15 Female European Leaders to Watch in 2023

According to the European Institute of Gender Equality, female empowerment is the process by which women gain control over their lives and acquire the ability to make strategic choices. And with technology playing an increasingly prominent role in our daily lives, gender disparity in the tech sector is an area that requires specific attention.

International Women’s Day 2023 was celebrated under the specific theme DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality, with their campaigns noting women make up just 22% of artificial intelligence workers globally.

Helping to buck this trend are talented female entrepreneurs with big ideas.

The upcoming list of 15 entrepreneurs from across Europe are certainly names to watch out for.

From leading neuroscience technology companies to revolutionizing recruitment marketing, let’s look at how these trailblazing entrepreneurs are going about building strong organizations and the challenges they have encountered on the path to success.

Alla Zhedik, CEO of Tempo France

Zhedik is the CEO of Tempo France, a payment institution and the principal EU anchor for stellar blockchain payments. She has several years of experience in financial risk management and asset liability and as an entrepreneur.

She has worked at leading financial institutions and handled the projects of banking startups, the creation of banking joint ventures, merger and acquisition projects, the restructuring and cost optimization of banks, and portfolio forecasts across Europe.

“We are working in a very competitive environment with all its attributes, including deadlines, multitasks, long hours, and so on. It seems to be so easy to forget about anything else. And the main challenge, I believe, is to be logical and cold-blooded in business and remain a woman outside of work at the same time,” said Zhedik.

Zhedik is helping to further Tempo France’s mission to build a unique payment ecosystem that allows entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by adopting disruptive fintech solutions and assisting individuals to benefit from next-gen financial services fully.

Audrey Barbier Litvak, Co-founder & CEO Offishall

Litvak left her General Manager position at WeWork to create Offishall. The company leads the hybrid working revolution with affordable, innovative, zero admin, transparent solutions for employees who want to choose when and where they work and companies that want to be part of the change.

There, she managed 30 buildings across her territory, four countries and five cities, and more than 50,000 members during the pandemic. One year later the company raised a pre-seed of $1.2 million from BA. This also marked the first time in fundraising history that a majority of women sat at the cap table.

She and her associates recruited great tech, sales, product, marketing, and business content managers.

When asked about entrepreneurship, Litvak observed: “Being a female entrepreneur feels similar to the plight of Elizabeth I: ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a King.’ You’re a queen, yet you have to convince others that it’s just as good as being a King.”

Outside of Offishall, Litvak also started a podcast named The Office and leads a think tank with CHRO and academics covered by Les Echos in France.

Viviana Premazzi, Founder at Global Mindset Development Training and Consulting Services Ltd

Premazzi is a former UN and World Bank consultant. She has provided expert advice to Fortune 500, international organizations, government agencies, national and international companies, NGOs, charities, and social enterprises on topics related to Cultural and Religious Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Migration, Integration, Financial Education and Cooperation and Development.

She is the founder of GMD Training and Consulting Services Ltd which provides online and in-person consulting, training, and mentoring services to companies and organizations worldwide. The company focuses on helping them develop an open and curious mindset to work effectively across cultures and promote diverse and inclusive workplaces and societies.

When asked about the challenges of female entrepreneurship, Premazzi replied: “To overcome the challenges of being a successful female entrepreneur, you should surround yourself with people who want to dream with you.”

She has been a researcher and adjunct professor in Intercultural Management and International Business and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for universities, business schools, and research institutes in Europe and North America.

Premazzi has traveled to more than 50 countries and lived in six countries before falling in love with Malta, where she set up her international social enterprise.

Sara Dalsfelt, Head of Brand & Community at Adway

Dalsfelt is an expert in Digital Talent Acquisition and first joined Adway in 2019. She heads up brand and community within Adway’s Growth Team and is recognized as a critical voice in the industry through LinkedIn’s Official Content Creator program for 2023. She has grown an engaged global talent acquisition (TA) network of over 24,000 TA managers, TA specialists & recruiters keenly interested in the future of TA.

Dalsfelt’s LinkedIn Lives and webinars with the world’s top recruiting experts are world-renowned, attracting sign-ups in the thousands.

She is a communication powerhouse passionate about diversity and inclusivity in the workplace and challenging the industry status quo through technology.

Designed to facilitate talent acquisition at scale and speed, enabling recruiters to identify, reach, and engage with talent directly, Adway’s innovative recruitment marketing technology is trailblazing the industry and assisting recruiters in finding, connecting, and converting talent.

Emilia Sękowska, CMO at Spyrosoft

Sękowska has more than 15 years of experience in marketing across different industries and geographies.

Currently leading Spyrosoft’s marketing team to drive business growth and talent acquisition, she is passionate about marketing strategies, and enjoys working in multidisciplinary teams that intersect with sales and marketing processes.

“The IT sector empowers women to pursue successful careers and seems to be the best choice for women who look for an unbiased and fair work environment, no matter which role in the company structure we consider,” said Sękowska.

“However, today the biggest challenge for all executives, regardless of gender, is the ability to adjust business ideas and decisions properly to the demanding conditions we operate in. In that sense, I perceive being a female as an additional asset that brings additional value to many areas, including leadership and change management,” she continued.

