KfW Research: People with a migration history often perceive the image of entrepreneur in Germany as problematic

• Particularly for people with a migration history, the social status of entrepreneurship is a hurdle to setting up a business
• This population group generally has an above average interest in starting a business
• In 2024, 30 per cent of business founders had a migration history

People with a migration history are more likely than the overall population to believe that self-employment in Germany has a lower social status than salaried employment. As a result, they tend to be more reluctant to embark on their entrepreneurial venture.

This is a key finding of a recent brief study by KfW Research. It revealed that people with a migration history in Germany tend to have a stronger preference for self-employment than the population at large. Over a long-term average, 30 per cent of all people in Germany who have never been self-employed and have not had any such plans either can imagine starting a business. Among people with a migration history, that share is 44 per cent. This includes all people who themselves migrated or both of whose parents migrated to Germany since 1950.

It is true that people both with and without a migration history see other hurdles such as financial risk, administrative burden and job security as more important arguments against self-employment. But the image of the entrepreneur is the impediment which often plays a role particularly often among people with a migration history, with 37 per cent of this group seeing it as a hurdle compared with 24 per cent of the overall population.

"The image of the entrepreneur is certainly not the decisive factor preventing people from starting a business. There are many other perceived barriers to entrepreneurship for people with and without a migration history. What is clear, however, is that people with a migration history have a particularly strong interest in starting a business and that this potential can be harnessed even more effectively,"

said Dr Dirk Schumacher, Chief Economist of KfW.

"It would be important to lift the social status of self-employment. Schoolchildren should be taught that self-employment is a form of economic activity that is equal to salaried employment."

According to the KfW Entrepreneurship Monitor, around 27 per cent of the working-age population between 18 and 64 years has a first- or second-generation migration history. In 2024 that share was a slightly higher 30 per cent among entrepreneurs but only slightly above the long-term average of 29 per cent. Given that 585,000 businesses were newly founded in 2024, that amounts to 178,000 founders with a migration history.

The short study can be found at Focus on Economics | KfW

KfW supports SMEs with a number of promotional programmes on behalf of the Federal Government. More information is available at We are strengthening the SME sector (German page).