The role of women entrepreneurs in economic development

Romika dhingra
B.com 3rd year
183046
INTRODUCTION-
Entrepreneurship is considered as one of the most important factors contributing to the economic
development of the society. There are evidences to believe that countries which have
proportionately higher percentage of entrepreneurs in their population have developed
much faster as compared to countries, which have lesser percentage of them in the society.
Entrepreneurship is one of the major factors which contribute to the development of the nation.
The enterprising spirit of the people accelerates the economic development.
Entrepreneurship is very important criteria for economic development. The role of women
entrepreneurs cannot be ignored in this process. There is a significant contribution of women
entrepreneurs in the growth of developed nations. The development of women entrepreneurship
is low in India, especially in rural areas. Women entrepreneurs face lot of problems right from
the beginning till the enterprise functions. This assignment focuses on the status of women
entrepreneurs, their contributions and how to deal with the shortcomings.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS AND INDIAN WOMEN-

A woman entrepreneur includes a woman or a group of women who initiate, organize, and
operate a business enterprise
There is direct relationship between the economic growth, poverty reduction and women
entrepreneurship.
The role of women at the work place has undergone a dramatic change in the last 50 years, just
as the view of entrepreneurships over the centuries. Just five decades ago, there were only a few
women who owned and operated their own businesses. The new century brought many more
women into the workforce, but such accepted social values as the male being the head of the
house and women being dependent and staying indoors did not create an environment for
development of women entrepreneurs
In the 70s and 90s, the women in India were hardly engaged in any type of self employment.
During this period the women were attracted towards various opportunities of employment in
different banks, LIC, teaching jobs, etc. They were also found in the low productive sectors like
agriculture and house hold activities..
Women now occupy a larger share of the informal economy and also in the micro and
small enterprise sector in India
Now women have taken up entrepreneurial role in order to create a meaning for themselves. The
traditional roles of housewives are gradually changing into women entrepreneurs. Some of the
factors responsible for these changes are better education, changing socio cultural values and
need for supplementary income. When proper exposure, education and knowledge are
imparted to them, Indian women will prove themselves to be highly potential productive
force for the development of the nation.
Women entrepreneurship is understood as an effective strategy to solve both the rural and urban
poverty. The government of India through different policies and programmes is
encouraging the Indian women to come forward and involve in different entrepreneurial
activities.
Statistics have revealed that almost all the non- working women (including the ones in the
unorganized sector), who comprise the majority of womenfolk in the country, are in a state of
complete dependence. In developing economies, the small savings of rural areas are contributing
more in establishing the small and micro enterprises in India. In the light of demise of rural
artisanship, entrepreneurship has been given much importance as well as empowerment.
The women empowerment has been of importance to Governments and other non-governmental
organizations.

20 Women Entrepreneurs In India-

1. Vandana Luthra- VLCC
2. Aditi Gupta-Menstupedia
3. Richa Kar-Zivame
4. Shahnaz Hussian- Shahnaz Herbals
5. Falguni Nayar- Nykaa
6. Shradha Sharma- YourStory
7. Sheetal Ramkumar- WhiteGlobe
8. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw- Biocon
9. Sairee Chahal- Sheroes
10.Upasana Taku- MobiKwik

The role of women entrepreneurs:

i. Employment Generation:
It implies that women entrepreneurs not only establish their enterprise, but provide job to others.
Women entrepreneurship is about women’s position in the society and their role as entrepreneurs
in the same society. It can be understood in two ways, namely, at the individual level (number of
self-employed) and at the firm level (number of firms owned by women and their economic
impact). In this way, woman entrepreneurs have an important impact on the economy in terms of
their ability to create jobs for themselves as well as for others.
ii. Economic Development:
It signifies that women entrepreneurs contribute to the gross domestic product of the country by
establishing enterprises and producing goods and services. Due to their entrepreneurial activity,
women entrepreneurs bring dynamism in market. In this way, they also help in increasing the
national income of the country.
iii. Better Utilization of Resources:
It implies that the involvement of women in industrial development ensure the effective
utilization of all available resources (labor, raw materials, capital).
iv. Improved Quality of Life:
It implies that women entrepreneurs are now economically independent and take decisions
independently. They are now capable of upbringing their children according to their wish. They
are providing quality education to their children and a better living standard to their family
members. They not only improve their living standards, but also the living standards of others by
providing them the means of earning.

