More and more business owners want to hand over their businesses, but there are too few successors. Particularly in the hospitality, retail, and transportation sectors, the supply of businesses available for sale far exceeds demand. Business succession is thus increasingly becoming a matter of location: This poses the risk of business closures, the loss of regional economic value, and long-term weakening of local economies. At the same time, an important source of potential remains largely untapped: people with an immigrant background, who already account for a high proportion of new business start-ups, are rarely represented in traditional succession processes.

This is exactly where our masterclass comes in. We don’t just shed light on the structural causes of the succession crisis and the extent of the need. Above all, we demonstrate how targeted matching between entrepreneurs willing to hand over their businesses and individuals with immigrant backgrounds who are ready to start a business creates new and sustainable opportunities for successful business transfers. In doing so, we provide concrete insight into the key factors for successful succession: which steps in the process are often missing today, how suitable candidates can be matched, and what opportunities arise when entrepreneurs broaden their perspective to include new groups of successors.