Zurich, March, 2021

CRIF examined who set up new companies in 2020. In Switzerland, 67,753 people founded new companies in 2020, of these, 74.4% were men and 25.6% were women. The most popular legal form chosen by both men and women was the GmbH (private limited company), which accounted for 18,286 new businesses, followed by sole proprietorships (14,890) and AGs (public limited companies) of which there were 9,355. However, when we examined those sectors where most new companies were founded by women, we found that they mainly chose a “sole proprietorship” or GmbH as their legal form.

Sectors involving a higher number of female company founders
Most female company founders are found in the “provision of personal services” sector (1196). These are primarily hairdressing and cosmetics businesses and nail studios. The next most popular sectors for female company founders are social services (199), clothing manufacture (138) and veterinary services (46).

Read more: crif.ch