KfW Research: Number of women at the helm of small and medium-sized enterprises has fallen

• Only 14.3 per cent of SMEs in Germany have a female boss
• Peak stood at 19.7 per cent in the year 2022
• Share of women in other management positions in SMEs is also on the decline

The share of small and medium-sized enterprises headed by a woman has dropped further. Of the roughly 3.84 million SMEs in Germany, only 14.3 per cent were led by a woman in 2024 – fewer than ever since the first survey was conducted as part of the KfW SME Panel in 2003. In the year 2023 it was still 15.8 per cent, while the peak was reached in 2022, at 19.7 per cent.

“We are far from closing the gender gap in the boardrooms of SMEs, even if we would have liked to send out a different message on International Women's Day. And yet, there are more than enough good reasons for Germany and the SME sector to make better use of the potential of women. Not least the shrinking working-age population and the high number of SMEs that will be looking for a successor in the next few years is making this an absolute necessity,”

said Katharina Herrmann, KfW Executive Board member responsible of domestic promotion.

Seventy-nine per cent of enterprises headed by a woman are micro-businesses with fewer than five employees. Furthermore, around 85 per cent of female bosses are at the head of an SME in the services sector.

The presence of women fell not just in company boardrooms last year. The downward trend could also be seen in other management roles such as team leader and head of division or department. The share of women in all management positions in SMEs with employees fell by 4.9 percentage points to 21% in 2024 compared with the previous year. This shows that in relation to the share of women in the workforce, which sits at 47 per cent, women are still underrepresented in leadership roles in SMEs.

“The fact that more women have recently wanted to become entrepreneurs again and their start-up activity has increased is a ray of hope. However, existing gender stereotypes must be broken down and obstacles removed in order to sustainably revitalise the entrepreneurial and start-up spirit of women. Politics, business and society must work together to create suitable framework conditions. With its promotional programmes, KfW as a promotional bank makes a decisive contribution to ensuring that business transfers and start-ups do not have to fail due to financial hurdles,”

said Katharina Herrmann.

The entire short study can be found at Economics in Brief | KfW.

KfW is supporting the SME sector with a wide range of promotional programmes. For more information: Our promotional offering for companies | KfW.