Challenges faced by Women Entrepreneurs

Challenges faced by Women entrepreneurs,
Opportunities for an entrepreneurial career,
measure to improve women entrepreneurship,
factors influencing the women entrepreneurship,
entrepreneurial motivation concept.
Being a woman itself poses various problems to a woman entrepreneur, the problems of Indian women pertain to her responsibility towards family, society and lion work

1. B Com 2 nd Sem KSAWU Syllabus WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP 1. Challenges faced by Women entrepreneurs Smt. Uma Minajigi Reur Head, Dept. of Commerce & Management Smt. V G Degree College for Women, Kalaburagi

2. B.COM SYLLABUS SECOND SEMESTER 2.6: WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Objectives: To acquaint students with the concepts of women entrepreneurship and to familiarize with the entrepreneurial development process. Pedagogy: Classroom lecture, Assignments and Field Visit. Unit 1: Introduction: Concept, meaning and definition of Women entrepreneur and Women entrepreneurship, Characteristics and Types of entrepreneurs, Functions of Women entrepreneur, evolution of Women Entrepreneurship in India, Entrepreneurial skills and competency requirements for women entrepreneur, Role of Women entrepreneurship in economic development. (15 Hours) Unit 2: Opportunities and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs: Challenges faced by Women entrepreneurs, Opportunities for an entrepreneurial career, measure to improve women entrepreneurship, factors influencing the women entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial motivation concept. (10 Hours) Unit 3: Role of financial institution in support of women entrepreneurial activities: SIDBI, DIC, CEDOK, RUDSETI, SFC, EDII, KVIC, (objectives and functions), Long term and Short term financing. Women empowerment through Entrepreneurship Development Programmes. (15 Hours) Unit 4: Government Schemes and Institutional support to Promote Women Entrepreneur: Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) scheme for Women, AWAKE, WIMA, NAYE, Mahila Coir Yojana, Mahila Udyam Nidhi, Stand-up India, Annapurna Scheme, Stree Shakti Package For Women Entrepreneurs, Bharatiya Mahila Bank Business Loan, Dena Shakti Scheme, Udyogini Scheme, Cent Kalyani Scheme, Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme, Mudra Yojana Scheme For Women, Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana Scheme, etc. (20 Hours) Unit 5: Project Identification and Formulation: Meaning of project, project identification, project selection, project formulation: meaning, significance, contents, formulation steps, Planning Commission’s Guidelines for formulating a Project report, Specimen of a project report. (10 Hours)

3. Unit 2: Opportunities and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs: Challenges faced by Women entrepreneurs, Opportunities for an entrepreneurial career, measure to improve women entrepreneurship, factors influencing the women entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial motivation concept.

4. Challenges and Problems faced by Women Entrepreneurs Women entrepreneurs face a series of problems right from the beginning till the enterprise functions. Being a woman itself poses various problems to a woman entrepreneur, the problems of Indian women pertain to her responsibility towards family, society and lion work. The tradition, customs, socio cultural values, ethics, motherhood subordinates to ling husband and men, physically weak, hard work areas, feeling of insecurity, cannot be tough etc are some peculiar problems that the Indian women are coming across while they jump into entrepreneurship. Women in rural areas have to suffer still further. They face tough resistance from men. They are considered as helpers. The attitude of society towards her and constraints in which she has to live and work are not very conducive. Besides the above basic challenges faced by women entrepreneurs are as follows:

5. 1. Family restriction Women are expected to spend more time with their family members. They do not encourage women to travel extensively for exploiting business opportunities. 2. Lack of Education Women are generally denied of higher education, especially in rural areas and under developed countries. Women are not allowed to enrich their knowledge in technical and research areas to introduce new products.

6. 3. Lack of Finance Family members do not encourage women entrepreneurs. They hesitate to invest money in the business venture initiated by women entrepreneurs. Bank and other Financial Institutions do not consider Middle Class Women Entrepreneurs as proper applicants for setting up their projects and they are hesitant to provide financial assistance to unmarried women or girls as they are unsure as to who will repay the loan — Either their parents or in-laws after their marriage. This humiliates unmarried women and they generally leave the idea of setting up their ventures. For example, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw initially faced many problems regarding funds for her business. Banks were hesitant to give loan to her as biotechnology was a totally new field at that point of time and she was a woman entrepreneur, which was a rare phenomenon.

