Maren Jopen

About Maren Jopen

Companion for Female Founders

She is living proof that women can be everything: mother, entrepreneur, and their own best friend. In her lectures, Maren Jopen demonstrates how women can become self-employed without losing themselves in the process.

The woman has nerves: In her early 30s, Maren Jopen leaves her career in a large corporation because she prefers to train prisoners to become entrepreneurs. The program “Leonhard | Entrepreneurship for Prisoners” helps inmates build their own businesses and becomes a complete success. At 37, she travels for half a year through Southeast Asia—with two small children in tow. In the same year, she co-founds the platform Women’s Hub, which connects women across Germany. For the past year, she has been supporting women in starting their own businesses with her company Jopenau, taking completely new approaches.

In her speeches, the pioneer of modern entrepreneurship talks about her unusual career path and why, in retrospect, all the turns she took make sense. Jopen doesn’t give lectures; she tells stories. She doesn’t give tips but shares what she has learned from her mistakes. She dusts off old entrepreneurial wisdom and shows women new paths to self-employment in her courses: low-risk, step-by-step, and sustainable. Clichés are debunked: a suit, briefcase, and five-year plan are not necessarily part of a successful company. In her interpretation, starting a business sounds much more appealing: Look at what you can do. Consider who you know. And ask yourself who your favorite customers are. These questions are at the very beginning of her courses. Jopen has found her answers. She offers this promise to her female founders as well.