Gender gap persists in Cyprus business sector despite EU push
Cyprus has spent years talking up entrepreneurship. One rather awkward detail remains. Women are only half as likely as men to be starting or running a young business, and when it comes to management positions, the island sits at the very bottom of the European Union.
It is hardly the picture of a country making full use of its business talent. And it gives particular weight to a question being asked in Dublin this week, where entrepreneurs, policymakers and business experts from across Europe have been examining what, exactly, is stopping more women from building successful companies.
At the SME & Clusters Assembly 2026, held from November 2 to 4, the answer proved considerably more complicated than simply encouraging women to believe in themselves.
During Tuesday’s Women in Business session at the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD), women and men from different European countries worked in smaller groups, comparing experiences and examining what governments, investors and business organisations could do differently.
Cypriot women were among those taking part, joining participants from across Europe in discussions about the difficulties facing female entrepreneurs, the opportunities available in different markets and the measures needed to help women establish and expand their businesses.
The session featured Dana Puia Morel, senior policy lead at the European Commission’s DG GROW.A.2, Brendan Rowan, managing consultant at BluSpecs, and Gerardo de Luzenberger, adjunct professor at the University of Trento, associated with CoCreativeFlow.
Together, they brought perspectives from European policymaking, business consultancy and participatory planning to a discussion that was deliberately practical, with participants encouraged to move beyond identifying familiar problems and consider what could actually be done about them.
The conversations ranged from childcare and taxation to investment decisions, artificial intelligence and the rather persistent habit of overlooking women when it comes to business opportunities.
At the heart of the exercise were five policy recommendations drawn from a European Commission report published in June, which examined the barriers facing female entrepreneurs and what could be done to remove them.
The findings were hardly flattering.
Women account for just 33 per cent of EU business owners, despite representing roughly half the population. They are also more likely to run smaller businesses, often without employees, and remain underrepresented in industries offering greater opportunities for growth and investment.
Indeed, 74 per cent of women entrepreneurs operate without employees, compared with 66 per cent of men.
The figures expose a problem that goes well beyond persuading more women to start businesses. Getting a company off the ground is one thing. Finding the money, contacts and support to turn it into a successful employer is quite another.
And with Europe increasingly concerned about competitiveness, productivity and innovation, the economic cost of leaving so much entrepreneurial potential untapped is becoming harder to ignore.
That was the thinking behind the Dublin workshop, which sought to turn the Commission’s recommendations into practical proposals, drawing on the experiences of participants from countries with different business cultures, economic conditions and support systems.
One of the first questions concerned the environment in which women are expected to establish and run businesses.
Childcare, parental leave and tax disincentives featured prominently, alongside access to essential services and the additional disadvantages facing entrepreneurs in rural communities.
These are hardly minor inconveniences. For someone trying to establish a company, inadequate childcare can mean fewer working hours, missed opportunities and slower growth. Limited access to financial services or business support can make an otherwise promising venture considerably harder to pursue.
The issue is particularly familiar in Cyprus. In October, concerns were raised about the obstacles facing women in rural communities, including funding and infrastructure, limited access to professional networks and the demands of family responsibilities.
The message emerging from Dublin was straightforward. Encouraging women to become entrepreneurs achieves little if the practical arrangements surrounding employment, family life and business ownership continue to work against them.
Education and professional development were another part of the conversation, particularly the skills women need to establish businesses in industries where they have traditionally had a smaller presence.
Participants examined business education, digital literacy and artificial intelligence training, along with mentoring, coaching and closer cooperation between educational institutions and employers.
Practical experience, internships and opportunities to develop professional contacts were also considered, reflecting the importance of helping women move from acquiring qualifications to putting them to commercial use.
There is an interesting contradiction in the Commission’s research.
According to the report, 48 per cent of women entrepreneurs have completed tertiary education, compared with 34 per cent of men.
Despite being more highly educated on average, women are less likely to express confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities.
It raises an obvious question. If women have the qualifications, why are so many still less confident about starting and developing their own companies?
The discussions considered whether better mentoring, stronger connections with industry and greater exposure to successful businesswomen could help address that imbalance.
For Cyprus, the issue becomes particularly relevant when technology enters the picture.
A separate European investment study, examined in earlier reporting, found that women accounted for just 14.5 per cent of founders across a sample of 152 technology companies on the island.
