“WOMEN” AS ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA:

Women owned businesses are highly increasing in the economies of almost all countries. The hidden entrepreneurial
potentials of women have gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in
the society. Skill, knowledge and adaptability in business are the main reasons for women to emerge into business
ventures.‘Women Entrepreneur’ is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal needs and become
economically independent. A strong desire to do something positive is an inbuilt quality of entrepreneurial women,
who is capable of contributing values in both family and social life. With the advent of media, women are aware of
their own traits, rights and also the work situations. The glass ceilings are shattered and women are found indulged
in every line of business from pappad to power cables. The challenges and opportunities provided to the women of
digital era are growing rapidly that the job seekers are turning into job creators. They are flourishing as designers,
interior decorators, exporters, publishers, garment manufacturers and still exploring new avenues of economic
participation.In India, although women constitute the majority of the total population, the entrepreneurial world is
still a male dominated one. Women in advanced nations are recognized and are more prominent in the business
world. But the Indian women entrepreneurs are facing some major constraints like –

a) Lack of confidence – In general, women lack confidence in their strength and competence. The family members
and the society are reluctant to stand beside their entrepreneurial growth. To a certain extent, this situation is
changing among Indian women and yet to face a tremendous change to increase the rate of growth in
entrepreneurship.

b) Socio-cultural barriers – Women’s family and personal obligations are sometimes a great barrier for succeeding
in business career. Only few women are able to manage both home and business efficiently, devoting enough time to
perform all their responsibilities in priority.

c) Market-oriented risks – Stiff competition in the market and lack of mobility of women make the dependence of
women entrepreneurs on middleman indispensable. Many business women find it difficult to capture the market and
make their products popular. They are not fully aware of the changing market conditions and hence can effectively
utilize the services of media and internet.

d) Motivational factors – Self motivation can be realized through a mind set for a successful business, attitude to
take up risk and behavior towards the business society by shouldering the social responsibilities. Other factors are
family support, Government policies, financial assistance from public and private institutions and also the
environment suitable for women to establish business units.

e) Knowledge in Business Administration – Women must be educated and trained constantly to acquire the skills
and knowledge in all the functional areas of business management. This can facilitate women to excel in decision
making process and develop a good business network.

f) Awareness about the financial assistance – Various institutions in the financial sector extend their maximum
support in the form of incentives, loans, schemes etc. Even then every woman entrepreneur may not be aware of all
the assistance provided by the institutions. So the sincere efforts taken towards women entrepreneurs may not reach
the entrepreneurs in rural and backward areas.

g) Exposed to the training programs - Training programs and workshops for every type of entrepreneur is available
through the social and welfare associations, based on duration, skill and the purpose of the training program. Such
programs are really useful to new, rural and young entrepreneurs who want to set up a small and medium scale unit
on their own.

h) Identifying the available resources – Women are hesitant to find out the access to cater their needs in the financial
and marketing areas. In spite of the mushrooming growth of associations, institutions, and the schemes from the
government side, women are not enterprising and dynamic to optimize the resources in the form of reserves, assets
mankind or business volunteers.

Highly educated, technically sound and professionally qualified women should be encouraged for managing their
own business, rather than dependent on wage employment outlets. The unexplored talents of young women can be
identified, trained and used for various types of industries to increase the productivity in the industrial sector. A
desirable environment is necessary for every woman to inculcate entrepreneurial values and involve greatly in
business dealings. The additional business opportunities that are recently approaching for women entrepreneurs are:

• Eco-friendly technology

• Bio-technology

• IT enabled enterprises

• Event Management

• Tourism industry

• Telecommunication

• Plastic materials

• Vermiculture

• Mineral water

• Sericulture

• Floriculture

• Herbal & health care

• Food, fruits & vegetable processing

Empowering women entrepreneurs is essential for achieving the goals of sustainable development and the
bottlenecks hindering their growth must be eradicated to entitle full participation in the business. Apart from training
programs, Newsletters, mentoring, trade fairs and exhibitions also can be a source for entrepreneurial development.
As a result, the desired outcomes of the business are quickly achieved and more of remunerative business
opportunities are found. Henceforth, promoting entrepreneurship among women is certainly a short-cut to rapid
economic growth and development. Let us try to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and thus allow
‘women’ to be an entrepreneur at par with men.

Problems of Women Entrepreneurs in India

1. The greatest deterrent to women entrepreneurs is that they are women. A kind of patriarchal – male
dominant social order is the building block to them in their way towards business success. Male members
think it a big risk financing the ventures run by women.

