The Sustainability Talks meeting – Towards the Impact Investment Community in Serbia – was held on April 3 at the premises of OTP banka in Belgrade, bringing together members of the Responsible Business Forum, Board members, representatives of the Executive Office, as well as partners from civil society organizations and international networks.
The meeting was opened by Ljubiša Egelja, Director of Marketing and Communications at OTP Bank; Milica Babić, Lead Consultant for Communications, CSR and Sustainability at OTP Bank and Board Member of the Responsible Business Forum; and Neven Marinović, Director of the Executive Office of the Responsible Business Forum. They welcomed participants and introduced the key topics of the meeting.
Following the opening, an overview of activities implemented during 2025 was presented, including the Sustainability Academy, Transformator, Sustainability Starter, the Social Innovation Forum, and the CSR&ESG Forum, along with key results and achievements. Plans for 2026 were also introduced, with a focus on further development of programs, events, and initiatives connecting companies, civil society organizations, and other relevant stakeholders.
A special focus of the meeting was placed on new initiatives ESG Pulse and ESG Footprint. ESG Pulse was presented as a tool that uses existing ESG reports of member companies as a source of knowledge and best practices, with the aim of analyzing, structuring, and translating them into concrete and actionable insights. ESG Footprint is focused on the people behind ESG activities within companies, aiming to increase their visibility and promote understanding of ESG as a team and organizational process.
During the discussion, members highlighted strong interest in working with ESG reports, while also noting that companies take diverse approaches to their preparation and structure, ranging from multiple parallel reports to global formats. The discussion raised the question of how to adequately process and present report data to ensure it is understandable, comparable, and useful for the wider community. It was concluded that ESG Pulse can play a key role in standardizing and communicating these insights, while preserving the specificities of each company.
The meeting also announced stronger collaboration with civil society organizations, with a focus on the social component of ESG, including topics such as social inclusion, workers’ rights, relations with local communities, and gender equality. In this context, it was announced that the next Sustainability Talks meeting will include presentations of concrete initiatives from civil society organizations, aimed at establishing direct cooperation with companies.
Activities within the CSR Europe network were also presented, enabling members to stay informed about regulatory and market ESG trends at the European Union level, as well as opportunities to participate in relevant events and knowledge exchange at the European level.
Additionally, the development of the Buy Social campaign was presented, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of social procurement and collaboration between companies and social and impact enterprises, as well as opportunities for member engagement through various programs, mentorship, expert lectures, and support to Forum initiatives.
The meeting was organized as part of the Invest for Change project, implemented by Smart Kolektiv in cooperation with Impact Europe and partners from the Western Balkans, with the support of the European Union. Activities aimed at developing impact investing and strengthening social enterprises through grants, non-financial support, and advocacy for an improved legal framework were presented.
One of the central topics of the meeting was how to develop an impact community focused on impact investing and support for social entrepreneurship by engaging new actors, including financial institutions, business angels, institutional investors, foundations, and the diaspora. Emilija Dolovački from Impact Europe presented the Impact for Breakfast model, while Jelena Savanović, Manager of the Sidro Foundation, highlighted the importance of such communities from the perspective of philanthropic organizations.
The Responsible Business Forum expresses its gratitude to OTP banka for the hospitality, as well as to all members and partners for their active participation and the exchange of experiences and insights.