That is a striking figure for a country seeking to establish itself as a serious technology and innovation centre.
It also raises questions about whether the opportunities being created by the sector’s growth are reaching a sufficiently broad pool of potential entrepreneurs.
Of course, skills and ambition can only take a business so far without money.
Access to finance was therefore another major concern in Dublin, with participants looking at how investment opportunities could be expanded and financial decision-making made more inclusive.
Among the ideas discussed were diversifying investment decisions, improving access to funding and making it easier for women to identify suitable sources of finance.
The distinction matters. A promising business idea is not much use if its founder cannot secure the capital to develop it, particularly in industries where initial costs are high and investors expect considerable growth potential.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has already taken steps in this direction.
On October 21, it approved a €500 million financing framework designed to improve access to finance for women-owned and women-led companies, alongside social enterprises and other businesses with a social impact.
The initiative will operate through financial intermediaries rather than direct grants, meaning its effectiveness will depend partly on how successfully the available finance reaches eligible businesses.
For smaller economies such as Cyprus, where access to investors and specialist funding can be difficult, that will be an important test.
Money, however, was only one side of the problem.
The workshop also examined how stereotypes, professional networks and female role models influence entrepreneurial opportunities.
Participants considered mentoring platforms, webinars and the sharing of successful business experiences, including initiatives recognised through the European Enterprise Promotion Awards.
There was also discussion about how women could better support other women, particularly by sharing knowledge, developing professional relationships and making connections across national borders.
Different cultural expectations across Europe featured in the conversation, as did the unequal distribution of care responsibilities, which can restrict the time and opportunities available to female entrepreneurs.
The presence of both women and men in the smaller groups was significant, reflecting the fact that improving female participation in business cannot be left entirely to women themselves.
Employers, investors, educational institutions and business organisations also have a part to play, not least in ensuring that access to professional opportunities depends on ability rather than established networks.
The exchange of experiences between countries was particularly useful, offering participants an opportunity to consider approaches already being tried elsewhere and whether they could work in their own markets.
But perhaps one of the most revealing aspects of the discussion concerned something far less visible than investment or mentoring.
Europe still does not have all the information it needs about women in business.
The final recommendation focused on improving the collection of gender-disaggregated data, including the need for consistent definitions and more reliable information at both company and individual level.
Participants examined the role of international organisations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and questioned not only how financial and entrepreneurial data should be gathered, but how effectively they were being used.
After all, governments cannot properly assess whether their policies are working if they cannot establish who is receiving support, which businesses are benefiting and where the gaps remain.
Cyprus provides a telling example. According to Eurostat, women occupied just 25.3 per cent of managerial positions on the island in 2024, compared with an EU average of 35.2 per cent.
That placed Cyprus last among the 27 member states, despite an improvement of 7.9 percentage points over the previous decade.
The figures, highlighted in previous coverage, make uncomfortable reading for an economy that wants to attract international investment and establish itself as a regional business centre.
Entrepreneurship statistics are scarcely more encouraging. An OECD assessment covering 2019 to 2023 found that 6 per cent of women in Cyprus were involved in early-stage entrepreneurship, compared with 12 per cent of men.
The organisation also identified weaknesses in the promotion of existing business support schemes, with insufficient outreach potentially preventing eligible entrepreneurs from taking advantage of assistance already available.
This is an important distinction. Cyprus already has entrepreneurship programmes and funding initiatives. The question is whether enough women know about them, can access them and receive the support needed to turn their businesses into viable, growing companies.
Simply announcing another scheme will not necessarily solve the problem if the obstacles preventing women from benefiting from existing programmes remain in place.
The wider European figures demonstrate just how much is at stake. According to the Commission, Europe could have an estimated 5.5 million additional women entrepreneurs if women aged 30 to 49 participated in entrepreneurship at the same rate as men.
For an economy struggling with skills shortages, pressure on productivity and the need for greater investment, that represents a substantial amount of potential business activity.
The discussions in Dublin also come as the EU prepares its Action Plan for Women in Research, Innovation and Startups, scheduled for publication by the end of 2026.
The plan sits alongside the 2025 Roadmap for Women’s Rights and the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, reflecting a broader effort to improve opportunities for women in business and innovation.
