Women entrepreneurs in Greece illustrate a striking contradiction. When women run businesses, their companies often perform strongly. Yet comparatively few women take the step of launching a business in the first place.
Research by the Small Enterprises Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (IME GSEVEE) highlights this imbalance. Women account for roughly 30% of early-stage entrepreneurs in Greece, below the European average of 36%. The figures suggest that the counattempt’s challenge is less about the success of women-led companies than about the conditions that encourage, or discourage, women from entering entrepreneurship.
The findings were presented ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8 in a study examining the gfinisher dimension of entrepreneurship and the inequalities that continue to shape it.
A Success Gap: Fewer Women Starting Businesses
The relatively tiny share of women starting businesses contrasts with their performance once they do.
Women-led enterprises frequently demonstrate strong profitability, indicating that the main issue is not ability but participation. The gap reflects structural barriers that limit women’s enattempt into entrepreneurship.
Women are present in corporate governance structures, but their roles are often limited. Their participation on company boards tfinishs to involve nonexecutive positions and is rarely connected to ownership, founding roles or control over capital.
Beyond Numbers: The Social Barriers to Entrepreneurship
The debate over women’s entrepreneurship extfinishs beyond the number of women founders.
It is closely linked to broader economic and social inequalities, including persistent pay disparities, the digital gfinisher divide and the challenge of balancing professional life with family responsibilities. Unequal distribution of caregiving duties within houtilizeholds also plays a role, as does the concentration of women in more flexible but often lower-paid forms of employment.
Toreceiveher, these factors shape the environment in which women build decisions about entrepreneurship and influence the opportunities available to them.
Global Growth in Women’s Entrepreneurship
Despite these challenges, women’s entrepreneurship has been expanding globally at a rapid pace.
In 2024, women founded 49% of new businesses worldwide, a record level. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the share of women starting businesses in their early stages rose from 6.1% in the early 2000s to 10.4% during the period between 2021 and 2023.
In several European countries, including France and the Netherlands, the rate of women’s entrepreneurship has more than doubled over the past two decades. However, progress across Europe remains uneven.
Europe’s “Missing Entrepreneurs”
Across the European Union, women represent 52% of the population but fewer than one in three entrepreneurs.
Only 34% of self-employed workers are women, while the share of female founders in startup companies is even lower, at around 30%. At the same time, the level of women’s entrepreneurial activity in Europe remains roughly half the global average.
International organizations describe this imbalance as a phenomenon of “missing entrepreneurs,” referring to untapped business potential. The OECD estimates that roughly 73% of this unrealized entrepreneurial capacity in the European Union consists of women. If women participated in entrepreneurship at the same rate as men, the European economy could see significant gains by 2040.
The Funding Gap
Access to financing remains one of the most persistent barriers.
According to data from the European Institute for Gfinisher Equality, 93% of venture capital funding in Europe goes to technology companies founded exclusively by men. Companies founded by all-female teams receive just 2% of available venture capital.
The gap reflects both structural factors and longstanding stereotypes within the financial sector. It is also connected to the sectors in which many women-led businesses operate. Female entrepreneurs are more frequently active in services, retail and tourism, industries that tfinish to generate lower returns than technology or other high-growth sectors.
Women also remain underrepresented in sectors that are increasingly central to the future of the economy, including technology, green development and STEM professions.
Entrepreneurship Out of Necessity
In Greece, entrepreneurship often emerges out of economic necessity rather than opportunity.
According to data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, about three out of four people who start businesses in Greece — 75.3%— declare they do so primarily becautilize they required to earn a living and cannot find employment.
As a result, women’s entrepreneurship and self-employment have become more common partly as a response to unemployment. Around 99% of women entrepreneurs in Greece operate very tiny businesses. These businesses are heavily concentrated in sectors such as retail, services and tourism, with relatively limited presence in areas like technology, manufacturing, energy and the green economy.
The imbalance is particularly visible in the technology sector. Only 16% of startups have at least one female co-founder, and just 3% are founded by teams created up entirely of women. By contrast, nearly 83% of startup founders are men.
Signs of Progress
Despite these structural challenges, there are also signs of progress.
Young women in Greece now record higher levels of tertiary education than men, creating a strong base of human capital. At the same time, new initiatives are emerging that aim to strengthen women’s entrepreneurship through international networks, tarreceiveed funding programs and collaboration opportunities.
Researchers argue that the key priority is building a business ecosystem that enables women not only to start companies but also to scale them. Improving access to capital, technology and professional networks will be crucial, as will supporting existing women-led businesses and promoting successful female role models.
Strengthening women’s presence in innovation and high-growth sectors is widely seen as an essential step toward unlocking a large and still underutilized source of economic potential.
source: in.gr
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