Women Entrepreneurs

1. Unit 2
Women Entrepreneurs

2. Introduction
• For Developing Countries like India, Women Entrepreneurship is of
vital necessity to achieve rapid economic Growth
• Women in India Constitute about 48 Percent of the Total Population,
But their Participation in economic activities is only 38 Percent.
State No Of Registered
Units
No Of Women
Entrepreneurs
Percentage
TN 9618 2930 30.36
UP 7980 3180 39.84
Kerala 5487 2135 38.91
Punjab 4791 1618 33.77

3. Definition
• Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as “the women or group of
women who initiate, organize and operate a business enterprise”
• The Govt of India has defined women entrepreneurs as “ an
enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum
financial interest of 51 percent of capital and giving at least 51
percent of capital and giving at least 51 percent of the employment
generated in the enterprise to women”

4. Factors Influencing the Women
Entrepreneurs
• 1. Pull Factors: Pull factors are those which encourage women to
become entrepreneurs. These include desire to do something new in
life, need for independence, availability of finance, Concessions and
subsidies
• 2. Push Factors: Push factors are those which compel women to
become entrepreneurs. These include unfortunate family
circumstances like death of husband or father, Financial difficulties,
Responsibility in the family.

5. Contn
• 3.Locational and Motivational factors for the choice of
Entrepreneurship: The locational factors for starting an enterprise can
be summed up as follows in respect of Industry, Service and Business
Industry: Power Supply, Industrial Environment and Credit Facilities
Service: Raw Material Availability, Skilled Manpower.
Business: Market Facilities, Raw Material Availability.
The Motivational factors in establishing and Managing the enterprise:
Industry: to be self employed, to achieve higher income and
professional expertise

6. Contn
Service: Providing Employment to Others, Prestige Status and Profit
Motive
Business: To Achieve Higher Income, to be self employed and profit
motive
4.Internal Factors: Internal Factors Include Self Efficacy and risk taking.
Self Efficacy refers to “Beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and
execute the courses of action” A Successful Entrepreneur should
believe his inner capabilities first and risk taking is important quality of
successful entrepreneurs.

7. Contn
• 5. External Factors: The Main external factor is the culture and
traditions of the society. These Factors may limit women
entrepreneurs exercise their choices.

8. Types Of Women Entrepreneurs
Women Entrepreneurs can be classified into the following categories
1. Chance Entrepreneurs
2. Natural Entrepreneurs
3. Created Entrepreneurs
4. Forced Entrepreneurs
5. Benami Entrepreneurs

9. Types of Women Entrepreneurs
• Chance Entrepreneurs:
1. These Entrepreneurs are those who initiate their business without
any preparation, Clear Goals and Plans.
2. They Grab the opportunities coming their way.
Eg: Aditi Balbir( Founder of V Resorts)
• Natural Entrepreneurs
1. Natural Entrepreneurs take business as a profession. They Plan for
their business and are being motivated by the earning of Money.
2. They are more in to Self-Planning and motivated through Profit
Factor.

10. Eg: Sabina Chopra( Yatra.com)
• Created Entrepreneurs:
1. These Entrepreneurs are encouraged and trained through specialized
training programs such as Entrepreneurship Development Program to set
up their own ventures
Eg: Chitra Gurnani (Thrillophilia)
• Forced Entrepreneurs:
1. The Women who are compelled by circumstances such as the death of
father or husband to takeover the existing business are called forced
entrepreneurs.
Eg: Roshini Nadar(HCL Foundation)

11. • Benami Entrepreneur:
These Entrepreneurs are those who act as facade for business of their
husband or brother.

12. Problems of Women Entrepreneurs
The Problems of Women Entrepreneurs in India are immense and complex.
Some Important problems faced by Women Entrepreneurs are:
• No Independence: The Primary Problem of a Woman Entrepreneur is that
of her Being a Woman. The basic ingredients such as independence and
authority required for a successful entrepreneur are not adequate for
women in India.
• Lack Of Confidence: Women generally lack Confidence in their own
capabilities, Even their home members do not seem to have confidence
their abilities. Even Society lacks confidence and bankers are not prepared
to take risk on projects set by woman as they resist to provide loan.

13. • Social Attitude: Social Attitudes are equally responsible for keeping
women away from training and skill in rural areas as very strict
boundaries are drawn around their mobility.
• Low Literacy: Female Literacy percentage in India is 18.5% as a whole.
Lack of Education reduces the chances of gathering knowledge on
technologies and Marketing.
• Low Risk Bearing Capacity: Risk Bearing capacity which is a crucial
factor in running an enterprise is low among women. Moreover, the
impact of losses are more severe on women since they lack sufficient
social support.

14. • Dual Responsibility: A Woman has to perform responsibilities
towards family, society and work simultaneously. A serious conflict
emerges between home and work resulting in high stress level.
• Financial Constraint: The Problem of finance for women
entrepreneurs still remains challenge. They lack access to external
funds due to their inability to provide tangible security. Banks also
have a negative attitude while providing finance to women
entrepreneurs. As a Result, they rely on their own funds and loans
from family, friends which will be inadequate to run the business

15. • Marketing Problem: Marketing is a serious problem encountered by
women entrepreneurs due to the following reasons:
1. Competition has become intensified due to wide variety of products.
2. The rural women entrepreneurs do not know how to synchronize
their products with market requirements.
3. The Competition from Multinational companies posses the great
danger to women entrepreneurs

16. Remedial Measures
• In Order to promote women entrepreneurship, the following
measures have to be made at different levels of the economy.
1. Vocational Education: The First measure would be to provide
education, particularly technical and vocational education to girls.
The Curriculum should include Entrepreneurial development and
Management subjects too.
2. Entrepreneurial Motivation at school level: Generally, Women
dream to become job seekers rather than Job Makers. To Motivate
the women, a coordinated effort should be made among the
educational institutions, Government departments and the
business world.

17. 3. Accessibility to Information: All Possible access to information
should be provided for women entrepreneurs. Government Agencies,
Association of Women Entrepreneurs, NGO’s and Universities should
assume responsibilities in this regard.
4.100% Finance: Banks and Financial Institutions should offer 100
percent loans without collateral security to qualified technocrats. It is
suggested that a certain percentage be reserved for women in the
various self employment schemes launched by the government.
5. Simple Formalities: Efforts should be made to simplify the
procedures, formalities. Rules and regulations etc in matters regarding
registration and getting assistance from government agencies.

18. 6. Women Cooperatives: To Meet the severe competition held out by
big and small business cooperatives may be formed to market the
products. Rural Tourism is the another area which can be marketed by
rural entrepreneurs.
7. Access To Technology: Access to technology is low for women
entrepreneurs. Due to lack of finance and information, they cannot
have proper tools and equipment to improve the product. Setting up pf
Special institutions at state level would help to upgrade their skill and
acquire new techno-managerial knowledge so that they could go in for
innovative technologies of production.