Entrepreneurship from university: 50 women under 30 who have completed the Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation (LEINN) degree and now have their own companies

To mark International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, which is celebrated on 19 November, Mondragon Team Academy, a global community dedicated to training in team-entrepreneurship wants to highlight the work done by LEINNers wh have been part of some of the undergraduate or postgraduate courses taught by Mondragon Unibertsitatea in the field of entrepreneurship. To this end, it shares the list of 50 women, all under 30 years of age, who started out as teampreneurs at the age of 18 during their time at university and who today have consolidated their own companies in different sectors.

They all have something in common: they have taken the LEINN (Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation) degree, the first official European degree in entrepreneurship, with a methodology originating in Finland, in which the students have to create a real company in a team from day one, combining it with trips to different countries.

Mondragon Team Academy thus wants to take advantage of this date to contribute to making the work of women entrepreneurs visible from the moment they enter university and to contribute to female empowerment in the world. 

List of the 50 women entrepreneurs under 30:

Gloria Gubianas (Barcelona, 1995, 26 .) is co-founder of Hemper, a brand of backpacks and other accessories handmade in Nepal by families and communities with limited resources and at risk of social exclusion. She was elected ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in Spain’ in 2019.

Gala Freixa(Barcelona, 1995, 26 y.o.) is co-founder of Sheedo, a company dedicated to creating green marketing solutions for companies, creators of an eco-friendly paper made from recycled textile fibre and seeds. Use and plant is the motto of her project that earned her a place on the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list of the most talented young people under 30.

Aintzane Agirre, Marta Muga y Nora Kortabarria (Gipuzkoa/Bizkaia) are co-founders of Feel My Way. They create attractive spaces and experiencias  for young people so that by experimenting that can discover their potential. They organise camps and end-of-course trips for youngsters between 14 and 18 with the objective of encouraging proactivity through different challenge and gymkhanas.   
Ana Aguirre and Ainhoa Esnaola are co-founders of TAZEBAEZ, the first Cooperative that emerged from the LEINN Degree and that works to create a positive impact in the world by transforming people and organisations from everything they learnt and experienced at MTA. They strategically design learning experiences (analogue and digital), brands, settings,isations and teams.

Ivy Aki and Maialen Zapirain (Bizkaia and Kenya) are co-founders of Gingko where they seek to change the fate of pregnant teenagers in Kenya, as it has been one of the countries most affected by teenage pregnancy. Knowing the problem up close, they organise training, motorisation and educational programmes for these young women who are looking to develop entrepreneurial projects.

Andrea Amaro (Mallorca) and Irene Ibañez (Burgos) are the co-founders of Avantis, a strategic innovation consultancy that aims to radically and humanely transform the corporate world. 

Irati Arejita, Maialen Ezkurra and Garazi Uriarte (Bizkaia)  are co-founders of Bigel, where they provide solutions to social, business and educational challenges, creating and developing teams through innovative methodologies. Talent, education in values, skills and teamwork are the cornerstones of their work. At the same time, Irati also leads 1820. This project was created to awaken and celebrate women fighters through combat sports. To this end, they have created combat sports clothing for women, certifying gyms to be safe spaces for women and supporting community development led by women in Mexico.

June Arrieta (Gipuzkoa). Recent winner of the “Premio a Mujer Profesional Autónoma”, (professional self-employed female award) from Caixabank, she is co-founder of ZOCCO Handmade, a project that through fashion accessories aims to help women at risk of exclusion with employment, training and emotional support. The learning journey o India during the LEINN degree was a key part in the creation of this project. June also has other recognitions such as being on the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list of the most talented young people under 30.

Sara Baceiredo (Alava), considered one of the most popular influencers in Spain, is the founder of Its Its Lava, a brand of everyday accessories, customisable and for all women. Her goal is to enter the market to be part of your wardrobe, innovating with ways to customize your bag.

Maddi Bercianos (Gipuzkoa) is part of the BASK team, a sustainable clothing brand that believes in fashion as a tool for social transformation. They work to inspire and raise awareness towards a lifestyle that respects people and the planet. From activism, they drive initiatives and tell unique stories.

Aare Castilla and Miren Fernández (Bizkaia/Gipuzkoa) are co-founders of Make it Visual, a visual communication agency full of “visual thinkers” that combines consultancy, design and training. For the effective communication between people, they seek to make messages easy to understand and remember using the Visual Thinking methodology.

Eider Etxeberria and Beatriz Santamaría (Gipuzkoa/Alava) are co-founders of BIZIPOZ, a cooperative that promotes the empowerment of senior citizens. They design and develop active ageing programmes that go beyond the focus on care. They respond to the current reality: life expectancy is increasing and people want to live well and to be an active part of society. Eider has been recognised in the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list of the most talented young people under 30.

Nicole Flamarique (Navarra) is co-founder of The Good Goal, a project that was born in the middle of Covid-19 and has already been identified as one of the seven cases of successful entrepreneurship during the pandemic. They have developed an app to learn about our environmental impact, improve sustainable habits and challenge us to be more sustainable while enjoying the process.

Lucía García de Castro (Madrid), Marta Durán (Asturias) and Prado Rodriguez (Madrid) are the co-founders of Más 1, the brand of badge bags that seduces influencers. Their bags are characterised by an original design made from steel and methacrylate plates, which can be combined with different straps and cases, allowing you to make as many combinations as you can imagine. 

