Author: Janine Swail, Senior lecturer, Department of Management and International Business, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

This year Aotearoa New Zealand saw the highest rate of business closures since 2015, with 10,662 companies removed from the Company’s Office quarterly register. During the second quarter of 2024, company removals increased by 2,786 (a 35.6% increase) compared to the same period last year. But the closures have not been felt equally. Female entrepreneurs have been particularly hard hit. High-profile women-owned businesses such as Supy, Sunfed and Mina have all closed their doors. According to one global report, family commitments, as well as the pandemic, posed bigger hurdles for women entrepreneurs than their male counterparts. In the survey spanning…