Higher education and your own business? 42 percent small and medium-sized entrepreneurs do not have it

29 percent running small and medium-sized companies have a bachelor's or master's degree, 29 percent graduated from engineering studies, and 42 percent entrepreneurs managing small and medium-sized companies do not have higher education – according to a study commissioned by EFL.

“29 percent of entrepreneurs have a bachelor's or master's degree, and 29 percent of entrepreneurs have also completed engineering studies. That is, 42 percent of managers of Polish 'teddies' do not have higher education. Even less popular are postgraduate studies, which only 11 percent of SME managers can include in their CVs, and only 1 percent of company owners have a doctorate,” we read in the report from the “Under the magnifying glass” study. carried out on behalf of EFL.

The material adds that owners of larger companies are more likely to have higher education – in micro-enterprises, only 18% completed bachelor's or master's studies. bosses, and engineering 9%. In medium-sized companies, these indicators are more than twice as high (44% and 52%). The authors of the study emphasized that every third owner of a medium-sized enterprise also has a postgraduate diploma, while in micro-enterprises “it is still rare.”

“The EFL study reveals that in most SME companies, education goes hand in hand with the business profile. In total, 69 percent of entrepreneurs run a business in line with the direction of their education. This percentage increases with the size of the company: from 63 percent in micro and small enterprises to 85 percent in medium-sized enterprises. Every third SME representative runs a business in an area other than the completed education (31 percent)” – noted in the study report.

It was found that the best compatibility between education and business was declared by owners of service (84%), agricultural (76%) and construction (75%) companies. The greatest discrepancies can be seen in transport, where as much as 55 percent owners have a diploma unrelated to the industry.

“The role of education in the everyday running of a company is perceived ambiguously. Slightly more than half of the surveyed SME representatives (52%) believe that higher education helps them in the everyday running of their own business. On the other hand, 46% of people claim that it is not important. Again, the owners of medium-sized companies perceive a greater value of a diploma (92% evaluate education positively), while in micro-enterprises only 22 percent is of this opinion,” the report said.

According to the publication, higher education is most often appreciated by owners of service (74%) and production (69%) companies, while in agriculture and transport the majority of respondents (82% and 54%, respectively) believe that a diploma is not important for running a business.

The “Under the magnifying glass” study was carried out by ICAN Institute on behalf of EFL with owners, co-owners and people responsible for finance in the SME segment of companies from all over the country. A total of 600 interviews were carried out: 247 interviews with representatives of micro-enterprises, 186 interviews with representatives of small companies and 167 interviews with representatives of medium-sized companies. The surveyed companies represented six industries: construction, trade, production, agriculture, transport and services. The study was conducted using the telephone survey method (CATI) in July 2025. (PAP)

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