Entrepreneurship confidence among Dutch rises further, back to pre-pandemic level

The number of business owners in the Netherlands has returned to pre-crisis levels, the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) said according to ANP. The Netherlands had more than 2.1 million companies in total on July 1.

According to the Chamber of Commerce's monthly report, the number of new business owners increased by 9% in June compared to the same month a year ago. The rise was particularly visible across the healthcare sector and home care industry.

Simultaneously, the number of new webshops was about a third lower in June this year than in the same month in 2020. "With the relaxation of the measures, physical shopping becomes more possible, and we see the number of new webshops decrease," said Erik Stam, the professor of Strategy, Organization, and Business at the University of Utrecht.

Almost all of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands saw an increase in the number of new entrepreneurs. The only exception was the province of Limburg. The number of new business owners in Limburg decreased by 7.5 percent on an annual basis.

The KvK also noted that the number of bankruptcies remained low. In June, 118 companies declared bankruptcy, which represented a 43 percent year-on-year decline.

According to KnK, this was largely due to emergency financial schemes and other government support measures.