Here are 9 young female entrepreneurs who are inspiring us and helping to change the world. From saving bees, and ending period poverty to decoding cancer and fighting for financial feminism – these female founders and activists have important stories to share.
They also prove anything is possible at any age – even 16 years old. It is never too young to think big and be bold.
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Table of Contents
9 Young Female Entrepreneurs
1. Mikaila Ulmer – Young Social Entrepreneur
Age: 19
Mission: Buy a Bottle…Save a Bee.
Her story: When Mikaila was four, she got stung by a bee, and then less than a week later, she got stung again! She started to research bees and discovered how vital they were for our ecosystem. With encouragement from her family, she entered children’s business competitions – and put on her thinking cap. She decided to modify her aunt’s flaxseed lemonade – she would add honey and help save the bees.
Me & the Bees Lemonade has grown by more than 500% and gives a percentage of sales to help save the bees. They are now celebrating more than 10 years in “buzzness!”
2. Riya Karumanchi – Tech entrepreneur and Inventor
Age: 16
Mission: Empowering people and creating equality through the development of technology
Her story: Nicknamed the question box, Riya Karumanchi, has always been curious. When visiting her friend, she noticed her visually impaired grandmother bumping into things while using her white cane. Upon digging deeper, she realized the traditional white can that so many visually impaired people rely on hadn’t been updated since 1921. So, she decided to create a Smart Cane, which allows for object detection, GPS, and computer vision.
She is a young female entrepreneur and disruptor who aims to tackle humanity’s most critical problems through technology.
3. Greta Thunberg – Environmental Activist
Age: 21
Mission: Challenge world leaders and raise awareness toward environmental issues
Her story: You have probably heard of the environmental activist, Greta Thunberg. At 15-years-old Great started skipping school to campaign against climate change, leading up to Sweden’s elections. She vowed to strike every Friday until Sweden joined the Paris Climate Agreement. She inspired multiple other students to unite and fight for their future every Friday in 2019.
Her passion, bluntness, and provocative speech have given her worldwide attention as a committed climate activist, and has received awards such as the Times’s 100 Most Influential People.
4. Rana Hajirasouli – Young female entrepreneur and leader
Age: Unknown
Mission: Help governments and businesses to exchange surplus resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Her story: Rana Hajirasouli is helping to pave the way for a more sustainable future by founding The Surpluss. The Surpluss offers a diagnostic program that identifies how much of your resources go to waste and gives you opportunities to exchange them – making sustainability profitable. Her business aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and is committed to building resilient communities.
She is one of the most innovative young female entrepreneurs who is changing how people see and use waste.
“That’s the vision behind The Surpluss – to reallocate excess resources in an efficient way to help businesses thrive, not just survive,” says Rana Hajirasouli.
Read our Q&A with Bold BusinessWomen, Rana Hajirasouli.
5. Iseult Ward – Social Entrepreneur and Food Lover
Age: Unknown
Mission: To reduce food waste and end food poverty.
Her story: Iseault created a mobile and web platform, FoodCloud, that connects businesses with surplus foods to local charities. FoodCloud connects food businesses to local charities and communities, making it easier for enterprises to be socially responsible and not let good food go to waste.
In 2017 Iseult was included on Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs European list, and her innovative solution was one of Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders.
6. Marley Dias – American Activist and Writer
Age: 19
Mission: Represent and tell women of color’s stories
Her story: Growing up, Marley Dias simply wanted to read where black girls were the main characters. In 2015, she started a campaign called #1000BlackGirlBooks to collect 1,000 books with black protagonists to donate to other black students in America. Within a few months, more than 9,000 books were collected and raised attention to the lack of diversity in literature.
She is now an author, producer, social activist, and one of the most talked about young female entrepreneurs.
She is one of the most inspiring young black female entrepreneurs and continues to inspire women around the world to be the main characters of their lives.
7. Brittany Wenger – Tech Entrepreneur and Scientist
Age: 30
Mission: Detect cancer early
Her story: Brittany became enamored with artificial intelligence in 2013. Luckily she never grew out of her “why” phase, which led her to become a cancer decoder.
