Throughout her career, Ioana (Szilagyi) Wunderlich has found her true motivation in taking on diverse entrepreneurial challenges and developing innovative digital solutions that enable new business models.
Originally from Transylvania, she embarked on her first entrepreneurial adventure at the age of 17, launching a Start-Up in the field of mobile communications. This early business experience inspired her to pursue a strong educational path, earning an M.A. in Cybernetics and Business Informatics from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and later an MBA in Innovation and Business Creation at TU München, in cooperation with UC Berkeley, USA.
Immediately after university, Ioana continued her steep learning path by joining one of the leading technology consultancy companies. During her four years at BearingPoint, she gained exposure to a wide range of business environments, working on all phases of projects across different countries (Germany, UK, Spain). She consistently added value to international customers through technology-driven solutions.
In 2011, she joined the MAN Group in Munich as an in-house consultant. Her primary responsibility was to oversee the financial and controlling SAP Systems of the MAN Holding Group. Additionally, she was tasked with scouting for emerging technologies to enhance MAN’s processes and digital landscape. One of her key achievements was driving the transition from legacy, paper-based processes towards digital transformation.
By mid-2016, Ioana embraced the mission of defining and rolling out the digital strategy for Bragi, a Start-Up that received the Digital Top 50 – Top B2C Scale-Up award in 2016 from McKinsey, Google, and Rocket Internet. As Head of Information Systems, she leveraged and integrated advanced digital tools and practices to achieve operational excellence and support sustainable, profitable growth.
Her MBA research project, Smart City Solutions and the Smart Mobility Challenge, exemplifies her innovative spirit. Within just six months, she successfully designed an innovation ecosystem that united partners from academia, industry, local administration, entrepreneurs, and citizens (including TUM, Siemens, EY, MAN, MVG, among others). This initiative sparked multiple projects aimed at improving urban life.
Since then, Ioana has continued to coach Start-Ups, particularly in the field of Business Modelling, fostering growth and innovation across entrepreneurial ecosystems.