2. The financial institutions are skeptical about the entrepreneurial abilities of women. The bankers consider
women loonies as higher risk than men loonies. The bankers put unrealistic and unreasonable securities to
get loan to women entrepreneurs. According to a report by the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO), "despite evidence that women's loan repayment rates are higher than men's, women
still face more difficulties in obtaining credit," often due to discriminatory attitudes of banks and informal
lending groups (UNIDO, 1995b).

3. Entrepreneurs usually require financial assistance of some kind to launch their ventures - be it a formal
bank loan or money from a savings account. Women in developing nations have little access to funds, due to
the fact that they are concentrated in poor rural communities with few opportunities to borrow money
(Starcher, 1996; UNIDO, 1995a). The women entrepreneurs are suffering from inadequate financial
resources and working capital. The women entrepreneurs lack access to external funds due to their inability
to provide tangible security. Very few women have the tangible property in hand.

4. Women's family obligations also bar them from becoming successful entrepreneurs in both developed and
developing nations. "Having primary responsibility for children, home and older dependent family members,
few women can devote all their time and energies to their business" (Starcher, 1996, p. 8).The financial
institutions discourage women entrepreneurs on the belief that they can at any time leave their business
and become housewives again. The result is that they are forced to rely on their own savings, and loan from
relatives and family friends.

5. Indian women give more emphasis to family ties and relationships. Married women have to make a fine
balance between business and home. More over the business success is depends on the support the family
members extended to women in the business process and management. The interest of the family members
is a determinant factor in the realization of women folk business aspirations.

6. Another argument is that women entrepreneurs have low-level management skills. They have to depend
on office staffs and intermediaries, to get things done, especially, the marketing and sales side of business.
Here there is more probability for business fallacies like the intermediaries take major part of the surplus or
profit. Marketing means mobility and confidence in dealing with the external world, both of which women
have been discouraged from developing by social conditioning. Even when they are otherwise in control of
an enterprise, they often depend on males of the family in this area.

7. The male - female competition is another factor, which develop hurdles to women entrepreneurs in the
business management process. Despite the fact that women entrepreneurs are good in keeping their service
prompt and delivery in time, due to lack of organisational skills compared to male entrepreneurs women
have to face constraints from competition. The confidence to travel across day and night and even different
regions and states are less found in women compared to male entrepreneurs. This shows the low level
freedom of expression and freedom of mobility of the women entrepreneurs.

8. Knowledge of alternative source of raw materials availability and high negotiation skills are the basic
requirement to run a business. Getting the raw materials from different souse with discount prices is the
factor that determines the profit margin. Lack of knowledge of availability of the raw materials and low-level
negotiation and bargaining skills are the factors, which affect women entrepreneur's business adventures.

9. Knowledge of latest technological changes, know how, and education level of the person are significant
factor that affect business. The literacy rate of women in India is found at low level compared to male
population. Many women in developing nations lack the education needed to spur successful
entrepreneurship. They are ignorant of new technologies or unskilled in their use, and often unable to do
research and gain the necessary training (UNIDO, 1995b, p.1). Although great advances are being made in
technology, many women's illiteracy, strucutural difficulties, and lack of access to technical training prevent
the technology from being beneficial or even available to females ("Women Entrepreneurs in Poorest
Countries," 2001). According to The Economist, this lack of knowledge and the continuing treatment of
women as second-class citizens keeps them in a pervasive cycle of poverty ("The Female Poverty Trap,"
2001). The studies indicates that uneducated women donot have the knowledge of measurement and basic
accounting.

10. Low-level risk taking attitude is another factor affecting women folk decision to get into business. Low-
level education provides low-level self-confidence and self-reliance to the women folk to engage in business,
which is continuous risk taking and strategic cession making profession. Investing money, maintaining the
operations and ploughing back money for surplus generation requires high risk taking attitude, courage and
confidence. Though the risk tolerance ability of the women folk in day-to-day life is high compared to male
members, while in business it is found opposite to that.

11. Achievement motivation of the women folk found less compared to male members. The low level of
education and confidence leads to low level achievement and advancement motivation among women folk to
engage in business operations and running a business concern.

12. Finally high production cost of some business operations adversely affects the development of women
entrepreneurs. The installation of new machineries during expansion of the productive capacity and like
similar factors dissuades the women entrepreneurs from venturing into new areas.