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- Personal matter: the number of sole proprietors in Russia has grown by 23% in three years
Personal matter: the number of sole proprietors in Russia has grown by 23% in three years
The number of individual entrepreneurs in Russia has grown by 23% in three years. By the beginning of 2025, the number of sole proprietors exceeded 4.5 million. This situation was facilitated by the development of digital services and marketplaces, an increase in household incomes, affordable government support measures and the departure of foreign companies from the Russian Federation, experts say. Whether the popularity of sole proprietors will remain in the future is in the Izvestia article.
Surge in activity
The number of individual entrepreneurs in Russia has increased over the past three years. Their number increased by 23.07%, to 4.5 million. This is evidenced by the results of a study of the Kontur counterparty verification system.The trick." Since then, according to the company, 855,437 sole proprietors have been opened.
The most popular types of activity among individual entrepreneurs are e-commerce (338,000), freight transportation (214,000) and retail (134,000), Ivan Efremenkov, Deputy Executive Director of Opora Russia, told Izvestia. There is also an increase in the number of sole proprietors with self-employed status (over the past three years, their number has increased by 380 thousand to 632 thousand). At the same time, the number of legal entities has not only not grown over the past three years, but has also decreased slightly.
— We see that microbusiness is mainly growing and developing. As a result, the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to GDP is not growing as fast as it could. Currently, the share of SMEs in GDP is 21.7%, and it has grown slightly in recent years," Efremenkov said.
The overall dynamics of business registrations has slowed down slightly, which may be an indicator of a more informed choice between starting your own business and working for hire, suggests the expert of the Kontur project.Focus" on the economic security of business Anton Yakovlev.
A popular format
In general, the growth in the number of individual entrepreneurs in Russia is not a surprise, but a pattern, says Vladimir Turman, chairman of the Arbitech Association for the Development of Digital Internet Technologies. The noticeable increase in the number of sole proprietors compared to legal entities can be explained by the development of youth entrepreneurship and the ease of managing a small business, Anton Yakovlev notes. Among other reasons, he highlights the growth of household incomes, which leads to the development of the service sector, as well as active involvement in entrepreneurship through special courses.
Digital technologies have had a significant impact on the opening of new sole proprietors. Marketplaces and digital services allow you to launch a business in just a few days, which has made entrepreneurship more accessible to citizens, Turman believes. Using digital platforms simplifies not only the business process itself, but also customer search, marketing, and accounting, says Diana Suvorova, a leading lawyer at Legis Veritas.
Government support measures play a special role among the factors contributing to the growth of the number of individual entrepreneurs in Russia, says Alexey Govyrin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.
"Current subsidy programs, tax incentives and simplified registration procedures make starting your own business accessible to a wide range of citizens," the parliamentarian emphasizes.
The increase in the number of new sole proprietors is facilitated by grants introduced in recent years for the development of entrepreneurship, special tax regimes (for example, the simplified taxation system and the patent system), as well as preferential lending programs.
Another important factor, according to Govyrin, is the withdrawal of foreign companies from the Russian market, which has led to the formation of new niches that are actively filled by domestic entrepreneurs.
In general, from an economic point of view, the growth in the number of sole proprietors is a positive trend, Diana Suvorova is convinced. Small businesses create jobs, support competition, and help fill the budget with taxes. However, such entrepreneurial activity may be one of the reasons for the shortage of personnel in the country, which also affects the decrease in the economic efficiency of enterprises, Yakovlev warns.
The women's issue
The main trend of recent years, which is highlighted in the study "Contour.Focus", — an increase in the number of individual entrepreneur registrations by women. In general, their number is still inferior to men, but it is gradually growing.
Women's entrepreneurship is most developed in Moscow (44,398), the Moscow Region (35,417) and the Krasnodar Territory (27,831). The top 5 in terms of the number of business registrations by women include St. Petersburg (20,704) and the Republic of Tatarstan (14,586). Bashkortostan, Sverdlovsk, Rostov, Chelyabinsk and Samara regions can also be distinguished among the regions.
Retail trade is most popular among women (except for the sale of cars and motorcycles). The number of registrations by female sole proprietors in this area in 2024 amounted to 190,610.
Women often provide services (32,984 sole proprietors) and real estate transactions (25,119). The five most popular areas of work for women include land and pipeline transport (including the organization of passenger transportation by roads and railways) and the provision of food and beverages (including the sale of food in public catering, self-service restaurants, with delivery and as catering).
The small gap between the number of men and women preserved in individual entrepreneurship is related to the traditional attitudes that have developed in society, Vladimir Turman believes. The existing distribution of family responsibilities leads to the fact that women are forced to combine entrepreneurial activity with family care, which complicates business management, especially in the early stages, says Anna Anisimova, an economist and director of the Merchant CRM service.
"Access to finance also plays a significant role: although formally credit programs are available on equal terms, women may face barriers related to the perception of their business initiatives by investors and credit institutions," adds the Izvestia interlocutor.
It affects the gender composition of entrepreneurs and the choice of fields of activity, the expert clarifies. Women are more likely to register sole proprietors in areas requiring high engagement and personal contact with clients, such as education, services, and healthcare, while more capital-intensive industries such as construction, logistics, or IT remain predominantly male.
But even now, the gender division of business is gradually moving towards an even ratio of the parties, emphasizes Anton Yakovlev. In recent years, women have been actively exploring new areas of commercial activity, which indicates a departure from the stereotype that business is a man's business.
"Over time, all existing differences can be smoothed out by increasing the number of successful role models, mentoring programs, and strengthening institutional support for women entrepreneurs," Anisimova said.
High competition
The number of individual entrepreneurs will continue to grow in 2025, Ivan Efremenkov expects. In January of this year, in particular, about 30 thousand sole proprietors were added to the register of SMEs. First of all, a further increase in the number of individual entrepreneurs can be expected in the fields of trade, services and logistics, Alexey Govyrin believes.
Growth will be observed as long as consumer demand and government support remain, Vladimir Turman believes. However, it is important to understand that registering an individual entrepreneur does not guarantee that a businessman will be able to "stay afloat."
— Without competent marketing packaging of a business, without a unique sales offer and an uncompetitive business strategy, many will simply "burn out" in a competitive race. In a crisis, only those who know how to sell, create value, and stand out will survive. The rest risk remaining in the statistics of closed sole proprietors, the expert is convinced.
The sustainability of a new business remains a key issue in the case of a trend towards opening new sole proprietors, confirms Diana Suvorova. However, the trend that emerged in the previous three years is likely to continue in 2025, as the government is interested in developing small businesses, and the economic situation is pushing people to earn money on their own.
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