"Being at the junction of disciplines, where jobs, projects 
and blueprints haven’t been designed yet,
is exciting as they are opening up to 
new unexpected opportunities and outcomes"

Short Biography 

I have more than 15 years of international experience in marketing and business development in Europe and Asia. My speciality is in developing large-scale partnerships and new business opportunities in challenging markets. In each of my previous business assignments, I worked with important stakeholders: my clients ranged from top Fortune 500 companies (such as IBM, the Boeing Company, BP, Ferrari and many others) to governments (ministries and Presidential Offices) and international institutions (World Bank and the like).

I worked for the World Economic Forum, as Partnership Manager, in charge of acquiring new partnerships and reinforcing strategic partnerships with top Fortune 500 companies. At SGS Société Générale de Surveillance, I worked as Product Manager for a product "NGO Benchmarking" and also covered the position of Marketing Manager in charge of business development, promotion and sales of governmental contracts for the Asia region. I have worked in North Korea, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, among others.

I have also worked in the Formula One Racing world for Allsports Management, which had exclusive commercial rights on Formula One race tracks. I was in charge of the Teams and Sponsors VIP hospitality and business development of the Formula One Paddock Club.

I holds an M.A. in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (GIIDS) in Geneva, Switzerland, and supplemented my studies with a certificate on Corporate Social Responsibility from Aalto School of Economics (formerly known as Helsinki School of Economics), Department of Marketing and Management, Helsinki, Finland.

I am a permanent member of the board of selection of the Social Entrepreneurship Grant Programme (SEG), which I developed for one of my clients and local partner. I select and mentor projects considered for grants.

I am the Founder of Aalto Social Impact, a platform (within Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland) to facilitate social change and foster ambitious changemakers 

I am a virtual “Shareholder” of the Women's Bank Initiative in Finland (Naisten Pankki) and volunteered my time for the initiative. 

 

For more: www.linkedin.com/in/annebadan

 

                  From Idealism to Pragmatism

"My added value is in my design thinking and business skills applied in sustainable development and socio-economic issues.

I come from Geneva, Switzerland, one of the world's most important hubs for International Organisations and UN agencies. When I first chose to study international relations, I was full of idealism. I believed I could change the world and that I would best learn how to help people who could not help themselves by working within a large international organisation. But after a few years, I realised that the pace of change and the compromises inherent in the work of such large organisations frustrated me. I needed immediacy, pragmatism and concrete projects where you can see the impact of your work.

So I changed direction to work for the private sector in high profile industries and organisations  (the World Economic Forum, Formula 1 racing, etc.). But I always felt I was searching for something I could not define. I realised that I was not fully happy with my professional life and that working for these companies was not fulfilling me. It was not enough.

In 2006, I took a career break and realised I needed to start doing something that I felt was worthwhile before it was too late; too late to take risks, too late to make an impact. I wanted to find something meaningful to do, which would motivate me to wake up in the morning; energised and proud of myself, something where I could make a difference. I needed to return to the basic values which motivated me to study in the first place and that I had somehow lost.

What better aim is there to help people who want to do something good in this world? To help them share their wealth and their hearts, by helping the underprivileged of this world to overcome their disadvantages by giving them the means to become self-reliant. I decided to work with people who have the same motivations as I do, to make the world a better place.

I do not regret my professional experiences. On the contrary, all of these eclectic choices have given me the vital qualifications which are so precious today for the endeavour I decided to embark on. I construct my projects and look at the situation at hand from a business perspective and with the rigour and result-oriented attitudes which are required from the private sector.

Despite the various economic hardships we constantly witness, what better time than now to think about making the world a better place! The path I have decided to take has already brought me so much joy and satisfaction, that I know I took the right decision."

Anne Badan

 

Photo by Matti Immonen