Jan is the CEO of Impact Hub Slovenia, an accelerator for social and impact businesses that uses its Impact Pathway model to help organisations grow from startup stage to maturity.
The Impact Pathway programme began in 2023 and brings together four connected programmes: Social Impact Award Slovenia for early-stage social enterprise ideation, Impact Launchpad for idea validation and product development, and Impact Next for growth and investment readiness. Across all programmes, participants receive ongoing mentorship and expert support, guiding social innovators through a structured journey from idea to investment readiness. The programme is the core part of the Impact Hub Slovenia incubation model, which was ranked 54th best Start-up Hub in Europe in 2026 by Financial Times and Statista.
In the 2025 cycle, the organisation supported 80 young people through early-stage social innovation programming and 50 founders of more mature initiatives through growth and scaling training. The Impact Pathway also provided incubation support to 30 ventures, including idea validation and product design assistance, and helped 20 SMEs develop go-to-market strategies.
Attending the 2016 Summit in Ottawa as a Delegate Speaker inspired Jan to transition from founding a mental health initiative to building ecosystems of support for social innovators. Since the Summit, he has been invited by the Global Good Fund to apply for a fellowship and asked by the Obama Foundation and Forbes 30 Under 30 to nominate social innovators for feature, two of which were platformed. He was also featured in the August 2025 Ambassador Spotlight.
“Seeing the diversity and ambition of the One Young World Community gave me additional confidence that even smaller ecosystems can contribute meaningfully to global challenges if they are well connected and well supported.”
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