Women’s Business Succession: A Key Driver for the Next Generation

A Wave of Transfers Reshaping Entrepreneurial Succession

SMEs play a central role in Québec’s economy. As business leaders age, the need for business transfers is increasing rapidly, placing succession planning at the heart of the province’s economic challenges for the coming years.

When a business cannot find a successor, the consequences can be significant: closures, job losses, the disappearance of expertise and a weakening of regional economic vitality.

Conversely, every successful business transfer helps preserve jobs, maintain supply chains and ensure the continuity of expertise that has sometimes been developed over several decades.

Business succession is also a particularly strong entrepreneurial pathway. Data shows that many successors intend to evolve the business model after acquiring a company: 50.3% plan to transform or adapt the business model in the years following the acquisition, compared with 44.7% of entrepreneurs who start a new business.

(Source: Indice entrepreneurial québécois, Réseau Mentorat and Repreneuriat Québec)

Succession therefore does not simply ensure the continuity of an existing organization; it can also become a powerful lever for innovation and growth.

Expanding the pool of potential successors is becoming a strategic priority for Québec’s economy.

In this context, women’s business succession represents a largely untapped opportunity to support business continuity and strengthen the diversity of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

An Entrepreneurial Potential That Remains Underutilized

In this context of widespread business transfers, women remain underrepresented in business succession.

Between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of transfers carried out by women remained stable at around 26%, despite an increase in the total number of female successors.

(Source: Statistics Canada and Observatoire du Repreneuriat Québec)

In other words, even though more women are acquiring businesses, their relative share in entrepreneurial succession has changed very little.

This reality contrasts with the growing role women play in Québec’s economy. They lead organizations, hold executive positions, invest and actively contribute to the growth of numerous sectors.

As entrepreneurial succession becomes a major issue for Québec’s economy, an important strategic question arises: Why does such a significant portion of entrepreneurial potential remain underutilized in business succession?

Why Women Still Acquire Fewer Businesses

To better understand the barriers that continue to limit women’s participation in business succession, a roundtable dedicated to women’s business succession was organized by BCF Business Law, Repreneuriat Québec and Aviseo Conseil.
Bringing together stakeholders from across the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the discussion highlighted several challenges observed in practice:

• The challenges of balancing professional and personal responsibilities
• The persistence of stereotypes in business transfer processes
• A higher perception of risk and a lack of confidence among some potential successors
• Sometimes more limited access to financing and support networks
• Limited awareness of business acquisition opportunities
• Structural barriers related to the complexity of transactions and the gaps sometimes observed between sellers and potential women successors

These observations illustrate that women’s business succession does not depend solely on individual decisions; it is part of an ecosystem in which access to networks, financing and information plays a decisive role in moving from intention to action.

Women’s Business Succession: Mobilizing the Ecosystem

Launched in February 2026, Women’s Business Succession is an initiative led by BCF Business Law, Repreneuriat Québec and Fonds de solidarité FTQ.

The initiative aims to mobilize Québec’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to increase women’s participation in business succession.

The objective is clear: increase the proportion of women successors from 26% to 35% within five years.

Nathalie Gagnon, BCF Business Law- Alexandre Ollive, Repreneuriat Québec - Nathalie Brown, Fonds de solidarité FTQ

To achieve this, the initiative relies on the complementary expertise of its founding partners: BCF contributes its expertise in business law and business transfers, Fonds de solidarité FTQ plays a central role in access to financing and economic development, while Repreneuriat Québec brings its expertise in data, research and support for business successors.

By bringing together legal, financial and strategic expertise, the initiative aims to provide concrete support to women who wish to acquire businesses and strengthen entrepreneurial succession in Québec.

Concrete Actions to Support Future Women Successors

The initiative includes several actions aimed at increasing the visibility of women’s business succession and supporting entrepreneurs throughout their journey by:

• highlighting inspiring stories of women successors through video capsules;
• organizing meeting and dialogue spaces across Québec; and
• developing a web platform that brings together resources, tools and information on business acquisition.

These actions aim to increase awareness of business succession and strengthen support networks for future successors.

Increasing the Number of Women Successors to Advance Women’s Entrepreneurship

The Women’s Business Succession initiative represents a strategic opportunity for Québec’s economy.

As thousands of businesses will change hands in the coming years, expanding the pool of successors is essential to ensuring the continuity of SMEs and sustaining their contribution to regional economies.

Women’s Business Succession is part of this collective mobilization aimed at removing barriers and creating more opportunities for women to acquire and grow businesses in Québec.

At BCF Business Law, we are committed to supporting a more diverse generation of entrepreneurs and to helping create the conditions that enable more women to acquire and grow businesses in Québec.

There’s no doubt: The future of many Québec businesses will also be shaped by women.