In 2023, more than half of sole proprietors (57%) were registered by women. This is stated in a study by YouControl Market, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
This trend has been observed over the past five years. In 2022, when a full-scale war broke out in the country, the number of new sole proprietorships dropped sharply, but even then the number of registered sole proprietorships by women was higher. Already in 2023, the number of new sole proprietorships opened by women increased significantly and exceeded the number opened by men by 45,000.
However, men started more new companies. Women created 24% of new businesses. According to the authors of the study, this trend has been observed in Ukraine for decades.
In total, almost a million operating commercial companies are registered in Ukraine. Women own more than 18% of firms, and more than 14% of companies are jointly owned by women and men. More than 54% of legal entities with commercial organisational and legal forms are owned by men.
In general, the study analysed which sectors women choose and why big business is still “male”, as well as the number of women owners in the top 1000 companies (based on the State Statistics Service’s financial statements as of 14 March 2024).
TOP 10 SECTORS AMONG WOMEN SOLE PROPRIETORS
During the second year of the full-scale war, women created the largest number of new sole proprietorships to provide beauty services – more than 18,000. This sector became the most popular among all newly created sole proprietorships in the second year of the great war, and the share of women sole proprietors in it was 94%.
In general, the largest number of women sole proprietors are in the audit and accounting, education, and other services sectors.
BENEFICIARIES IN THE TOP 1000 COMPANIES
Big business is not a woman’s business: only 7% of the top 1000 companies are owned by women. Only 7% have women as their ultimate beneficiaries, and another 11% have both women and men among their owners.
It is worth noting that as many as 23% of companies did not provide information about their owners at all.
The top sectors with women-owned companies are food industry, electricity, wholesale trade, and oil and gas.
CEOS OF THE TOP 1000 COMPANIES
The vast majority of companies in Ukraine are run by men. Only 14% of women are CEOs in the top 1000 companies.
The vast majority of chief accountants in these companies are women – 81%.
TOP 10 SECTORS OF COMPANIES WITH WOMEN OWNERS
The most popular sector is audit and accounting, with more than 40% of companies owned by women and another 20% in joint ownership. Other popular sectors include tourism, education, catering and light industry.
Many companies in the real estate sector are also owned by women.
The sectoral distribution of women-owned businesses in the top 1000 largest companies differs. The obvious leaders here are companies in the food industry, electricity, wholesale trade, oil and gas, and retail sectors.
17 companies in the agriculture sector are co-owned and only one is owned by a woman.