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Unlocking The WomenPower into use

4 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 14 hours ago

Women of the North: unlocking Woman Power through female entrepreneurship

Finnish myth is matriarchal. Ilmatar, Creator Goddess of wind and water, births the first humans; nature itself is born of woman. The Kalevala teaches that life’s creative energy—yin and yang, wind and water—is rooted in the feminine. Louhi, Mistress of the North, once locked the light and the Sampo (the magical mill of common good) inside the stone mountain. The epic’s struggle to free that light is a metaphor: feminine power contains the spark that renews culture, community and prosperity.

Woman power is creative force—stored, hidden, sometimes feared—but always potent. Our inventions, crafts and businesses tend toward sustainability, community benefit and environmental care.

Female entrepreneurs today are the modern heirs of Louhi and Ilmatar: gathering Sampo’s crumbs and coaxing new growth from them. But too often that light is blocked by laws, rules and gatekeepers that treat creativity as a problem to be regulated away.

My experience as a female entrepreneur: multiple positive assessments of international potential, seven applications for support, invitations to major fairs—yet repeated rejection or indifference from agencies. Rules exclude small companies (one-organizer invitations don’t qualify for funding), sectors like fashion are undervalued, and whole programs are being cut.

Opportunities such as Paris, New York and Shanghai Fashion Weeks have been missed for lack of scalable support. Meanwhile, sustainable fashion—a field where Finland can lead—is denied the investment it needs to seize a global moment.

Barriers aren’t only bureaucratic; they’re cultural. Women’s businesses are often seen as “too small,” “too niche,” or simply not worth funding. When support favors larger, male-dominated firms, society loses innovations that often deliver social and environmental returns—dish-drying cabinets or circular-fashion systems among them.

Call to action

Recognize and fund female-led, sustainable innovation as nationally strategic.
Reform rules that block small, creative companies and sole entrepreneurs.
Value the feminine perspective: holistic, community-minded, growth-focused.
Men in power should actively back women—real change needs allies.

Let’s free the light. Finland’s creativity and equality are national assets. By investing in women’s entrepreneurship—especially in sustainable fashion and the creative industries—we unlock prosperity, revive our cultural spirit, and let the Sampo grind again for everyone.

**Louhi, the Mistress of the North, in chains**

New opportynity

I’ve been invited to New York Fashion Week and World Fashion Week in Paris, yet received no funding. These project is nationally important for Finnish sustainable fashion, but fashion still isn’t treated as strategic—women’s innovations go undervalued.

World Fashion Week is a real chance to showcase Finland’s sustainable design on a global stage, learn the latest innovations, and speed the industry’s renewal. As fast fashion falters, Finland can brand itself as a leader in sustainable fashion—but only if we invest in it. Supporting female entrepreneurs and the creative sector is a direct route to green economic growth.

Too many of us face the same barriers: exclusion from funding, rules that penalize small companies and sole entrepreneurs, and sector bias that favors traditionally “male” industries. I’ve seen men’s firms receive internationalization support while women-led projects are declined. The result is lost opportunities—to scale production, to attend major fairs, to turn pilot successes into impact.

Real change needs allies. Men in positions of power must actively back women; funding bodies must loosen one-size-fits-all rules and recognize the social and environmental value of women-led innovation.

Where is the friend of a woman entrepreneur?

Let’s revive Finland’s cultural and economic spirit by valuing and funding women’s creativity. Invest in sustainable fashion and female entrepreneurship now—and let our Sampo grind prosperity for everyone.