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Entrepreneurship is crucial to economic development and women have made an enormous effort in recent years to be present in the world of entrepreneurship. 

According to figures released by the Dutch chamber of commerce KVK for International Women’s Day in 2021, the number of female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands increased by 29 per cent in the past five years. 

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Women account for 36 per cent of the total number of entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, adds the report. Realising the potential, The City of Amsterdam has actively started investing to promote female entrepreneurship. 

Despite the many challenges that women entrepreneurs face, many in the tech startup ecosystem, particularly in Amsterdam, have shunned all the disparities and have come out with flying colours. 

Here is a list of 10 female entrepreneurs to watch in 2022.

Ilona van Wegen

Founder of GetEase

Ilona van Wegen is the founder of GetEase, a dedicated platform for lifestyle services, including massage, manicure, yoga, personal training, and more. 

She is a result-orientated sales and marketing leader with a reputation for strategic thinking, commercial pragmatism, and collaborative leadership. 

Wegen started her career as a Category Manager in Heineken and worked for various companies, including CS Digital Media and BST Company. She spent 8 years of her career in Google in various roles. She is a member of the advisory board in Volumental and Adcombi. 

Lynn Burgman

Founder of The Gift Label

Lynn Burgman is the founder of The Gift Label, an Amsterdam-based lifestyle brand. Before starting The Gift Label, Burgman worked in various departments, including sales (Blue Glory), an account manager (DBM Bjorn Borg), and an agent/distributor (LYNN Fashion agency).

She founded the company out of the passion to create products that are loved: to create warm, original, well-designed products that are fun to buy, to give, and to receive. 

Fridah Ntarangwi – Kimathi

Founder of Zidicircle

Currently, Fridah Ntarangwi – Kimathi is a managing partner in Zidicircle, a platform that promotes inclusive entrepreneurship and financing for the diaspora entrepreneurs and SME’s in Africa.

Ntarangwi – Kimathi has 16 years of financial sector experience ranging from entrepreneurial financing, impact investments management, crowdfunding, portfolio management, and more. She is a business coach and has supported several startups to scale up.

Marleen Basart

Founder of BitesWeLove

Marleen Basart is the founder and director of BitesWeLove, an Amsterdam startup that offers healthy nut-based snacks in six flavours wrapped in bioplastic packaging. 

Basart started her career as a category manager at one of the largest supermarkets in the Netherlands – Albert Heijn. Soon after, she founded her first company FoodWeLove in 2012, before BitesWeLove in 2014. 

She did her  international MSc Programme from RSM Erasmus Universiteit and BSc from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Estelle Roux

Founder of MentorJam

Estelle Roux is the CEO and co-founder of Mentorjam, a cloud-based mentoring programme delivery platform. Roux’s goal is to build diverse environments where people-first cultures can thrive and flourish. She has more than 23 years of experience in International HR and spent most of her career working in the FinTech, IT, and Banking industries. In 2017, she was nominated for a Woman in Tech award in the Diversity Category.

Robin Laird 

Founder of HealthCurious

Robin Laird is the founder of Health Curious, a platform that offers tracking tools and lifestyle support for bariatric surgery patients. She finished her MSc. Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the University of Amsterdam. 

Laird is a fashion model turned biochemistry master and a certified health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, 

She is also an alumna of the University of Southern California and Amsterdam University College, where she obtained her undergraduate degrees in Public Relations and Biomedical Sciences. 

Roos Aduagyei 

Founder of Trickle

Roos Aduagyei is one of the co-founders of Trickle, a recruitment service that helps companies with more diverse and inclusive workspace. Besides, she is a project manager for Hashtag Workmode, a platform that offers female-focused co-working spaces. She finished her graduation in Media, Information & Communication at the University of Applied Sciences Amsterdam. 

Layla Li 

Founder of Kosa.ai

Layla Li is the co-founder and CEO of Kosa.ai, an automated responsible AI system that helps enterprises put equity in their AI. Layla Li lived in China, the US, Japan, the UK, the Netherlands, and Kenya. 

She is a full-stack developer, data scientist, and data-driven global business strategist. She has built her machine learning Saas products from scratch and had successfully completed proof of concepts with multiple clients.

Layla spent around three years working as a data expert at Tesla before starting her venture. Aside from the technical background, she has experience working in social media marketing and business development, plus a degree in fashion design. 

Megaidi Pinas-Pieroelie 

Founder of Borrow a Brand

Megaidi Pinas-Pieroelie is the founder of Borrow a Brand. Its mission is to make fashion rental in the European standard. To make this a reality, she discontinued her career as a lawyer. She finished both her  bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Amsterdam.

Micky Chen 

Founder of Minite

Micky Chen, founder of Minite, is an ex-Salesforce employee turned tech entrepreneur. She is passionate about helping the next generation succeed and making the world a better place through entrepreneurial endeavours. She is also a guest lecturer at Rotterdam School of Management, where she completed her BSc in International Business Administration.