PETER SCHEUCH
Founder and Managing Director

Peter spent more than 10 years working as a full-time staff member and consultant for international development and environmental organizations such as CARE, IUCN, WWF and UNDP. He developed and implemented projects for natural resource management, economic development and environmental governance in Africa and Asia. Peter has educational background in industrial engineering, received a MBA in Environmental Management from the Vienna University, Austria and a MSc in Protected Landscape Management from the University of Greenwich, UK. Peter lives in Austria and Nepal.

JOHANNES KRAHWINKLER
Investment Director

Johannes has over 15 years of experience in the Investment Banking/Corporate Finance and Private Equity business. He was working with CA Investment Bank and the Erste Bank and was founder and managing partner of a successful private equity firm for more than 7 years. In his latest position, he was Head of International Finance at Esterházy Foundation. In his career he was in charge of more than 30 IPO´s and M&A Transactions. Johannes has specialized skills in due diligence audits, market and business analysis, strategic realignment of portfolio companies and operational value added management. He has been lecturing at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Institute for Corporate Finance. Johannes holds a degree in Business Administration from the Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria and is a certified European Financial Analyst (CEFA). 

TOM SCHMITTZEHE
Business Development Director

Tom has over 10 years of experience focused in helping organizations achieve aggressive growth, both in the Private and Not-for-Profit sectors. His career spans strategy/M&A consulting, banking and social venture capital, including as a European Director for Ashoka. Tom has an MBA from the Wharton Business School, and a BA/MA focused on Economic Development from Oxford University. His career has always been international, with protracted experience in Europe, America, Africa and East Asia.

LEILA KARNIK
Network Director

Leila has almost ten years of experience in both social ventures and high-growth startups. With a focus on resource building and communication, she worked in Washington DC and Mumbai with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. She joined the Wadhwani Foundation’s founding team in 2002 and later took a sabbatical to work on a feature film project. Leila is the co-founder of the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), a non-profit that supports new & future entrepreneurs reaching out to over 350,000 young people in India. At NEN, Leila launched the first web portal for high-growth entrepreneurship resources in India, and the TATA NEN Hottest Startups, the first-ever community award for startups. Leila holds a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, Washington DC.