In 2025, women led approximately 16 percent of Germany’s 3.87 million small‑ and medium‑sized enterprises – about 621 000 businesses. The share fell to a low of 14.3 percent in 2024, the lowest since the survey began in 2003, but rose again to 19.7 percent in 2022.
While the number of female owners at the very top of companies is slowly climbing, the overall picture across all management levels does not reflect that trend. Women held 34.3 percent of management posts in 2025, down from 35.6 percent in 2024 and 40.0 percent in 2023. These posts include team, department, or division leaders as well as executive directors, board members, and owners.
“Women remain markedly under‑represented in leadership positions within the SME sector” said Dirk Schumacher, chief economist of KfW. “The economic importance of women‑led SMEs is significant, yet it has stagnated for many years and has not grown in the overall view”. Women‑led small‑ and medium‑sized enterprises employ roughly 3.3 million people in Germany-ten percent of all employees in the sector-and generate a total turnover of €435 billion, about eight percent of the SME sector’s revenue.
Women predominantly head service‑industry firms. Eighty‑eight percent of all companies with a female owner belong to this sector, with strong representation in hospitality, brick‑and‑mortar retail, tourism, and personal‑care services.
They also run the smallest businesses most often: 84 percent-about 514 000-of women‑led firms are micro‑enterprises with fewer than five employees. Only about 6 000 female owners head larger firms of 50 or more staff, meaning just one percent of women‑led SMEs fall into that size group.
On average, a women‑led company employed 7.2 people in 2025, including the owner. Male‑led firms had a median workforce of ten employees, roughly 39 percent larger. Median revenue for male‑led firms was €288 000, a 23 percent premium over the median revenue of women‑led firms.