When Brittany Wenger was a sophomore in high school, her cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. She wanted to help so she created an algorithm to understand and decode fine needle aspirate so she could more successfully and less invasively diagnose breast cancer.
She was just named one of Time Magazine’s 30 under 30 and Wenger’s breast cancer test, which has its own app, is now in beta tests with two cancer research centers.
8. Nadya Okamoto – fighting period poverty
Age: 24
Mission: End period poverty, period.
Her story: Nadya Okamoto has been working to change the culture around periods for the last decade. When she was 16 years old, published the book Period Power.
When she was 16 years old, she founded the nonprofit, Period.org – advocating for period products to not be taxed. readily available, and educating women around the globe. She is the co-founder of August — a lifestyle period brand that makes better tampons and pads, which are sold at Target, Amazon, and Doordash.
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9. Tori Dunlap – helping women achieve financial freedom
Age: 29
Mission: Make women rich
Her story: After saving $100,000 at age 25, Tori quit her corporate job in marketing and founded Her First $100K to help women become financially independent. She now is also a best-selling author and the host of one of the most inspirational podcasts for women.
She is working toward providing financial education for women and reminding women that financial freedom comes with the responsibility to invest in the female community and advocate for women and marginalized groups.
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Inspiring Women in Business Who Started Young
Here are some of the most inspiring businesswomen who started young and haven’t stopped making an impact since.
1. Melanie Perkins
At just 19 years old, Melanie conceptualized the design software platform and unicorn startup, Canva. She was at university teaching design programs when she realized they could be more simple and accessible.
Her Message: She focused on building the most valuable company possible and then doing as much good as possible with that company. And now she is one of the most famous female entrepreneurs in the world.
2. Whitney Wolfe Herd
Whitney Wolfe Herd founded the dating app, Bumble, at 25 years old. She quickly became one of the world’s youngest female self-made billionaires at 31. Herd revolutionized the dating scene for women – empowering women to make the first move.
Whitney’s ideas unfortunately stem from misogynistic culture, and she wants to fight for equality in the dating world and beyond.
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3. Rihanna
In 2022, Rihanna became the youngest female billionaire in the world and the richest female musician. She reached this status after starting her beauty brand, Fenty. Her brand focuses on inclusivity, featuring multiple shades, and model shapes and sizes.
She isn’t afraid of risks, gets bored easily, and likes to keep moving.
4. Selena Gomez
The producer, singer, and famous female entrepreneur is now one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the United States. Most of her impressive fortune comes from her beauty brand, Rare Beauty.
And 1% of Rare Beauty’s annual sales will go directly to the Rare Impact Fund to expand mental health services in underserved communities.
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Young Female E-commerce Entrepreneurs
1. Alexa Suter, founder of Huha
From exploring Europe solo and starting her successful blog to becoming BC Business’s top 30 Under 30 winner after starting Huha – making her one of the most celebrated young female entrepreneurs in Canada.
Her undercare (not underwear) brand has become widely loved – who wouldn’t love a sustainable, inclusive, and women-owned brand?
2. Jenn Low, founder of Wanderlust + Co
While studying, Jean Louw realized that there wasn’t any affordable jewelry that looked luxurious. So she created a digital jewelry brand from her flat in Melbourne, Australia, that is trendy and affordable.
She grew her jewelry e-commerce business by focusing on her website sales and growing her traffic significantly over the years.
3. Gretta van Riel, founder of SkinnyMe Tea
Australian female e-commerce entrepreneur, Gretta van Riel, started her first business, SkinnyMe Tea at 22 which grew from zero to 600K a month. She used influencers and the power of social media to grow her brand and become one of the most successful young female entrepreneurs.
Since then, she has built other successful brands including The 5th watches.
Recommended Reading: 15 Female E-commerce Entrepreneurs Who Thought Out of The Box
You Too Can Change the World
These young female entrepreneurs are using their curiosity and drive to change the world – from harnessing the power of AI to working toward innovative sustainable solutions. There is also a lot that we can learn from inspiring women in business and female ecommerce entrepreneurs who started young – and the impact they continue to make on our world.
Remember, be bold and be brave.
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