Challenges faced by Women Entrepreneurs-

Women have to face various problems in both the cases--while entering into any entrepreneurial
activity and also while they are continuing with their business.
Women's reasons for starting business are not always often driven by positive factors but also
due to negative circumstances such as low family income, lack of employment opportunities,
dissatisfaction with a current job or the need for flexible work, these factors tend to be most
predominant among women within developing economies.
Women lag at the business of starting businesses overall, and the gender gap gets larger as we
look at measures of growth of the business.
It is sometimes assumed that one of the main barriers to women’s entrepreneurship is difficulty
raising investment capital .The obstacles in the growth of women entrepreneurship are mainly
lack of interaction with successful entrepreneurs, social un-acceptance as women
entrepreneurs, family responsibility, gender discrimination, missing network, low priority
given by bankers to provide loan to women entrepreneurs. He suggested the remedial
measures like promoting micro enterprises, unlocking institutional frame work, projecting &
pulling to grow & support the winners etc.

Contributions of Women Entrepreneurs in economic development-

Women’s economic activities contribute directly to growth and efficiency in dealing with
informal business problems and poverty reduction is one of the main issues for policy makers.
Women entrepreneurs are assets of the nation as they are engaged in certain productive
activity and also the create job opportunities for others. This leads to poverty reduction
and minimising the problem of unemployment.
Capital Formation: An economy grows rapidly if the idle savings are invested in some
productive activities. The idle funds mobilized and invested in the industry and thus optimum
utilization of national resources is done. This phenomenon of capital formation accelerates the
economic growth.
Innovations: Innovation is the key of entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur through his/her
innovations begins new enterprise and thus plays an important role of pioneer and industry
leader. As we have seen above, the enterprise leads to acceleration of economic growth through
different angles. Women entrepreneurs are transforming families and society, besides making
contributions to business development. Women are more likely to reinvest their profits in
education, their family and their community. Despite of all these contributions, today we find
that rate of women entrepreneurs is very low. Government and non-government agencies also
have recognized their contributions and have paid increasing attention towards the empowerment
of women entrepreneurs. Although the women are entering into the field of enterprise at lower
speed, we see various women successfully running their businesses both in domestic markets and
also international markets. Kiran Mujumdaar Shaw, Shehnaaz Hussain, Ekta Kapoor, Jyoti
Naik (Lizzat Papad), Rajni Bector( Cremica) etc are some of the biggest names of women
entrepreneurs although this is a very long list but still we find the rate of women entering into
entrepreneurial activities is very low
Improvement in Per capita Income: women entrepreneurs in India have also been exploiting
the opportunities the opportunities. They convert the latent and idle resources like land, labour
and capital in to national income and wealth in the form of goods and services. They help
increase the country’s net national product and per capita which are important yardsticks for
measuring the economic growth.
Generation of employment: Women entrepreneur in India are playing an important role in
generating employment both directly and indirectly. By setting up small scale industries, they
offer jobs to people.
Balanced regional development: The regional development of the nation is balanced as the
women mostly start their business activities in the rural and underdeveloped regions.
Government also encourages the entrepreneurs to start businesses in these areas through different
schemes and subsidies.
Improvement in standard of living: Various products are produced by the women in their small
scale businesses, which are offered to the people at reasonable rates. New products are
introduced and the scarcity of essential commodities is removed. This facilitates the
improvement in standard of living.

Suggestions to overcome the challenges posed to women entrepreneurs-

Finance cells: Finance cells should be opened so that the women entrepreneurs will get finance and also
appropriate guidance regarding the financial schemes available to them.

Education and awareness: The negative social attitude of the society can be changed by conducting
different awareness programs and educate the women and also the society regarding the fruits of women
indulging in the entrepreneurial activities. Women also should be made aware of the importance of
education, different vocational courses, so that they can make up their mind for starting enterprise.

Training Facilities: Women lack different skills like the managerial skills, communication skills,
language problems, etc. Various training programs can be developed so that the women take full
advantage and confidently engage themselves into any business activity.

Planning: Women should never enter into any business without proper planning. They have to create
appropriate strategies. A blue print of the activities to be undertaken should be prepared which will
specify the product/service, the target customers, the mode of financing and the way the business will be
undertaken on daily basis. This will give a proper idea to the woman entrepreneur of her responsibilities
and her commitments.

Team Building: The woman entrepreneur has to forget the fact that she is the only person who will do
the particular task perfectly. She should have a team, the members of which have different skills and
strengths and the women should be able to coordinate with the team and thus bring out all the strengths
and skills in the members for the success of the business.

Conclusion-
In the majority of women operate their medium and small enterprises under very adverse
conditions. Not only is it difficult for them to find premises, find markets for their products,
access information and credit, but they also have limited access to training especially in the rural
areas. Their educational levels are low, they are responsible for all the domestic chores and they
have to seek permission from their family members to travel to trade fairs or for training, even if
they do want to grow their enterprises. Women entrepreneurs need to be better organized in to
women entrepreneurs association which help identify higher potential business opportunities,
develop markets for their products, improve product quality and marketing skills, practice good
financial management and secure better premises. Thus women entrepreneurs in our country are
directly or indirectly playing an important role in environmental protection, back ward and
forward integration and are acting as charge agents, thus contributing to the economic growth of
the country