Five inspiring female entrepreneurs

There is a shortage of female entrepreneurs in Denmark - only one in four entrepreneurs is a woman. And that's a shame. That's why in this blog post, we introduce you to five cool female entrepreneurs that you - male or female - can be inspired by.

Malene Birger

Designer Malene Birger founded her fashion empire By Malene Birger in 2003, and since then the successful designer has gone from strength to strength. Today, By Malene Birger is one of Denmark's most celebrated design companies, and clothes from By Malene Birger are worn by women of all ages around the globe. And includes a fan base such as Crown Princess Mary and Medina.

Birgit Aaby

Birgit Aaby is one of Denmark's most successful female entrepreneurs and one of my personal favorites on the list. Not only is she a prime example of how you can be a mother and run a thriving business at the same time. But especially her story about her path to success and creating the company ComBi Service, which today employs 250 people, is inspiring in itself. Birgit Aaby worked as a cleaner and while expecting her second child, she started her cleaning business as a solution to balancing family life and career.

Birgit Aaby is an excellent example of how it takes courage and hard work rather than long education, groundbreaking ideas and connections to become an entrepreneur.

Maria Flyvbjerg Bo

She was just a child when she started her business. She sold drawings, crackers and lemonade to passers-by. As a teenager, like most people, she was a fan of the TV series Sex & the City and desperately wanted a name necklace like the main character's. But it was expensive. On the other hand, Maria Flybjerg Bo figured out that she could buy ten pieces cheaply abroad and sell them at home. It became a major and widespread success. So big, in fact, that she had to set up a webshop to handle the many orders. This was the start of Auora.dk, which ended up with an annual turnover of 500,000, and when she was 19 years old in her senior year, she sold it. Since then, she hasn't been able to stop herself from starting projects and companies, and today she can also call herself a partner in Spenderlog, founder of Digtio, and co-founder of companies like NEST and Hufsy.

Camilla Hessellund Lastein

As a business administration student, Camilla was tired of carrying around heavy and expensive textbooks. This gave her the idea for the company Lix Technologies, which is a kind of Spotify for textbooks. This happened in 2016, and the following year the company was valued at more than DKK 90 million. In addition, Tommy Ahlers and Anders Holch Povlsen have invested in the company.

Mascha Vang

Former model, reality star and radio host Mascha Vang has created a multi-faceted and lucrative business empire with her blog universe. The now 39-year-old businesswoman, whose own blog has 3-400,000 readers, has sold children's clothing, created her own blog network and her own self-tanner range, which has won both the Allergy Award in London and the Consumer Award at the Danish Beauty Awards in 2017.

Read: Our top tips for female entrepreneurs!

By the way, find inspiration from several female role models by listening to the podcast She did it her way. In each episode, you can get advice, inspiration and guidance from several successful female entrepreneurs.

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