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1. Women
Entrepreneur in
India
Business Ethics & Corporate
Governance

2. Defining Women Entrepreneur
“An enterprise owned and controlled by a women
having a minimum financial interest of 51% of
capital and giving at least 51% of the
employment generated by the enterprise to
women.”
- Government of India
“A women entrepreneur can be defined as a confident,
innovative and creative women capable of
achieving self economic independence
individually or in collaboration, generates
employment opportunities for others through
initiating, establishing and running the
enterprise by keeping pace with her personal,
family and social life.”
- Kamal Singh

3. Importance of WE
• 50% of the population
• Traditionally outside the domain of
economic activities
• They must be made part of the economic
development, because it will not only
ensure the economic & social development
of the women along with providing more
human resources to strengthen the
economy of the country.
• The economic status of women is now
accepted as an indicator of a society’s
stage of development.

4. “ When women move forward, the
family moves, the village moves and
the Nation moves.”
-Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru

5. Factors influencing women
entrepreneurs
• Economic independence
• Establishing their own creativity
• Establishing their own identity
• Achievement of excellence
• Building confidence
• Developing risk-taking ability
• Motivation
• Equal status in society
• Greater freedom and mobility

6. Status of WE
• Traditionally W had insignificant role
• 1970s witnessed some of the W entering the no-women’s
land of business entrepreneurship, risk taking and financial
adventure.
• According to official stats 50% of population own & operate
less then 5% of economic activity.
• Their participation is 60% in SSI, 15% in large and rest in
cottage & micro segment. They work primarily in sectors
such as trade & services to tailoring, beauty parlors, and
printing. Their participation in manufacturing is minimal.
• However, their contribution is much greater then shown in
stats because much of it is in informal sector & household.
• Women contribution paradox.
• Presently W from every strata of the society from metros to
the backward regions of the country are entering.

7. • The trend has arisen mainly because of the
changes in the social attitude, breakup of the
traditional joint family system, rising standard of
living, opportunities for higher education for W,
growing awareness for economic independence,
consciousness of their potential, and credit &
other facilities provided by the G & NG
organizations.
• Future knowledge economy will make it possible
for woman to contribute to economic activities
along with keeping pace with their multiple
responsibilities & socio cultural & bio disabilities.

8. Challenges in the path of WE
• The essence of E requires- the existence of economic
opportunity, sympathetic cultural forces, supportive
Government action and strong personal values &
traits.
• These facilitating factors are certainly not in favor of
Women. It is relatively easier for W from upper
strata to face above challenges. But it is a real
challenge to bring the vast majority of disadvantaged
into the mainstream of economic activity.
• Basically it is the familial & social conditioning that
reduces the confidence, independence & mobility of
women; and
• Insensitivity to the gender issues – that result into
problems in the way of WE.

9. Challenges in the path of WE - Women
Entrepreneurship Environment
• The overall context of We can be described into
three spheres:
• Micro sphere: unequal power relation with men;
male possessiveness & dominance; social
resistance to women’s economic environment.
• Meso sphere: organizations providing support
services to E are lacking awareness about
women’s concerns & insensitive towards gender
issues.
• Macro sphere: comprises many interconnecting
structures & dynamics, including laws and
regulations, economy, international trade,
availability of finance & credit, labor market
human capital, tech, physical infrastructure &
natural resources.

10. Challenges in the path of WE
• Lack of skills & Training
• Lack of confidence
• Problems of long term & short term
finance
• Socio-cultural barriers
• Production problems
• Inefficient marketing arrangements

11. Strategies for the development of WE
• Overcoming family resistance
• Shouldering dual responsibility & Time Management
• Acquire education, Skills & go for confidence building
trainings
• Financial assistance
• Effective & efficient use of IT
• Marketing Support
• Financial Management
• Group entrepreneurship
• Programs and policies taking in to consideration special
needs and concerns of Women
• Mentorship support (SHGs)

12. Institutions supporting WE in India
• Consortium of WE in India
• Federation of Indian women entrepreneurs
• Federation of Ladie’s Organization (FLO)
• Women India Trust
• Special Schemes by Banks: Cent Kalyani
• NABARD
• State Government’s Scheme for Development of
Women and Children in rural areas
• SIDBI
• Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)

13. Some Eminent WE
• Vidya chabria
• Anu aga
• Sullajja Firodia Motwani
• Ekta Kapoor
• Kiram Mazumdar Shaw
• Shahnaz Hussain
• Ritu kumar
• Amrita Patel
• Priya Paul
• Swati Piramal
• Anuradha Desai

14. Women Organizatios
Supporting WE
• Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad;
www.lijjat.com
• Mahila Bunkar Sahakari Samitiu, UP
• SABAL: Crafting Exports of Indian
Handicrafts; www.sabalaindia.com
• www.indiatogether.org

15. Assignment
• Choose any successful women
entrepreneur in India, study her
profile and discuss in your group the
challenges she has faced and find out
how she has overcome the same.

16. Assignment
• Choose any successful entrepreneur
from your nearby location, study his
profile and discuss with him the
challenges he has faced and find out
how he has overcome the same.
• Also find from him what he learnt
from his mistakes?