Leyre Jauregi and Sara Viglione(Gipuzkoa) are co-founders of MIDDIN, an online platform of courses, experiences, virtual reality and more, for training in gender equality and sexual education. An opportunity to learn at your own pace for all those people who have doubts and who once questioned themselves.

Edurne Kortabarria (Gipuzkoa) is the founder of edurkorta where she combines her studies in entrepreneurship and graphic design. Currently, most of her artistic creation focuses on the exploration of artistic anatomy through digital and analogue illustration.

Lara Larrañaga (Bizkaia) is the founder of Msfurgo Studio, focused on creating brands for entrepreneurs and big dreamers who want to build their online businesses to live more authentically and freely.

Laura Leandro (Bizkaia) co-founder of Home (House of Movement Experience) that is orking on the creation of a sport centre focused on combating physical inactivity and improving the health and mobility of people with functional diversity, lack of mobility and elderly people in Bizkaia through constant movement, responsible tourism and measuring results.

Marta Maneja (Barcelona) is co-founder of Gloop, a startup that aims to end single-use plastics in products such as straws and teaspoons by creating alternatives that are edible and vegan. With her project she won the Entrepreneur Z, an international competition run by TikTok and Ac2ality.

Marina Medina (Barcelona), Laura Puertolas (Barcelona), Iris Veras (Barcelona) and Verónica Santamaria (Barcelona) are the co-founders of the feminist audiovisual production company Violets.

Maialen Mendizabal (Gipuzkoa) is co-founder of Diversity4Equality. Her motivation for starting the project was to make the tools for entrepreneurship accessible and open. That is why D4E creates programmes based on accessible, open and understandable methodologies so that anyone who wants to can become an entrepreneur and create an impact.

Ania Montoya and Lucía Lacuesta (Alava) have co-founded  EKI based in Seoul. They have developed a gamified app where users can find everything they need to learn in the field of sex education. They do it in a self-taught and fun way, helping to break the taboo of sexuality through intimacy. The platform adapts to the age and needs of each user and fills the knowledge gap that their current education has not covered.

Adela Quirós is the founder of the fashion brand Adela Quirós, whose most outstanding garment is the Top Fox.

Maialen Sanchez (Bizkaia) is co-founder of Makusi, which was born as an experiment to discover how we could contribute to society through graphic language. With the mission to build more conscious societies and organisations, they use art and visual language to bring the hidden to the surface and bring clarity to the complex.

Alba Queraltó (Barcelona) is co-founder of  Nexgen Careers, a company that brings the trends of the future of work to schools and universities and trains the next generation of professionals to thrive in the future world of work, and Zadig Experience, where they accompany high school students in their transition to university. In Kenya, together with other Basque and African entrepreneurs, he has also created HOCO, a company to produce sustainable building materials made from coconut waste.

Haize Trueba (Bizkaia) is co-founder of Kuvu, a project that generates intergenerational coexistence between the elderly and young people so that they can live together and share experiences. All with a clear objective: to improve the quality of life of the elderly.

Adriana Uribesalgo (Gipuzkoa) is co-founder of Ekomodo, a project that in 2 years has already recycled more than 150,000 plastic bottles. With this material they manufacture sustainable, durable and practical products for everyday use, seeking to create a better world with style.

Alazne Urquijo (Bizkaia) is co-founder of Gaman, official sponsor of Inclusive Changing Tables. These changing tables are an innovative concept of accessible toilets for people with high hygiene support needs. And it covers the basic needs for personal hygiene that currently standard accessible toilets do not meet.

Valeria Valverde (Costa Rica) is co-founder of the Spanish startup OX Motorcycles, which has just launched its first model OX ONE, the new electric and conscious and intelligent motorbike, thanks to its artificial intelligence ELISA, which enables direct connection with any mobile phone and warns the driver when a vehicle is approaching. Its first models will be on the streets of Spain, France, Portugal and Australia in December 2021. This startup has been a finalist for the MUBIL Mobility Awards in 2021 and the BBSC Awards in 2020.

Esther Vicario (Madrid) is the founder of Scatha, a fashion company that focuses on Spanish talent and production. They triumph with their handmade bags and clothes for women from 18 to 25 years old. 

Paula Vera (Navarra) and Lucía Martínez (Navarra) are co-founders of  Escape the City,  a company that designs and organises escape rooms in the streets of ten Spanish cities. It offers these activities with the aim of promoting fun, mutual listening and teamwork. With this project they were finalists in Spain for the Global Student Entrepreneur Award (GSEA) 2021. 

Maria Villar (Alicante) is co-founder of Foodinn, a Web-App for restaurants where customers can order and pay directly at the table, from the digital menu, without having to call a waiter. She has been the best university entrepreneur in Spain 2021, an award given to her by the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation (EO), which brings together 12,000 entrepreneurs from all over the world, after winning the Global Student Entrepreneurs Awards (GSEA) in Spain. 

Sara Zozaya (Gipuzkoa) is the founder of Gure Bazterrak, a music promoter that works for artists, concert venues and the public, which apart from producing concerts, is in charge of booking and managing bands and artists. All of this, placing value on independent music, bringing it to light so that it becomes the culture of the future, valuing what is local and understanding “culture” as something that is consumed on a regular basis.