Biz Stream S2019E18 - Saving Businesses Without Successors

Small and medium-sized businesses make up 99% of all companies in Japan. However, with a population that continues to age, the number of older business owners with no-one wanting or willing to take over after them is rapidly increasing. About half of these enterprises are expected to go out of business in the near future. One company has made it its mission to help save some of these companies by providing a matching service that links aging owners without successors to potential entrepreneurs who are interested in becoming business owners. Another business has taken a more direct approach and is acquiring local factories that lack successors, helping to keep them going as the company itself expands in size and scale. This episode focuses on how some businesses are working to help ensure that companies lacking successors can survive under new ownership. ,