The first half of this year produced 25% more new start-up companies in Belgium than the same period in 2020, according to figures produced by Graydon for Unizo, the organisation for the self-employed.
In the first six months of this year, 60,111 new companies saw the light of day, 25.77% more than in 2020, just at the time when the coronavirus pandemic was at its worst.
“Apparently this year's starters also include entrepreneurs who actually wanted to start last year, but then took a rain-check because of corona," said Danny Van Assche, managing director of Unizo.
"But apart from that, it remains remarkable that so many candidates took the plunge, while we were certainly still in a full crisis during the first months of this year and we have only recently begun to crawl out of the valley."
With increases of 27.71% and 27.09% percent respectively, Flanders and Wallonia recorded a significantly greater increase in the number of starters in the first half of 2020 compared to the Brussels region on 15.11%.
The Brussels Times
