Enterprises run by women are mostly engaged in services

In 2009 almost 28% of enterprises in Slovenia were run by women. Most of them (92%) were small enterprises with fewer than five employees. Only 2% of enterprises run by women had ten or more employees. The largest shares of enterprises run by women were engaged in services; 19.4% in accommodation and food service activities and 18.6% in wholesale and retail trade. In absolute number, more enterprises were run by women than by men only in human health and social work activities.

Almost a third (32%) of enterprises with at least one person in employment established in 2009 was run by women. Compared to 2002 the share of such enterprises went up by five percentage points. A fifth of these newly established enterprises belonged to professional, scientific and technical activities. Almost all enterprises (99.5%) established by women were small, i.e. with fewer than five employees.

However, establishing an enterprise is not everything, since for the future of an enterprise the early years of operation are of key importance. In 2009, almost 2,650 enterprises were established in Slovenia. At the same time, almost 1,750 enterprises survived the first three years of operation. A quarter of enterprises that survived were run by women. This does not mean that women are less successful than men in terms of being managers of enterprises, since the share of enterprises established by women was much lower than the share of enterprises established by men.

Self-employed women in Slovenia just below the European average

The latest available data from the Statistical Register of Employment (for February 2012) show that there are more than 28,000 self-employed women in Slovenia; this is 7.7% of all women in employment or slightly less than a third of all self-employed persons.

Internationally comparable Labour Force Survey data show similar results for Slovenia. In 2011 Slovenia was 10th among EU Member States in terms of self-employed women as a share of all women in employment. Estonia was last with 4.7% and Greece was first with 22.5%; these two countries are also known for the lowest and highest self-employment rates. In the EU on average every tenth woman in employment was self-employed, in Slovenia every eighth.

Compared to self-employed men, self-employed women are a minority in all EU Member States. The highest share (over 40% of all self-employed persons) is registered in Lithuania and the lowest (just over 16%) in Malta. Among all self-employed persons in the EU self-employed women represent less than a third, which is only slightly more than in Slovenia.

Women directors and board members

In addition to enterprises run by women and self-employed women (the two groups can overlap), women entrepreneurs are also those women who were directors and board members in enterprises with 50 or more employees. At the end of 2011 there were 572 of them, while the number of men in comparable positions was about twice as high. However, since 2000 the share of women in these positions has been constantly increasing. In 2011 most women directors and board members of large enterprises were recorded in manufacturing, human health and social work activities, and financial and insurance activities.

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