Women Entrepreneurship In India
Situation:
There has been a steady rise in the number of woman entrepreneurs in India. Women like Aditi Gupta (Menstrupedia), Falguni Nayar (Nykaa), Siaree Chahal, (Sheroes), Vani Kola (Kalaari Capital), Dr. Suba Dravida (NeuroSafe by Transcell Group), Padmaja Ruparel (IAN) Swetha S (Leadengine) etc., have paved a way for young woman entrepreneurs in India to go big in the startup and business sector. Each of the established and successful woman entrepreneurs have their own groundbreaking story, life long struggles and lessons learnt till they make it big!
By going through their life stories, upcoming young genx will be inspired, motivated, confident and follow a path full of surprises but a strong desire to succeed and maka a name against all odds, feeling like a superhuman.
However, it is still a long way to go before a significant difference can be made from a nations perspective to make it stronger and mightier economically.
There are zillion opportunities waiting for women leaders and visionaries but at the same time it's our government moral responsibility to offer more opportunities, sops, safeguard to create a level playing field opening doors to innovation and business possibilities at a massive scale.
Problems and implications:
Woman aiming to open and operate business face various problems. From finance to societal pressure, few of the main issues are highlighted below.
Not everyone funds, open to innovation, ideas that can be executed by our female population friends.
Awareness and Acceptance whichb is still a rarity, it's based on our experience as well, male ego is stifling innovation, not allowing to promote, partner or prosper for a simple reason it is led by a woman entrepreneur.
Societal pressure: Woman are expected to play the role of caretaker and nurturer and not of a money maker by the society. Hence, when any woman wishes to or put forth the idea of starting and running an organisation, society disagrees and criticises them saying they are giving up their traditional roles by following their dreams.
Opportunities: Very few ... Moreover, in India the Start-up culture itself is just now picking up!
Skills: Due to inherent societal issues, family upbringing, financial situations, especially in rural areas, woman don’t have skills to start or run their own business. From financial knowledge to technical skills, there are not many initiatives organized to provide the for woman.
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Need pay-off:
Many initiatives must be taken up by both the government and society to encourage and help woman who dream and want to become entrepreneurs. Few such solutions have already started coming up.
Increase in awareness:
Already established woman entrepreneurs participate and organize various events to highlight their journey and encourage woman still in the starting stage. Media and institutions shall research and be up-to date on various such events and initiatives for woman and should advertise them properly to reach wide audience.
More funding:
As participation of such top-level business woman increases, so will the funding to various initiatives and opening up of various opportunities.
Initiatives:
At present the Indian government has a number of initiatives to promote woman entrepreneurs like Mudra Loan for Women, Annapurna scheme, Dena Shakti Scheme etc., which provide initial funding for woman to start their company. In addition, various corporates have women-oriented business policies to boost and encourage woman through financial help, incentives, platform for sharing ideas etc.
Encouragement:
As times have changed, many people at-least in the urban cities have realized that as woman allowed and accepted to follow their dreams, it improves not only hers but everyone around her. Hence, be it friends, colleagues or family members, various people in the society are providing encouragements in the form of sharing ideas, providing help etc. Such provisions shall be continued and improved to help much more woman especially in rural areas.
EXPO:
Organization and conduction of Expo’s focusing on Business women will help woman explore various options both in terms of ideas for a business and the process they must go through. One such Business woman Expo will take place in 2023, at Hyderabad, India. It will act as a platform for many woman entrepreneurs to share, connect and celebrate their journey with corporate enterprises. There are diverse focus segments each focusing on one aspect of woman’s role in business. Through this platform not only would women get ideas and inspirations but corporate companies will also be able to view the difference the woman entrepreneurs can create and provide more opportunities in respective companies for woman.
In 2022, 10% of unicorns in India are woman led. This number will drastically improve with funding, awareness and participation of not only government or corporates but also successful woman entrepreneurs who will encourage and help woman to take up challenges.