In Kabul, Selene promotes children's literacy with the sound of bombs overhead

With 150 euros, she launched Youth Action for Change, the first e-learning start up, in 130 countries. It was 2004: social networks were still in their infancy, and the idea of putting professional competencies online in order to provide free education was unthinkable. From this experience she created a spin-off called Forgotten Diaries, a citizen journalism platform for the voices of young people who are involved in wars which are often forgotten by institutional media. This is the story of Selene Biffi, who graduated in 2005 with a Bocconi degree in Economics and Management and now lives in Kabul, where she continues to work on innovation in social ventures. "Between one project and another, I became a U.N. consultant working in Afghanistan in order to set up a subsidiary for health and safety designed for children who live in rural areas".

After just one month of Biffi's stay in Kabul, the U.N. compound was attacked and then evacuated. Yet she didn't give up and decided to continue alone. "I didn't like the idea of leaving my work halfway through, and so Plain Ink was born, with the aim of using images to spread literacy in India e Afghanistan". This program has received the support of Renzo Rosso, among others, and has gained important recognitions like the 2012 Rolex Award. "I used the award money to create The Quessa Academy in Kabul, a school which provides training for new storytellers. There used to be an important storytelling tradition here, until it was banned by the Taliban". The goal of Plain Ink is to provide training to the young people who follow the course, so that they can find work - perhaps with NGOs - and to spread knowledge to others. Her latest start up is called Bibak, which involves mine clearance technology. Selene Biffi has shown once again that the social sector can also be a part of innovation, though she makes one thing very clear: "technology isn't necessarily innovative; for example the school in Kabul is definitely innovative even if there's nothing technological about it. " Through her work, she has also contributed to developing the concept of social ventures in Italy, by applying her entrepreneurial vision to the model she received at home: "For forty years now, my parents have gone to India. They've used their savings to build a hospital near Varanasi, and have supported the studies of about 400 kids".