11/13/2009

Bavaria’s Economics Minister comments on current start-up figures

MUNICH      Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Martin Zeil, commenting on the latest statistics on entrepreneurial activity for the first six months of 2009: “Bavaria remains the top location for entrepreneurs and the prime state for start-ups in 2009. Nearly half of the businesses successfully founded in Germany originated in the State of Bavaria. This sends positive signals for self-employment and entrepreneurship, and gives good evidence for the excellent conditions that we offer entrepreneurs in Bavaria.

With an increase of 2,732 new companies, Bavaria has by far the largest share of newly founded businesses as compared to all other German states. Bavaria outperforms the other major territorial states like Hesse (+822), Lower Saxony (+618), North Rhine-Westphalia (+342) and Baden Württemberg (-161). The absolute number of business that have been set up has slightly risen in the first two quarters of 2009 both in Germany and in Bavaria. During the first six months, 35,260 residents from the state made the step to self-employment, a rise of 669 people as compared to 2008.

“Especially in regards to overcoming the current economic crisis, we need even more people to grasp the opportunity of self-employment. We are committed to continuously supporting sustainable start-ups with our partners in the Bavarian Start-Up Pact (Existenzgründerpakt Bayern). The most important instruments are the start-up agencies as first points of contact, low-interest loans under the SME loan program, our business incubators and our website www.startup-in-bayern.de”, Zeil underlined.

The statistics on entrepreneurial activity are published by the Institute for SME-Research Bonn (IfM).

Source: Invest in Bavaria

For more information about establishing a location in the State of Bavaria, please contact Jan Danisman, phone: 212-317-0588 or email: info(AT)bavaria.org.