in Ukraine where companies, investors, academia, and other stakeholders can jointly develop business models for sustainable products and services. The Ukrainian Social Venture Fund (USVF), founded in 2021 in Kyiv, will play a central role as an organizer and intermediary in this effort. Social Synergy Deutschland e.V. was launched in December 2018, as a not-for-profit charitable organisation. We invest patient capital and on-the-ground technical advisory to impact-oriented and social enterprises as well as mature non-profit-organizations, supporting them in developing their business models to leverage their potential. The company is managed and governed by professionals from the disciplines of management consulting and investment management.
Founded in 2019 Bundesinitiative Impact Investing e.V. currently has around 160 members. We work to promote awareness of impact investing and to establish a new attitude in the business and financial world. We actively build knowledge and skills related to impact investing to advance the sector and to prevent impact washing. We are also committed to forming alliances and strengthening networks to create powerful partnerships. At the same time, we are committed to creating legal, political and societal frameworks that are conducive to impact investing. As a multi-stakeholder initiative, we focus on private and institutional investors as well as on intermediaries, such as family offices, foundations, private investors, asset managers, insurance companies and banks, as these are the actors that play a crucial role in the allocation and mobilization of capital for impact investing.
Bundesinitiative Impact Investing (https://bundesinitiative-impact-investing.de/) is a multi-stakeholder coalition with a focus on growing the German Impact Investing ecosystem. BIII is open to a wide variety of sectors and organisations. Funds, banks, foundations, private investors, welfare organizations, government and research bodies are part of the initiative.
At goodcarbon Foundation (https://goodcarbonfoundation.org/) we focus on tackling the climate crisis, prevent biodiversity loss, and fight social inequality. Investment into Nature-based Solutions is an extremely effective tool to fight climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequality. But funding is lacking. The goodcarbon Foundation will help to changes this.
Impact Europe (formerly EVPA) is a membership association established in 2004 and made up of organisations interested in or practising venture philanthropy and social investment across Europe. I was reponsible for managing and expanding the membership within the german-speaking DACH-region. The association’s membership covers the full range of venture philanthropy and social investment activities and includes venture philanthropy funds, social investors, grant-making foundations, impact investing funds, private equity firms and professional service firms. Impact Europe's members work together across sectors in order to promote and shape the future of venture philanthropy and social investment in Europe and beyond.