Blog Post

Entrepreneur of the Year, 2020

International Creative Women • 13 January 2021

Two creative entrepreneurs won the prize Entrepreneur of the Year - 2020, Marcela Rojas, founder of El Metate and Gabi Ruijten-Dodoiu, founder of Food Experiences by Gabi.

Meet these special women, read her stories and discover why they won and which prizes they received!

The Contest

2020 was a tough year, full of uncertainty, difficulties and challenges, specially for entrepreneurs. So, we decided to recognize the courage and creativity that many women entrepreneurs showed during 2020. Members of the community voted for the woman who inspired them and showed that you can grow even during difficult times.

13 women received votes but we could only choose one, or two, because there was a tie!! The winners were announced live during the last day of our online market. You can check the live video here. (after minute 13th)

The women with most votes were Marcela and Gabi, 2 chefs with 2 very different backgrounds and cooking styles but both share a deep passion for food and an outstanding character that break barriers.

The Winners

Gabi is the owner of Food Experiences by Gabi, a plant-based food business.

She challenged herself during the first lockdown and decided to participate in our #wellbeingweeksprogram by sharing her talents.

She created different online cooking workshops that helped people to stay motivated, healthy, and happy. It was her first time but looked like she has done it for years, she was very professional and comfortable in front of the cameras.

Her workshops were attended by people in different countries and got many positive reviews.

Gabi also created a catering service for online markets and in summer, She organized workshops to share her passion for plant-based cooking.

Gabi was also busy sharing delicious recipes on Howdo Magazine Website and her products were part of the Christmas Gift boxes for companies prepared by International Creative Women. A true inspiration for women entrepreneurs.

Marcela arrived from Italia a few weeks before the first lockdown. She has been cooking in Mexico and Italy so the obvious option for her was to start a food business in Eindhoven, so she started El Metate.

She started offering catering services and weekly meals, she also started to learn English and Dutch. After some months and a lot of effort, she opened the doors of her beautiful food truck. With her colorful truck, she visited fairs and markets in Brabant where people made long queues to taste her authentic Mexican Food.

Marcela also created a series of food stories workshops where she shared not only her food but her culture and Mexican history through different types of Tacos. These sessions were a real success, people were in love not only with the flavors but with her stories and presentations.

Unfortunately, the workshops had to stop but she kept going, she created more dishes including vegan recipes and she produced a packaged sauces, delicious and spicy! Marcela is a real example of tenacity, perseverance, and courage.

Both Gabi and Marcela were also very active in the community, joined different projects and attended several workshops to improve their businesses, so this prize is really well deserved! Congratulations Marcela and Gabi.