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The emergence of entrepreneurs in a society depends to a great extent on the social, economic,

religious, cultural, psychological and environmental factors prevailing in a society. Entrepreneurs

with their inherent intelligence, drive and hard work making the best use of the opportunities that

are made available in the above factors. Women entrepreneurs are no exception to this.

Though women, in traditional societies are confined to the four walls of houses doing all the

household works including taking care of the children and are treated as property of men, the

concept and status of women in the modern society has been changed substantially.

Modern age has lifted the veil of ignorance. Slowly and subtly changes are creeping in. Women have

come out of the four walls to participate in all sorts of activities. They are growing and blossoming as

successful persons in their own right.

They have proved that they are no less than men in efficiency, hard work or intelligence. They are

treated equally in teaching jobs, IT firms, hospitals and administrative jobs, military and defence

fields, law, science, medicines and even aeronautics and space exploration. Now they have jumpedinto industrial activities and run their enterprises successfully. They are emerging as potential

entrepreneurs. They have been making significant impact in all segments of the economy. Indian

women also do have vast entrepreneurial talent which could be harnessed to join in the race for

development. Therefore, it is now quite significant to discuss about the concept, meaning,, growth,

problems and its solutions of women entrepreneurs in India.

Meaning and Concept of Women Entrepreneur:

Increase in cost of living has prompted the Indian women to undertake economic activities in order

to support their families. They are coming forward to take risks, face challenges and prove to the

world that their role in the society is no more limited to that of buyers but they can be also successful

sellers.

There are thousands of good examples where women have shown entrepreneurial talents and have

succeeded. Women entrepreneurs are the key players in any developing country in terms of their

contribution to economic development. Now, it is imperative to know who is an women

entrepreneur.

In the simplest sense, women entrepreneurs are those women who take the lead and organise the

business or industry and provide employment to others. It signifies that section of female population

who venture out into industrial activities. It may be defined as a woman or group of women whoinitiate, organise and run a business enterprise.

However, Government of India has given a broader definition of the term women entrepreneur. It

defined women entrepreneur as "an enterprise owned and controlled by women having a minimum

financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of the employment generated in the

enterprise to women".

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According to J.A. Schumpeter, "Woman who innovates, imitates, or adopts a business activity is

called woman entrepreneur." Thus women entrepreneur are those women who initiate, organise and

operate business enterprise and want to prove their mettle in innovative and competitive jobs. She

also want to oversee and control every aspects of her business for its overall success.

Growth of Women Entrepreneurship:

Almost half of India's population consists of women. But they constitute a very negligible proportion

of the total entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial traits and competencies have not been well developed

amongst the women entrepreneurs. They are very shy in nature and emotionally attached to the

family. They are treated as weak and dependent on men. They are the neglected sections in the

society. The much low literacy rate 39%, low work participation rate 28% and low urban population

share 10% of women as compared to 63%, : 52% and 18% respectively of their male counterpart well

confirm their precarious position in the society.

In spite of the above, in sixties, women have started entrepreneurial activities as one- woman

enterprises at home and from home for self-occupation and engagement. The number of women

entrepreneurs were only 6000 which miserably low during the period.

Indian women started their entrepreneurial work in 1970s. Their entrepreneurship is traced out as

an extension of kitchen activities mainly pickles, powder and pappad. Women are encouraged to

start an occupation or venture with an urge to do something independently started to tide over their

economic difficulties and responsibilities.

In the seventies, Government of India has also brought a change in its policy objective of welfare

approach of women to development approach of women. Women were given priorities in all the

sectors including small scale industries sector. As a result, the number of women entrepreneurs has

increased over the years.

During 1980s, government and non-government bodies have paid increasing attention to women

entrepreneurs through formulation of various policies and programmes and introduction of new

schemes and incentives. It adopted a multi-disciplinary approach for development of women

entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs were given top priority for implementation of programmes

under agricultural and its allied activities of diary farming, poultry, animal husbandary, handlooms,

handicrafts and small scale industries, etc.

In the nineties, out of the total women population of 437.10 millions, there are 126.48 million

women workforce of which only 1,85,900 women accounting for self employed in the country. Thisindicates a dismally low level of women participation in the entrepreneurial activities.

Further women entrepreneurs in India accounted for 9.01% of the total 1.70 million entrepreneurs

during 1988-89. There were more than 2,95,680 women entrepreneurs claiming 11.2% of the total

2.64 million entrepreneurs in India during 1995-96. The number of women entrepreneurs have

increased to 3,28,000 in 1996-97.

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During the ninth five year plan, the government has introduced in 1998 an important scheme on

Trade Related Entrepreneurship of Assistance and Development (TREAD) aiming at economic

empowerment of women in rural, urban and semi-urban areas. It develops their entrepreneurial skill

and eliminates the constraints faced by women entrepreneurs.

The TREAD programme was operated through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).SIDBI has initiated various schemes for the growth of women entrepreneurs through Mahila Udyam

Nidhi (MUN), Mahila Vikash for Nidhi (MVN), Micro Credit Scheme (MSC), Women

Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDP), and Marketing Development Fund (MDF) for

women entrepreneurs.

In the context of the opening up of the economy and the need for upgradation of technology, the

Consortium of Women Entrepreneurs of India (CWEI) is a common platform to help the very women

entrepreneurs in finding innovative techniques of production and marketing and finance.

