World Entrepreneurship Day is celebrated on April 16, a date proclaimed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that recognizes the work and the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of those who develop this activity. In this sense, green entrepreneurship is a key axis to move towards the ecological transition, mitigate the effects of climate change and fight against territorial depopulation. For this reason, entrepreneurs have a greater specific weight in the economy and act as levers of change to respond to these global challenges. Challenges to which is added that of advancing synergistically in gender equality.

Therefore, it is vital to promote practices that include a gender perspective in entrepreneurship. In this sense, the report “Women’s Green Entrepreneurship and Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Rural Sphere” published by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) analyzes green entrepreneurship, rural entrepreneurship and the intersection between the two from this perspective. Only one in ten entrepreneurs in green activities are women, one in three in rural entrepreneurship, and six in 100 in green and rural entrepreneurship.

Even so, Spain is one of the leading countries in the European Union in women’s rural entrepreneurship (along with Lithuania, Austria, France, Greece and Poland) and in women’s green entrepreneurship (behind Italy).

Based on microdata from the Active Population Survey (EPA), it is estimated that, in 2022, there were a total of 56,692 women entrepreneurs in green activities and 534,595 men in Spain, which means that women make up only 9.6% of the total green entrepreneurship. Similarly, rural women entrepreneurs only represented a third of the total rural entrepreneurship in Spain in 2022. Also, 17 out of every 100 women entrepreneurs in Spain are entrepreneurs in rural environments, compared to 19 out of every 100 entrepreneurs. The Biodiversity Foundation (MITECO) incorporates the gender perspective in a transversal way in its actions, materializing this aspect in several dimensions, including in the programs and projects it develops. In addition, it promotes green entrepreneurship through the Emprendeverde Network (REV), an initiative of the Empleaverde Programme, co-financed by the European Social Fund, which has the largest community of green entrepreneurs in Spain. This network is made up of 11,000 people interested in promoting a fairer ecological transition through new business models that put products and services with a greater positive environmental and social impact on the market. Since its inception in 2011, it has launched 28 actions to support green entrepreneurship through which more than 4,000 participants have passed. The Emprendeverde Network contributes to promoting green entrepreneurship through its free training services such as the Emprendeverde Itineraries, mentoring through Emprendeverde Mentoring and advice through Constitute #TuEmpresaVerde, with which, since 2021, it has served more than 1,000 people. Within the framework of the Emprendeverde Itineraries, the Biodiversity Foundation is organising a meeting next Thursday, 20 April , with the aim of helping all those interested in promoting their green business.

This day of networking and inspiration will serve to expand the network of contacts and create synergies through knowledge such as the advantages of entrepreneurship in a biosphere reserve and inspiring experiences of several green enterprises, with testimonies of their protagonists. During the event, enterprises of the Emprendeverde Network that are led by women in rural territories will be announced, such as the La Gabarrera brewery, co-founder of this social cooperative of craft and organic beers located in Becerril de la Sierra (Madrid). Another example is Belén Matilla, who during the meeting will present her experience as co-founder of Lúpulo Tecnología de Galicia, (LUTEGA) for the recovery of hop cultivation, and Orballo , a project that offers infusions with the first certified organic tea plantation in Europe that can be visited , which has allowed them to develop a unique European tourism product. Both projects are located in the Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo biosphere reserve (Galicia). Finally, Marleen Schafer is another entrepreneur trained in the Emprendeverde Network, which has launched Ladrón de Miel, dedicated to the care of the earth, promotion of biodiversity and the production of quality natural products free of pesticides (raw honey, extra virgin olive oil and almonds), located in El Gastón (Cádiz). In addition, it organizes visits and sponsorship of beehives.