Empact Ventures are the Super Connectors for startups, SMEs, investors and corporates that:
We are enterprise champions and community builders who lead and support some of the most high-impact enterprise initiatives and ventures in the world.
Kosta Mavroulakis is an award-winning and global super-connector for startups, SMEs and corporates who has designed and/or delivered some of the leading startup, tech, investment and/or non-profit initiatives in Europe. Over the years he has acted as an advisor and super-connector to many early stage emerging and funded tech startups like Buffer and Accredible. In 2008, he became one of the founding members and the Digital Development Director of the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), a non-profit orgisation support the development of student-led enterprise societies in 100 UK universities and 200 further education colleges which went on to secure £3.5m from the UK Government’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. Since 2015, Kosta has been the Campaign Manager of StartUp Britain, the UK’s leading campaign for small business. This has seen him co-design the StartUp Britain Bus Tour with Centre for Entrepreneurs and NatWestaround 90 UK cities and towns providing 15,000 people with free business mentoring. This was launched at Downing Street with the then Prime Minister in 2015 and at Buckingham Palace with HRH Duke of York in 2016.
He now leads Empact Ventures, the Startup Super Connectors for startups, SMEs, corporates and investors where he leads a team in designing and/ delivering tech startup initiatives for many clients (e.g. I-COM Global Data Startup Challenge in partnership with Unilever) and/or led by themselves (e.g. Corporate Pitch Days in partnership with Hays). He also leads the Empact Growth Studio, a team startup agents that support a portfolio of early stage like Hollabox.com (backed by Just Eat Ventures) or funded ones like StageDoor, ClickMechanic or SeeFashion. Kosta completed a BSc (Hons) in Computer and Business Studies, and later an MSc in Information Systems and Management at the prestigious Warwick Business School, where he also led its student enterprise activity.
Raphael is an enabler of young entrepreneurs and has worked with over 80 startups in the past few years leading Warwick Incubator which he co-founded at the University of Warwick. He has also run initiatives to equip hundreds of students with technical skills and worked for startups in the Education and MedTech space. He is now working as Head of Ventures with Empact Ventures where he designs and delivers startup initiatives such as Venture Labs, Corporate and Investor Pitch Days for tech startups and acts as a global startup scout. Raphael holds an undergraduate degree in Management and masters degree in Drama and Theatre Education from the University of Warwick, where his research focused on fear of failure in relation to startup founders.
Roland is an enthusiastic, passionate and supportive member of the Empact Ventures team where he supports our clients, partners, ventures and causes in his role as our Ventures Executive.
With over 30 years in IT Industry and last 12 years in senior leadership positions as IT Director, Programme Director, Transformation Director and currently as Director of Digital Services at Hays Plc, Manoj is a strategic, transformative and disciplined leader with a strong execution focus. At Hays in the last 9 years he has delivered technology (Front office, digital and RPO) change programmes, is responsible for all the global systems across all 32 countries and has created a Digital and Innovation capability. The transformation over the years included rolling out Agile and Devops culture and practices and use of Open Technologies for innovative business solutions with multi location based team. Manoj is also the author of “Ordinary Champions: How to Achieve Your Full Potential and Outperform Yourself” and an Advocate for Tech London Advocates. Prior to his work with Hays, Manoj has also worked for several large corporations like Fujitsu, Tata Consultancy Services and Sopra Steria
Martin has worked in IT for the last 30 years across retail, media, manufacturing and hi-tech for companies like NDS (Global CTO and Deputy CIO), News Corporation (Director of Technology) and Cisco Systems (Director of IT). He is currently Business Technology Director at Selwood, and advises a number of companies including Empact Ventures, Qapitol and Hollabox. His background covers all aspects of IT from Design through Development to Support and Infrastructure specialising in collaboration, communications and digital transformations. Martin has an innovative mind putting the user experience and simplicity at the core while driving significant cost savings.
Ajay is an experienced transformation executive with a demonstrated history of successfully delivering large scale business, digital and IT transformation programs in companies of various sizes across various industries. Strong program and project management professional skilled in Business Process, Business Process Design, IT Service Management, IT Strategy, and Data Warehousing. He is one of the founding directors of LogicShore which provides support for digital transformation projects for large brands and Indian Law Enforcement Agencies and provides on-demand CTO services for startups. He is currently the Head of IT for Customer Services and After Sales at Jaguar Landrover and volunteers as a mentor at Virgin Startup
is advising clients on intellectual property matters. He was in private practice for 12 years before joining Sendo, the UK’s first mobile phone manufacturer and developer of the world’s first Microsoft smartphone. Robert spent 2 years as IP Counsel at TomTom, the leading satellite navigation company. He has advised small and large companies on patent licensing in the wireless industry and his clients range in size from start-up entrepreneurs to multinational companies. Robert is a consultant at Keystone Law
