Advisory Board

ennovent is supported by a network of advisors with extensive experience and knowledge in relevant fields such as venture capital, private equity, or with specific technical expertise (e.g. in energy, water, or agriculture). These advisors assist ennovent across a wide range of challenges and in different capacity. They are our mentors, our expert advisors, and our friends.


Some of our current advisors (including their field of expertise) are:



JÜRGEN WAHL
Entrepreneur Renewable Energy (Austria)

Starting his career Jürgen spent almost one year as a civil servant in an integrated forestry management project in Bhutan, Asia. For more than 5 years he served in the cabinet of the  Austrian Minister of the Environment as a permanent advisor  for sustainability issues, energy politics, climate change and environmental economics. In 2002 he changed to the international project development business and was Head of International project development and financing with Verbundplan GmbH (now Pöyry Energy). He co-developed the first Austrian Joint Implementation project in Bulgaria and CDM projects in India and Bhutan in 2006 he founded his own consulting business. Jürgen holds a MSc of the University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna, Austria and an MBA from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA.


NIKOLAUS HUTTER
Venture Capital (Austria)

Nikolaus Hutter is an Investment Manager with CEE Private Equity firm 3TS Capital Partners, where he is responsible for investment and portfolio management of technology investments, and business development and strengthening the international network of 3TS. Prior to 3TS, Nikolaus was a Partner with technology VC firm Gamma Capital Partners, where he built the Cleantech practice and drove expansion into CEE. Before Gamma, he worked for Austrian early stage VC firm IES and as a Strategy Consultant for The COBA Group, London (now PwC), advising Private Equity clients on over 30 transactions in the UK and on the Continent.Further, Nikolaus is a Director of Hungarian wastewater technology firm Organica and supports Social Ventures in  Austria, Burkina Faso, and CEE as an advisor and business mentor, and lectures on Social Entrepreneurship at WU Vienna. Nikolaus read International Business at Wirtschaftsuniversität Vienna and IECS Strasburg, and Political Economy at the London School of Economics.


PATRICE MOLINARI
Private Equity (Middle-East)

Patrice has 13 years experience in consulting and private equity. Over the past 4 years, he initiated and launched three Private Equity Funds for a total commitment of USD570M and executed privatizations, mezzanine, growth capital transactions across the Middle-East, the USA and Asia. Patrice is a sector generalist with a focus on Clean Technologies, Telecom, Technology, Infrastructure, Transportation. He also handled the restructuring of several corporate entities in Kuwait and launched greenfield regional businesses including KGL Logistics in Kuwait and Gulf Aviation in Dubai. Prior to that, Patrice worked as a development advisor to governments in Europe, consulting on national strategic planning and the management of large scale infrastructure projects. Patrice started his career as an engineer at Alcatel. He is a CFA charterholder, holds a MSc (Aeronautical Engineering and Computer Science) from the French Civil Aviation Academy, and an MBA (Finance) from the Wharton Business School (USA).


PEKHAM BASU
Development Sector (India)

In the course of her career, Pekam has worked with victims of domestic violence and abandoned children, social entrepreneurs and funding agencies. Pekham is now working as a Senior Manager (Corporate Social Responsibility) in a Non Banking Financial Company in Mumbai. Prior to that she has worked as a consultant providing advisory services to NGOs on areas like organizational development and conducting due diligence for donors to find suitable NGOs to invest in India. She has also worked with Ashoka Innovators for the Public, initially as Regional Representative (Western India) responsible for the search and selection of social entrepreneurs to the Ashoka Fellowship and then, as Manager, International Development, with their office in London. Pekham has also worked with the Special Cell for Women and Children on extending legal help to victims of domestic violence and sensitizing the police to domestic violence and how to deal with victims. Pekham holds a Masters degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is fluent in a number of Indian languages.


VENKAT SOMASUNDARAM
Entrepreneurship (India)

Venkat is a serial entrepreneur, who for over 14 years has honed his skills in identifying emerging opportunities, establishing management systems and scaling organizations. He has international experience in business development, having been the Co-Founder and CEO of EAP Global - an Information Risk Management Consulting company with operations in India, UK, USA and the Middle East. In his most recent position - as Head of Asset Management - Venkat was responsible for setting up a Clean Tech Fund for Spark Capital Advisors, India. Social entrepreneurship at the BoP has been his keen interest over many years. Venkat holds a Bachelor of Technology from I.I.T. Madras (India) and an MBA from I.I.M. Bangalore (India).