E25 - Angela Achitei, President of ADV Romania Group

In this episode, Angela Achitei, a true pioneer of the social economy in Romania, shares how she built one of the most inspiring ecosystems of social enterprises in Eastern Europe. She started simple: hiring 25 people with disabilities when no one else would. Over the past 15 years, she expanded from one business into a group of businesses across sectors, from recruitment to travel services, all designed to create opportunities for people from vulnerable backgrounds. But like many social entrepreneurs, Angela faced a major barrier: access to finance. She shares how this challenge led her to co-create a community-owned financial institution, built with other entrepreneurs, to fund what traditional markets wouldn’t. This is a conversation with someone who doesn’t take no for an answer and who has demonstrated that social impact and business success can reinforce each other. Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast! You can also: Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org Read Angela's full bio Follow Angela on LinkedIn To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode: ADV Romania (Alături de Voi Romania Foundation) — https://www.advromania.ro UtilDeco — https://www.utildeco.ro WISE Travel — https://wise.travel/en/ Job Direct — https://www.jobdirect.ro AFIN (IFN) — https://afin.org.ro Social Finance Association (Asociatia pentru Finantare Sociala) — https://finantaresociala.ro TISE (Poland) — https://tise.pl Social Economy Europe — https://www.socialeconomy.eu.org ENSIE (European Network of Social Integration Enterprises) — https://www.ensie.org FEBEA (European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks) — https://www.febea.org Microfinance Europe (Microfinance Centre) — https://www.mfc.org.pl Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.