19/06/2026
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 cohort just came home from Budapest. Here's what happened at 𝐫𝐞:𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔. 💙
On June 18th, impact entrepreneurs from 6 countries gathered at the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest for the annual re:Marc event, the flagship moment of the Marc Impact Network Programme.
The Romanian team didn't just show up. 🎊 They won. 🙌
🏆 Origin BCI - Innovation Champion award + €15,000 catalytic grant
🌊 Recycllux - €25,000 worth of services of investment readiness from Stiftung Fourfold implemented by FASE
🔬 Wow Lab - The WHY-ology Institute - pro bono legal advisory from Dentons
And Growceanu, the local Romanian impact investor partner of Marc, awarded a special prize to Hungary's TransFood Mission: a free listing on their authorised crowdfunding platform.
The day had opened with a warm welcome in Budapest to the whole Marc Impact Programme community by Radovan Jelasity, Erste Bank Hungary's CEO, followed by Ana Cretu (ERSTE Foundation) and Gábor Lajos Nagy (SIMPACT - Increasing Your Social Impact) taking the room through the why and how of building Marc: a programme designed at the intersection of banking discipline and social entrepreneurship, now heading into its third edition with Slovakia joining the map.
Uli Grabenwarter (Deputy CIO, European Investment Fund (EIF)), reframed the whole investor-entrepreneur dynamic: "You are not pitching for your survival. You are pitching for ours."
And everyone ended the day with a closing panel on what it actually takes to move from impact ambition to impact delivery, with Stefan Buciuc (BCR Social Finance), Mihai Cepoi (Jobful), Margit Mayr (Erste Social Finance), moderated by Florian Bauer, Executive Director of Social Finance & Impact Investment at ERSTE Foundation
🤝 Two years. Six countries. 160+ ventures. Edition three is coming. 💪
Marc Impact Programme is a joint initiative of ERSTE Foundation, Erste Social Finance Holding, IFUA Nonprofit Partner, and SIMPACT - Increasing Your Social Impact. In Romania, Marc Impact programme is implemented by BCR Social Finance and Synerb.
Copyright Photo Credit © Orsolya Egressy