Startup-Grande-Dame
Selma Prodanovic
Social Futurist
The future isn't something that happens to us.
We create it. Today.
Europe's most influential women in startups & VC
2022–2026
Featured in 40+ countries
30
30+ years shaping the future
& changing systems
2000
2000+ times as a speaker
on stages worldwide
1000
1000+ top CEOs, investors, and policy makers advised
Keynote Speaker
The future isn't something that happens to us. We create it. Today.
I was invited to speak on over 2.000 stages worldwide. From brilliant girls in the townships of Cape Town to big money and policymakers in New York. From TEDx to the United Nations.
Why? Because as a Social Futurist, I don't speak about the future as an observer. I have been co-creating it for 30+ years. I've experienced what works and what doesn't.
I didn't predict Europe's startup ecosystem. I co-created it.
I didn't just advocate for more women in investing. I helped change who is in the room and who decides what gets funded.
And at age 59... I am just getting started.;)
My keynotes challenge audiences to see tomorrow differently: not as something to fear or predict, but as something they have the power to shape.
This is The Selma Effect: one person acts, others join, systems change.
Every keynote starts with the audience and the ever-faster changes they are facing. The context may be technological transformation and AI, entrepreneurship, investment, leadership, women's wealth, or societal change.
But the choice is always the same: 1) sit in the corner and cry, or 2) do something about it.
What will you do with your power to shape what comes next?
Board-Level Advisor
Perspective before consequential decisions.
I've advised 1.000+ entrepreneurs, investors, and executives — from first business ideas to structuring and pitching a €500M+ fund and a €1B+ client.
Today, I work with founders, CEOs, and boards navigating growth, transformation, and pivotal decisions.
After 30+ years as an entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and board member, I bring pattern recognition, global perspective, and the experience of repeatedly building what did not exist before.
I connect ideas, people, and opportunities at the intersection of boldness and alignment.
I ask the questions others don't ask, challenge assumptions before they become decisions, and recognize potential before it's visible.
Today, the real value is having someone you trust by your side — someone who sees what you don't, and says it.
Selma Prodanovic
Selma Prodanovic is a Social Futurist, keynote speaker, and board-level advisor known as the “Startup-Grande-Dame."
For 30+ years, she has actively shaped the future of entrepreneurship, investment, and society.
She has co-created startup and angel investing ecosystems across Europe and beyond, founded a dozen ventures, launched global SDG and gender investing initiatives, invested across Europe, served on global boards, advised 1.000+ entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers, and spoken on 2.000+ stages worldwide.
As a Social Futurist, her focus has always been:
What kind of future do we want to live in, and how do we create it?
Because in a world changing faster than ever, we have a choice: 1) sit in the corner and cry or 2) do something about it.
Selma's choice is clear. ;)
And most importantly, Selma is happily married to her first love and the proud mother of two fantastic Gen Z young adults.
Let's talk
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© 2005-2026 by Selma Prodanovic. All rights reserved.
Selma Prodanovic e.U.
Obermuellnerstr. 11/5, A-1020 Vienna
FN 684013b / ATU61788738