7. 4. Over-Dependence in intermediaries Most of the time women entrepreneurs to market their products depend on market intermediaries who often pocket major part of the profits. 5. Family Ties: In India, it is mainly a women’s duty to look after the children and other members of the family. Man plays a secondary role only. In case of married women, she has to strike a fine balance between her business and family. Her total involvement in family leaves little or no energy and time to devote for business. Support and approval of husbands seem necessary condition for women’s entry into business. Accordingly, the educational level and family background of husbands positively influence women’s entry into business activities.

8. 6. Unfavorable Environment The society is dominated by males. Many business men are not interested to have business relationship with women entrepreneurs. Male generally do not encourage women entrepreneurs. 7. Low Risk-Bearing Ability: Women in India lead a protected life. They are less educated and economically not self-dependent. All these reduce their ability to bear risk involved in running an enterprise. Risk-bearing is an essential requisite of a successful entrepreneur.

9. 8. Scarcity of Raw Material: Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of raw material and necessary inputs. Added to this are the high prices of raw material, on the one hand, and getting raw material at the minimum of discount, on the other. The failure of many women co-operatives in 1971 engaged in basket-making is an example how the scarcity of raw material sounds the death-knell of enterprises run by women (Gupta and Srinivasan 2009). 9. Stiff Competition: Women entrepreneurs do not have organizational set-up to pump in a lot of money for canvassing and advertisement. Thus, they have to face a stiff competition for marketing their products with both organized sector and their male counterparts. Such a competition ultimately results in the liquidation of women enterprises.

10. 10. Lack of Education: In India, around three-fifths (60%) of women are still illiterate. Illiteracy is the root cause of socio-economic problems. Due to the lack of education and that too qualitative education, women are not aware of business, technology and market knowledge. Also, lack of education causes low achievement motivation among women. Thus, lack of education creates one type or other problems for women in the setting up and running of business enterprises. 11. Male-Dominated Society: Male chauvinism is still the order of the day in India. The Constitution of India speaks of equality between sexes. But, in practice, women are looked upon as abla , i.e. weak in all respects. Women suffer from male reservations about a women’s role, ability and capacity and are treated accordingly. In nutshell, in the male-dominated Indian society, women are not treated equal to men. This, in turn, serves as a barrier to women entry into business.

11. 12. Lack of persistent Nature : Women generally have sympathy for others. They are very emotional. This nature should not allow them to get easily cheated in business. 13. Lack of Information : Women entrepreneurs are not generally aware of the subsidies and incentives available for them. Lack of knowledge may prevent them from availing the special schemes. 14. Lack of Self Confidence :         Women’s self-doubt and lack of confidence affect their ability to effectively pitch their business to attract funding. They are less  likely ask for capital or sufficient capital. A lack of confidence therefore holds them back from starting and growing a viable business. A lack of confidence also causes women to be more risk averse. Women who create successful businesses take calculated risks. They carefully plan for their growth based on a confidence in their ability to sustain and manage growth over time.

12. 15. Inadequate and improper training: The contribution to development of women entrepreneurship many times is uneven among different regions and definite programmes need immediate attention regarding the areas of operation, structure and composition of programmes , fixing of priorities, follow-up, training of trainees, financial pattern etc. 16. Marketing problems:         Women face problem of marketing their products. Major area is dominated by male and high cost of advertisement. Women entrepreneurs are untrained when it comes to salesmanship and marketing techniques.

13. 17. Delayed decisions: Women entrepreneurs do not take quick decisions for problems. Even they do not know how and where to approach to get solved their problems. Generally, women get emotionally involved in taking problems. When problems are brought down to one’s personal level, objective analysis is lost and solutions to the problems and hardly found. 18. Fear of failure : Failure is real, hard and can manage to break you. And it is highly possible in a business venture. Naturally, failure is a huge threat to anyone with dreams, man or woman, due to its implications. This insecurity and self-doubt would make women refrain from dreaming big and sticking to their lane when they should be out making things happen. Failure cannot relinquish your goals and dreams and should be just viewed as a teaching moment in relationships, business, and life in general. And failure does not deserve to be one of the problems of women entrepreneurs, ever!

14. Conclusion There would always be something holding you back in life, and the same is the case while starting a business. They say the beginning is always the hardest and rightly so, and just because a hurdle seems insurmountable doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. So, break free from all perceptions and problems and think of what can go right!

15. Being a woman itself poses various problems to a woman entrepreneur, the problems of Indian women pertain to her responsibility towards family, society and lion work

16. Thank You