Our story
Rooted in place, regenerative by design.
Regenopolis was founded in 2021 by Diane Binder as a collaborative platform to reimagine how we live, travel, build, and invest.
What began as one founder’s conviction has entered a new chapter, with Nicola Gryczka Kirsch joining as Co-founder, and has grown into a team of regenerative practitioners spanning hospitality, food, infrastructure, finance, and systems design — united by a single purpose: building the infrastructure for regenerative economies to emerge at scale.
Hospitality is a powerful catalyst for place-based regeneration. Deeply connected to land, nature, culture, food and communities, it can create markets for local producers, support entrepreneurship, restore ecosystems and channel investment into the wider territory.
But our work goes beyond hospitality. We also work through infrastructure and locally rooted supply chains — other powerful entry points for strengthening the living systems of a place. From essential services to food and natural value chains, we connect economic activity with ecosystems and communities to build resilience and lasting local value.
Regenopolis Team
Our founders
& CEO
Diane Binder
A recognized leader in regeneration, development finance, social entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships with 20+ years of experience across Africa and the Global South. Founder of Regenopolis, co‑founder of hospitality venture 700’000 Heures Impact, former Senior VP at SUEZ, and serves as the Head of Global Accelerators at the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance.
& Chief Weaving Officer
Nicola Gryczka Kirsch
Nicola Gryczka Kirsch is a renowned systems entrepreneur, innovation orchestrator, and Co-founder and Chief Weaving Officer of Regenopolis. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience across business, civil society, academia, and grassroots action, she connects people, places, and ideas to build regenerative models at the intersection of hospitality, food, human well-being, and social impact.
Extended Team
Specialized in exploring tourism
and food systems as catalyst for place-based regeneration. With extensive experience
supporting regenerative tourism strategies, sustainability certification frameworks, and
stakeholder coordination projects, she brings both systemic thinking and operational insight
to the translation of hospitality and tourism models.
Valentina is an Assistant Professor at EHL Hospitality Business School whose research explores well-being, guest and employee experiences, sustainable consumption and our relationship with nature. She brings an evidence-based perspective to how hospitality and place can foster healthier behaviours, meaningful experiences and human and planetary well-being.
Niels is an ecopreneur, author and public figure dedicated to empowering individuals and regenerating Earth’s systems. In 2025, he co-founded Vivoices, a public interest organisation promoting the representation of living beings in organisational governance in order to reconcile economics and nature. An expert and practitioner in regenerative business and impact governance, he advocates for Future Generations, Earth Stewardship and Inner Consciousness, bringing these principles into how organizations lead and operate.
Christine is a globally recognized agrifood innovation leader, strategist and founder of Thought For Food. She connects science, technology, entrepreneurship and systems thinking to unlock and scale new solutions for food and agriculture, building the partnerships, markets and conditions needed for more resilient and regenerative food systems.
Patrick is a food-systems entrepreneur, educator and pioneer of farm-to-table gastronomy. Through initiatives including BachserMärt, GastroFutura and the Social Gastronomy Movement, he connects farms, communities and gastronomy to strengthen local food economies, advance social inclusion and turn food into a practical lever for systemic change.
Rallis is co-founder and Managing Partner of GRID Engineers, with extensive international experience in infrastructure risk assessment, mitigation and strategic resilience-building. He advises MDBs and DFIs, governments, financial institutions, insurers and reinsurers, infrastructure operators and investors across Europe, Africa, Asia and the US. His expertise spans infrastructure asset risk, risk-transfer and insurance mechanisms, investment optimization and tech-enabled resilience solutions. Rallis is also Project Coordinator of ICONHIC, a global platform bringing together experts across disciplines to advance infrastructure resilience to natural and climate-driven hazards.
Gabriel is an architect, urban planner and urban economist working across local government, research and international cooperation. He brings more than two decades of experience in metropolitan governance and territorial planning, helping cities connect land use, mobility, ecological transition and public-private collaboration to create more resilient, inclusive places.
Mokena is an award-winning architect, urbanist and strategist working at the intersection of design, climate-positive urbanism and inclusive development. Founder of FLOW and co-founder of Axum, he brings 20+ years of experience reimagining African cities and infrastructure as catalysts for ecological, spatial and economic transformation. A former President of the South African Institute of Architects and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Mokena bridges design, policy and systems thinking to shape more regenerative and equitable places.
