MONTRÉAL, Feb. 4, 2026 /CNW/ - As nearly 10,000 Québec businesses report their intention to sell within the next year, and close to 50,000 within the next five years, BCF Business Law, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and Repreneuriat Québec today officially launch the Mouvement repreneuriat au féminin (Women in Business Succession Movement), during an event held at BCF's Montréal offices bringing together decision-makers, experts, and influential leaders. Key data on women in business succession, as well as the Movement's first initiatives, including the launch of a reference website, will be unveiled.
The Mouvement repreneuriat au féminin reflects the shared commitment of the three organizations to reduce barriers to business ownership for women, foster women's economic leadership, and mobilize the ecosystem around concrete initiatives designed to support business succession. By helping to evolve the rules of the game so that women in business succession becomes an accessible, recognized, and structuring solution to the major challenges associated with business transfers, the Movement aims to increase the proportion of women business successors from 26% to 35% within five years.
Concrete Initiatives to Accelerate Women in Business Succession
Through this Movement, the partners aim to position Québec as a reference model -both locally and internationally- for women in business succession.
The Mouvement repreneuriat au féminin will initially be deployed through three concrete initiatives:
Additional tangible actions will be rolled out progressively to amplify the Movement's impact.
Women in Business Succession Remains Underrepresented
In the coming years, thousands of businesses will need to prepare and identify a successor. Without enough successors, both women and men, jobs, expertise, and companies in strategic sectors risk disappearing or being relocated.
Despite their central role in the economy, women remain significantly underrepresented in business succession. According to data from the Repreneuriat Québec Observatory, women accounted for an average of 26% of business successors between 2015 and 2022. This proportion drops to 18.3% when spousal transfers are excluded.
The barriers are well documented: more limited access to capital, lack of specialized support, work-life balance challenges, persistent stereotypes, and less developed professional networks. These obstacles are systemic, and they deprive Québec of a critical share of its business succession pipeline.
Listen, Analyze, Act: A Collective Mobilization to Drive Change
The Mouvement repreneuriat au féminin builds on initial work launched last spring by BCF Business Law, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and Repreneuriat Québec. To fully understand the challenges, it was essential to begin by listening, analyzing, and taking the time to establish a shared foundation.
A roundtable bringing together approximately thirty economic leaders enabled the partners to discuss perspectives, share on-the-ground realities, and identify clear findings, as well as promising directions to accelerate women in business succession.
These discussions, supported by data from the Repreneuriat Québec Observatory and analyses by Aviseo Conseil, have led to the release of a report outlining key findings and framing the next actions of the Movement (report available at https://repreneuriataufeminin.com).
About BCF Business Law : BCF propels Québec's economy by supporting the leaders and organizations that shape it, through an innovative and purpose-driven practice that combines business and law. With over 560 employees, including 330 legal professionals, the firm stands out for its ability to support clients at critical junctures. BCF has been named one of Canada's Best Managed Companies every year since 2007, a rare honour in the legal community that attests to its organizational excellence and business vision. www.bcf.ca
About the Fonds de solidarité FTQ : The Fonds de solidarité FTQ is a source of pride in Québec, delivering on its mission through a unique business model created more than 40 years ago. Since then, the Fonds has mobilized and engaged Québec by leveraging the retirement savings of more than 816,000 shareholders-savers. With net assets totaling $23.0 billion as of November 30, 2025, the Fonds supports thousands of companies through direct and indirect venture and growth investments, guided by the belief that its investments generate both financial and societal impact. Visit fondsftq.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
About Repreneuriat Québec: Repreneuriat Québec is grounded in a strong conviction: business succession is one of the most powerful levers for ensuring Québec's economic vitality and productivity. For more than a decade, Repreneuriat Québec has championed business succession by supporting entrepreneurs at every stage of their succession projects. A pioneer of a unique support model, Repreneuriat Québec operates in all regions of Québec to advance business succession projects in concrete ways. To date, Repreneuriat Québec has supported nearly 35,000 entrepreneurs and thousands of businesses, representing close to $10 billion in transferred revenues, with a survival rate of 87.5% for supported companies. Repreneuriat Québec plays a key role in entrepreneurial continuity, with the support of the ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie. repreneuriat.quebec
SOURCE BCF Avocats d'affaires
Informations: Manon Goudreault, Partner, Chief Client Strategy & Communication Officer BCF, [email protected] - 514 791-5061
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