Nearly 10,000 Quebec businesses plan to sell within the next year, but women account for only 26 percent of business successors — a gap three major organizations are now working to close.
BCF Business Law, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Repreneuriat Québec launched the Mouvement repreneuriat au féminin (Women in Business Succession Movement) on Feb. 4 at an event in Montreal. The initiative aims to increase the proportion of women business successors from 26 percent to 35 percent within five years.
Close to 50,000 Quebec businesses intend to sell within the next five years, according to the organizations. Without enough successors, jobs and companies in strategic sectors risk disappearing or relocating.
Women face systemic barriers
Women remain significantly underrepresented in business succession despite their role in the economy, according to data from the Repreneuriat Québec Observatory. Between 2015 and 2022, women accounted for an average of 26 percent of business successors. That proportion drops to 18.3 percent when spousal transfers are excluded.
Barriers include more limited access to capital, lack of specialized support, work-life balance challenges, persistent stereotypes and less developed professional networks, according to the organizations.
Three initial initiatives
The movement will deploy through three concrete initiatives: raising the profile of women in business succession through targeted visibility efforts including a video capsule; creating spaces for dialogue and connection by leveraging existing platforms; and launching a reference website at repreneuriataufeminin.com as a central hub for resources and practical tools.
Additional actions will be rolled out progressively to amplify the movement’s impact, according to the organizations.
Foundation built on consultation
The initiative builds on work launched last spring by the three organizations. A roundtable with approximately 30 economic leaders enabled the partners to discuss perspectives and identify clear findings and directions to accelerate women in business succession.
Those discussions, supported by data from the Repreneuriat Québec Observatory and analyses by Aviseo Conseil, led to a report outlining key findings and framing the movement’s next actions.
BCF Business Law employs over 560 people including 330 legal professionals. The Fonds de solidarité FTQ has 816,000 shareholders and net assets totaling $23 billion as of Nov. 30, 2025. Repreneuriat Québec has supported nearly 35,000 entrepreneurs and thousands of businesses representing close to $10 billion in transferred revenues, with an 87.5 percent survival rate for supported companies.
