Yrittäjäkassa Participates in the VoimaNaiset Event

There are many paths to entrepreneurship. A business can grow from a long-held dream, a desire to do things in your own way, or simply by chance. One thing many entrepreneurs have in common, however, is that at some point, you have to dare to take the first step.

For years, Yrittäjäkassa has shared the stories of different women entrepreneurs on its website, in newsletters, and across social media channels. We have wanted to highlight the many different paths to entrepreneurship and, above all, bring visibility to the real people behind the businesses.

Every entrepreneur’s story is unique. By sharing these stories, we can give entrepreneurs the visibility they deserve while encouraging others to trust their own ideas. The best outcome is when someone else’s story sparks the thought: maybe I can do it too.

More Than One-Third of Entrepreneurs Are Women

There are around 300,000 entrepreneurs in Finland. Just over one-third of them are women. A similar gender distribution can be seen across the EU, where women account for 34.4% of self-employed people.

However, the circumstances for becoming an entrepreneur are not the same for everyone. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), responsibility for caring for children and elderly family members still falls more often on women in EU countries, making it more difficult to balance work and family life. According to Statistics Finland, women in Finland also spend more time on household work than men, even though women are, on average, more highly educated.

That is why it is important to ensure that women have equal opportunities to become entrepreneurs and develop their businesses. When barriers to entrepreneurship are identified and balancing work and family life becomes easier, more people can turn their skills and ideas into businesses. At the same time, this creates new services, jobs, and vitality.

Courage Grows Together

Achieving your goals often requires confidence in your own abilities. But that does not mean you have to do everything alone.

Networks are especially important for solo entrepreneurs. Other entrepreneurs can provide peer support, practical advice, and new perspectives on business. A conversation can lead to a new idea, a collaboration, or a valuable contact. Sometimes, the most important thing is simply realising that you are not alone with your thoughts and concerns.

That is why we need places where women can meet, share their experiences, and encourage one another. The VoimaNaiset event provides space for new connections, inspiration, and ideas about just how far your own skills and abilities can take you.

Strength From Your Own Work Community

We decided to take part in the VoimaNaiset event because it is important for us to meet entrepreneurs and women interested in entrepreneurship, hear about their experiences, and encourage them to trust their own abilities.

The event’s themes of strengthening self-confidence and courage, as well as pursuing your own dreams, are central to entrepreneurship. We want to do our part to encourage women to build a working life that reflects who they are, which is exactly why participating in the event felt so natural to us.

There are also VoimaNaiset within our own office. Yrittäjäkassa has a team of women who carry out demanding and responsible work for entrepreneurs every day. However, the strength of our work community does not come only from what we achieve, but also from how we work together. We help and encourage one another every day. Perhaps this is one of the most important forms of strength: understanding that you do not have to do everything alone.

We Want to Help Make Entrepreneurship Possible

Understandably, Yrittäjäkassa is often associated with situations where an entrepreneur’s work comes to an end. Paying earnings-related unemployment benefits is our core responsibility, but we also want to support entrepreneurs during other stages of their working lives.

For us, security for entrepreneurs does not only mean being there when things do not go according to plan. At its best, security can also give people the courage to become entrepreneurs.

When entrepreneurs understand their social security, have access to reliable information, and know they do not have to face changes in working life alone, it becomes easier to make decisions and build the future on a more secure foundation. That is why, in addition to unemployment security, we provide our members with information, advice, and services and training that support entrepreneurship.

We want to do our part to build a working life where people feel confident enough to pursue entrepreneurship and where they can follow their dreams with greater security. Courage certainly does not mean never feeling uncertain or afraid. Sometimes, courage is simply about daring to take the next step despite those feelings.

The courage to become an entrepreneur – Yrittäjäkassa.fi