Luisa is an engineer with 20+ years across strategy, impact, and innovation, serving as Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Biohma Ecoservices and Co-Founder & CEO of Regenativ, a venture builder for carbon and biodiversity projects in Indigenous territories. An INSEAD MBA graduate and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, she has built her career at the intersection of climate finance and entrepreneurship across Latin America.
Rafael is a social entrepreneur who harnesses gastronomy to address inequality and strengthen communities. As co-founder and President of Fundación Gastronomía Social and co-founder of Ñam, he builds collaborative networks that use food to create opportunity, advance inclusion and reshape food systems across Latin America and beyond.
Sarah is a civil servant and serial entrepreneur whose expertise spans policy and grassroots initiatives in the service of land restoration. A fierce advocate and strategist for the Great Green Wall, she is now in charge of donors’ relations at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, after leading the deployment of the Business4Land initiative.
Mamadou is Founder & CEO of Ubuntu Group, an investor and entrepreneur building socio-economic infrastructure across Africa. As founder of Africa 2.0 and Ubuntu Tribe, he channels two decades of experience at KPMG, BNP Paribas, IFC and General Electric into projects spanning finance, mining, agriculture and blockchain, using digital economy tools to advance financial inclusion and shared wealth creation across the continent.
Mari is the founder of Ludus – Comunicação e Impacto and works at the intersection of communication, sustainability and social and environmental impact. She helps organizations connect strategy, impact measurement and storytelling, translating commitments into measurable outcomes and narratives that strengthen transparency, engagement and action for social and climate justice.
Lars is a hospitality strategist, advisor and founder working at the intersection of hospitality, place and long-term value creation. Through Singular Places and SolutionsHI, he supports independent hotels and destinations in moving toward more regenerative models – strengthening local communities, culture and economies while building commercially resilient hospitality businesses rooted in a genuine sense of place.
Miniya is CEO of Sustain Labs Paris, a global venture-building firm advancing frontier innovation for sustainable economic growth, working with governments, corporations and entrepreneurs. Her career spans sustainability, finance, policy and international affairs, including leadership roles at Jindal Steel & Power and the World Economic Forum, as well as experience at J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Founder of India’s first university-level undergraduate programme in climate change, Miniya brings a distinctive combination of sustainable business transformation, innovation, investment and global policy expertise.
Stewardship Circle
Regenopolis is guided by a circle of trusted advisers whose complementarity and diverse talents serve our collective purpose.
Luisa is the Lead Advisor for Regenerative Ecosystems program. She is a climate entrepreneur at the intersection of biodiversity, technology and community empowerment. She is the co-founder of Bioverse and of Regenativ, both in the service of a local, inclusive bio-economy.
Niels is an ecopreneur, author and public figure dedicated to empowering individuals and regenerating Earth’s systems. Expert and practioner in regenerative business and impact governance, he is advocating for Future Generations, Earth Stewardship and Inner Counsciousness.
Mokena is the Lead Advisor for the Regenerative Cities track. He is an international award-winning architect, a serial entrepreneur and an academic dedicated to planet-smart urbanism and civic engagement. He is the founder of Flow, a pan-African think and do tank dedicated to planet-smart innovation in the built environment.
Sarah is a civil servant and serial entrepreneur, whose expertise spans from policy to grassroots initiatives in the service of land restoration. A fierce advocate and strategist for the Great Green Wall, she is now leading the deployment of the Business4Land initiative at the UN Convention to Combat Désertification.
Our ecosystem & partners
Grid – Improving climate and disaster resilience of infrastructure through an interdisciplinary approach weaving in engineering, planning, finance, risk, design and operations.
SLP (Sustain Labs Paris) – Backing climate ventures with the support they need to scale.
Ubuntu – Advancing financial inclusion through blockchain and regenerative finance technologies.
Regen Studio — Shaping experience design grounded in academic research.
Igarapé Institute — A think-and-do tank driving Nature Positive solutions.
AETS (Africa Energy Transition Services) — Structuring carbon and climate finance projects to accelerate Africa’s energy transition.
ESP (Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners) — Growing high-impact African entrepreneurs and SMEs through advisory and funding support.
Singular Places — Curating a network of regenerative hospitality properties and connecting travelers to local artisans and suppliers.
Flow — A do-tank turning African cities into planet-smart labs for regenerative urbanism and shared prosperity.
Blue Ocean Capital — Working at the intersection of hospitality, real estate and urban development.
SGM (Social Gastronomy Movement) — A global movement using gastronomy for good, uniting social inclusion efforts across 80 countries.
