The Association of Women Entrepreneurs of the Basque Country has been promoting and making women's entrepreneurship visible for more than 10 years.

In 2013, in a cafe, five women entrepreneurs who were ready to change things gave life to the EmpameEkin initiative. That name, a play on words combining the words "with women" and "women" and "with", beautifully reflects the aim of the association: to provide protection, support and visibility to women in entrepreneurship.

In fact, during those conversations over coffee, the founders of the association realized that many of the barriers that prevented their projects from progressing were based on gender inequality. That is why they came together to develop tools to address these shared challenges and overcome common obstacles.

Eleven years later, EmamequeEkin has supported more than 6,000 women, and has become a reference organization where female entrepreneurs in the Basque Country share experiences, learn from each other and create useful mechanisms to face the challenges of being women.

Minimizing achievements and "self-negotiation"

Among the obstacles to be overcome, there is a tendency towards "smallness". Accordingly, women minimize their achievements by using terms such as "small projects" or "small businesses". According to EmameEkin, it is essential for women to learn to change this way of communicating and to speak clearly and proudly about what they do. "It is important to express things as they are: I have a company, I have a project, I have a team. In this way, we give them value", explained Izaskun.

Another challenge to face is "self-negotiation", a practice quite common among women entrepreneurs, which is to reduce the price of their services and proposals, even before presenting them to potential clients, because they are afraid of being too expensive. He is working hard with EmameE to change this mindset, promoting among members the need to set fair prices for their activities. "A fair price, not in the 'low' sense, but in the fair sense of justice", emphasized the president of the association. For this purpose, they offer programs such as "Sufritu gabe saldo", which deals with commercial activity from a feminist perspective and using innovative methods.

In addition, Izaskun left this great advice to all women entrepreneurs in our podcast: "If one day you are making a proposal and you feel like lowering the price, raise it by 20% and send it".

With women

EmakueEki is the association of women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in the Basque Country, and works to promote and develop entrepreneurship led by women.

Do you know the origin of our name? "EmakumeEkin" is a play on words: we have combined the verb "emakume" and the verb "with", and the name also means "together with women".

It is a non-profit association with a feminist perspective. It was founded by some female entrepreneurs in 2013, and is currently made up of professionals. They wanted to move forward with our entrepreneurial projects, and realized that their limitations stemmed from gender differences.

They put into action the concerns caused by the lack of visibility of women in entrepreneurship and the lack of female entrepreneurial references, as well as the belief that creating networks among themselves would bring benefits.

They help the female entrepreneurs of the Basque Country and create a community. They design and facilitate events for women entrepreneurs, such as meetings, conferences, consulting sessions, programs and collaborations with other companies or organizations, in an atmosphere based on trust and "non-judgment", from a gender perspective.

What do they do

Its partner network is the driving force behind the EmamequeEkin association.

They organize meetings and conferences related to entrepreneurship and participate in them, they hold sessions to make friends, and they design and facilitate support programs for women entrepreneurs.

They are collaborating with public entities and institutions, as well as with associations that have the same values ​​as them. They build bridges to help create and expand projects with a positive gender impact. They strive to make their workplaces full of quality, warmth and enjoyment.

Women's open meetings

Every month, around the 10th, they organize a meeting to address interesting issues decided in advance by the members of the association. These meetings have been named Emakumeeting, and for an hour and a half, they share learnings that promote individual and collective empowerment of the participants. Since 2022, they are open to women entrepreneurs who want to participate in the meeting, and they alternate face-to-face sessions and online sessions.

• Programs to support women entrepreneurs: Women lead, they design and energize programs to respond to the needs identified in the association about entrepreneurship: ANDREkincijaa, Izaten, INNPower, Neskworking Progress... And much more. Eligible women entrepreneurs can access them.
• Meetings and conferences for women entrepreneurs: They organize training workshops and courses to strengthen the skills to be entrepreneurs, to learn about the testimonies and experiences of other professionals, and to help strengthen their companies to create places for entrepreneurship.
• Counseling for women entrepreneurs: They offer counseling in the programs they design, individually or in groups. These support sessions are held in a professional and friendly environment, to get to know each other and to discuss strategies and business models and to share concerns and achievements.

More information:
www.emakumekein.org