Women in business: every fourth new enterprise in Ukraine is founded by a woman
31 March 2025 16:35
Men continue to control the majority of commercial companies in Ukraine, but the share of firms owned exclusively by women is gradually increasing, and they are most represented in industries focused on professional services, consumer demand, and human interaction. These and other conclusions are contained in a study by YC.Market analysts, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Ukrainian business is still predominantly male
About 58% of all businesses have exclusively male participants or ultimate beneficiaries. For comparison, there are only 18.2% of companies owned by women: about 173.5 thousand out of about 954 thousand companies analyzed. Another 14.6% of companies can be classified as mixed, with both women and men among their beneficiaries.
Interestingly, there have been some changes over the year. As of the beginning of 2025, the share of companies with exclusively female owners increased to almost 20%, while the share of mixed companies decreased to about 9.7%. The share of all-male companies, on the other hand, rose to about 63%. This may indicate both an increase in the number of women-owned businesses and structural changes in the accounting of owners, in particular a decrease in the “undefined” category.
What industries are most often “controlled” by women
The top 10 industries in terms of the share of companies with exclusively women as founders (with a share in the authorized capital of more than 25%) are as follows:
Audit and accounting: 48.5% of companies are founded exclusively by women (2,841 companies). This is the highest percentage among all sectors of the Ukrainian economy, which can be explained by the significant presence of women in financial and analytical professions, as well as their high qualifications in this area.
Tourism: 33.5 percent of companies in the industry are founded by women (4,708 companies), which indicates a significant role for women’s entrepreneurship in the tourism sector.
Educational institutions: 32.8% of companies are founded by women (2,451 companies). Another 13.9% have both men and women among their founders – a high percentage of mixed founding indicates the spread of partnership management models in this sector.
Catering: 26.2% (4,757 companies) are exclusively female-owned, but 12.4% of companies in this sector have both genders as founders.
Light industry: 26.0% of companies (2,961 companies) are exclusively female-owned, while another 9.9% are jointly owned by men and women.
Real estate: 25.9% of companies (16,902 companies) are founded by women, and another 13.1% of companies have mixed ownership. Despite the capital-intensive nature of the industry, there is a significant number of women-owned companies, which emphasizes their activity in resource-intensive sectors.
Advertising and marketing: 25.2% of companies (3,481 companies) are founded exclusively by women. Another 9.5% of companies in this sector have both women and men among their founders, as women are actively utilizing their competencies in areas requiring creativity and effective communication.
Pharmaceutical industry: 24.8% (2,138 companies) are founded by women, while 11.9% of companies have founders of both sexes.
Medical institutions: 24.8% of companies (3,267 companies) are founded by women, with an additional 14.3% having mixed founders.
Retail: 24.0% of companies (8,882 companies) are founded exclusively by women, and another 10.2% have both women and men among their founders.
Profitable businesses are still in the hands of men
An analysis of the top 1000 companies by net income in 2024 shows that there are very few purely women-owned businesses among the leaders.
Only 74 companies out of the top 1000 (7.4%) have only female final beneficiaries (the situation has hardly changed compared to 2023, when this figure was 7%). For comparison, 634 of the largest companies (63.4%) have only male beneficiaries. Another 108 companies (10.8%) have mixed ownership.
Finance is a woman’s territory in Ukrainian business
Women in Ukrainian business often dominate the position of chief accountant in the largest firms.
Among the top 1000 companies as of 2024, 807 companies (81%) had women as chief accountants, while only 113 companies (11%) had men.
This proportion confirms a fairly well-established trend: accounting in Ukraine is a field that employs mostly women, including in leadership roles.
Every fourth business is registered by a woman
In 2024, women’s entrepreneurial activity showed steady results amid a general recovery from the shocking year of 2022.
Over the year, more than 7.4 thousand new commercial companies founded by women were registered, which is significantly more than in the previous year (about 6.86 thousand).
The share of women-owned businesses among all new registrations in 2024 increased to 27.5% (compared to about 24.6% a year earlier), meaning that one in four new businesses in the country was founded by a woman.