Spyrosoft was established to bring together software development enthusiasts. Its founders utilized their professional experience to create a distinctive offering that bridged the divide between technology and business.

Malene Ørgaard Ege, Head of People and Culture in Hyme Energy

Ørgaard Ege’s role at Hyme Energy is crucial for the organization; her accomplishments strategically recruit the most suitable candidates and foster a positive and driven culture that guarantees optimal output and employee retention. She holds an MA in Communications & BA in Psychology from Roskilde University in Denmark.

” Being the only female in an executive group can feel challenging at times, but then I think about the things I bring to the table: Intuition and a different perspective, for example. That helps us make better decisions,” says Ørgaard Ege.

She joined the organization in January 2022, bringing her 15 years of HR experience from DS Norden, Maersk, and PwC and her vast knowledge in HR Services, HR Partner, and Recruitment Partner, including internal roles, external consultancy roles, and assisting customers with HR projects.

Ørgaard Ege urges women to “consider your intuition; learn when to follow it and when not to. Women’s intuition is often strong, which is an advantage over most male colleagues, as you will see and sense things earlier and more robustly than most men. However, this also means that women can get stuck on their intuition. This is where you need to remember your common sense.”

Kristen Shannon, Founder and CEO of Highliner Technology

Shannon founded Highliner Technology, a consultancy of senior startup operators who help ambitious tech companies shift gears to scale and systematically accelerate to the next level. Their clients have included companies such as Cisco Meraki and Sonantic, acquired by Spotify, iProov, and Oxford Ionics.

With nire than a decade of experience in strategy development, operational execution, and organizational scaling, she has worked for ambitious organizations that have doubled in size year after year, leading recruitments of over 800 FTE a year and leading and scaling teams in multiple functional areas.

Shannon is also passionate about supporting underrepresented groups in tech and is involved in various initiatives, including mentoring underrepresented founders and angel investing.

Jana Večerková, Co-founder of BrikkApp

Večerková is a serial entrepreneur and management professional with a focus on fintech and technology. She founded the multi-awarded educational program Coding Bootcamp Praha in 2016 and the real estate micro-investment marketplace BrikkApp in 2019. Both companies share a mission of democratizing access to their respective areas of high-quality education and investment opportunities.

Previously, she worked for a Brussels-based organization overseeing the development and execution of pan-European projects with public and private entities.

Večerková graduated with an MSc in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics.

Večerková comments “I believe that being in an executive position is challenging no matter what your gender is. It requires determination, resilience, and a willingness to push through barriers and overcome obstacles. The difference is that society tends to associate these features more typically with men, and the same feature celebrated in a man, can be criticized in a woman.”

“Similarly, women tend to be judged more harshly when they make mistakes – and let’s be honest, every founder or manager has made many. I’ve learned that by focusing on my own goals and not getting weighed down by the expectations of others, I can achieve success on my terms.”

Jess Robson, Head of Marketing, Event Store Ltd

Robson is a dynamic and results-driven marketing professional with over ten years of experience in the industry. Her current role as Head of Marketing for Event Store has made her responsible for developing and executing innovative marketing strategies that drive brand awareness and adoption of Event Store’s world-changing database product.

Event Store Ltd is an open-source state-transition database designed for businesses. It offers commercial support plans, consulting services, and training to help clients successfully build event-sourced systems with EventStoreDB.

“A lack of female role models is something I’ve seen throughout my career, but especially when moving into the tech industry. Women hold less than 20% of all leadership positions in the tech world, which makes it a lonely place. While it didn’t exist for me, I hope to continue to develop myself to be a role model for the next wave of women joining this exciting industry that requires the skills we can bring,” said Robson.

As well as a passion for great branding and marketing designed around prospect pain, Robson has a solid entrepreneurial spirit resulting in launching several businesses from the ground up.

Sheena Pentin, Founder and Director at Careers4Change

Pentin is the Founder and Director of Careers4Change, a recruitment consultancy that connects purpose-driven individuals with organizations that use impact finance as a catalyst for positive social change.

Pentin’s primary focus is recruiting for leadership roles in social impact investment firms, trusts, foundations, charities, and social enterprises, making her a highly experienced professional in recruitment consulting.

Additionally, she has placed talented professionals in family offices and mainstream organizations engaged in impact investment or grant-making with a sustainable impact on people and the planet.

When asked about the challenges facing female entrepreneurs, Pentin commented “The biggest challenge is to find the headspace to innovate, scale and build a team while continuing to deliver a premium service to customers and keep the family plate spinning too! Speaking to a coach or mentor is a great way to find time during the busy ‘day-to-day’ to pause, reflect, and strategize. Keeping your head buried in work all day, every day is not sustainable, and stepping out of that busy zone helps to provide perspective.”

Pentin promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in all recruitment processes. She recognizes the importance of creating resilient, solution-focused, and creative teams that adapt to the world’s ever-changing needs. Her expertise in recruitment consulting ensures that all her clients receive high-quality services that meet their needs and exceed their expectations.

Caroline Simon, Managing Director, CTG Luxembourg PSF