Prime-Minister Rozgar Yojna (PMRY), National Rural Employment Programme and (NREP), Rural

Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) are some of the important schemes floated

by the Government which encourage women to enter into work entrepreneurial activities.

With growing awareness about business and due to growth of educational level, in professional

education, industrialisation, urbanisation and democratic values awareness, the tradition bound

Indian society has undergone a change and women entrepreneurs have shifted their entrepreneurial

activities to engineering, electronics and energy. They made personal choices, stood up for their

convictions and had the courage and strength to enter into new ventures. As a result of these efforts,

number of women entrepreneurs have increased over the years.

Women entrepreneurs face a series of problems right from the beginning till the the enterprise

functions. Being a woman itself poses various problems to a woman entrepreneur, The problems of

Indian women pertains 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 problems the other problems faced by women entrepreneurs are as follows:

1. Family ties:

Women in India are very emotionally attached to their families. They are supposed to attend to all

the domestic work, to look after the children and other members of the family. They are over burden

with family responsibilities like extra attention to husband, children and in laws which take away a

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lots of their time and energy. In such situation, it will be very difficult to concentrate and run the

enterprise successfully.

2. Male dominated society:

Even though our constitution speaks of equality between sexes, male chauvinism is still the order ofthe day. Women are not treated equal to men. Their entry to business requires the approval of the

head of the family. Entrepreneurship has traditionally been seen as a male preserve. All these puts a

break in the growth of women entrepreneurs.

3. Lack of education:

Women in India are lagging far behind in the field of education. Most of the women (around sixty per

cent of total women) are illiterate. Those who are educated are provided either less or inadequate

education than their male counterpart partly due to early marriage, partly due to son's higher

education and partly due to poverty. Due to lack of proper education, women entrepreneurs remain

in dark about the development of new technology, new methods of production, marketing and othergovernmental support which will encourage them to flourish.

4. Social barriers:

The traditions and customs prevailed in Indian societies towards women sometimes stand as an

obstacle before them to grow and prosper. Castes and religions dominate with one another and

hinders women entrepreneurs too. In rural areas, they face more social barriers. They are always

seen with suspicious eyes.

5. Shortage of raw materials:

The scarcity of raw materials, sometimes nor, availability of proper and adequate raw materials

sounds the death-knell of the enterprises run by women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs really

face a tough task in getting the required raw material and other necessary inputs for the enterprises

when the prices are very high.

6. Problem of finance:

Women entrepreneurs stiffer a lot in raising and meeting the financial needs of the business.

Bankers, creditors and financial institutes are not coming forward to provide financial assistance to

women borrowers on the ground of their less credit worthiness and more chances of business failure.

They also face financial problem due to blockage of funds in raw materials, work-in-progress finished

goods and non-receipt of payment from customers in time.

7. Tough competition:

Usually women entrepreneurs employ low technology in the process of production. In a market

where the competition is too high, they have to fight hard to survive in the market against the

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organised sector and their male counterpart who have vast experience and capacity to adopt

advanced technology in managing enterprises

8. High cost of production:

Several factors including inefficient management contribute to the high cost of production whichstands as a stumbling block before women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs face technology

obsolescence due to non-adoption or slow adoption to changing technology which is a major factor of

high cost of production.

9.Low risk-bearing capacity:

Women in India are by nature weak, shy and mild. They cannot bear the amount risk which is

essential for running an enterprise. Lack of education, training and financial support from outsides

also reduce their ability to bear the risk involved in an enterprises.

10 Limited mobility:

Women mobility in India is highly limited and has become a problem due to traditional values and

inability to drive vehicles. Moving alone and asking for a room to stay out in the night for business

purposes are still looked upon with suspicious eyes. Sometimes, younger women feel uncomfortable

in dealing with men who show extra interest in them than work related aspects.

11. Lack of entrepreneurial aptitude:

Lack of entrepreneurial aptitude is a matter of concern for women entrepreneurs. They have no

entrepreneurial bent of mind. Even after attending various training programmes on entrepreneur

ship women entrepreneurs fail to tide over the risks and troubles that may come up in anorganisational working.

12. Limited managerial ability:

Management has become a specialised job which only efficient managers perform. Women

entrepreneurs are not efficient in managerial functions like planning, organising, controlling,

coordinating, staffing, directing, motivating etc. of an enterprise. Therefore, less and limited

managerial ability of women has become a problem for them to run the enterprise successfully.

13. Legal formalities:

Fulfilling the legal formalities required for running an enterprise becomes an upheaval task on thepart of an women entrepreneur becauseof the prevalence of corrupt practices in government offices

and procedural delays for various licenses, electricity, water and shed allotments. In such situations

women entrepreneurs find it hard to concentrate on the smooth working of the enterprise.

14. Exploitation by middle men:

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Since women cannot run around for marketing, distribution and money collection, they have to

depend on middle men for the above activities. Middle men tend to exploit them in the guise of

helping. They add their own profit margin which result in less sales and lesser profit.

15. Lack of self confidence:

Women entrepreneurs because of their inherent nature, lack of self-confidence which is essentially a

motivating factor in running an enterprise successfully. They have to strive hard to strike a balance

between managing a family and managing an enterprise. Sometimes she has to sacrifice her

entrepreneurial urge in order to strike a balance between the two.