Women Entrepreneurship in India

Women Entrepreneurship in India

Ms. Shobha Sangtani

Shree M J Kundaliya Commerce College Rajkot

Women entrepreneurship refers to business or organization started by a woman or group of women. It is the process in which women initiate a business, gather resources, under take risk, face challenges, provide employment to other and manage the business independently. Approximately 1/3^rd of the entrepreneurs in the world are women entrepreneurs the term entrepreneur is used to describe individuals who have ideas for product or services that they turn into a working business. Entrepreneurship has been a male dominating field from ancient times. In earlier times, this term was reserved for man. Before the 20^th century, women operated small business as a way of supplementing their income. In many cases, they were trying to avoid poverty or were replacing the income from the loss of a spouse. At that time, the ventures that these women under took were not thought of as entrepreneurial, many of them had to focus on their domestic responsibilities. Women entrepreneurs play the role of the change makers both in the family and also in the society and inspire other members of the society to take up such activities. Women entrepreneurs are assets of the nation as they are engaged in certain productive activity and also they create job opportunities for others. This leads to eradication of poverty and minimizing the problems of unemployment. In the modern times the situation has changed and women have become the most innovative and inspirational entrepreneur’s women entrepreneurship is phenomenon but this concept became prominent in the year 1991, when the new industrial policy came into existence. Women are generally perceived as home makers with little to do with economy or commerce. But this picture is changing. In modern India, more and more women are taking up entrepreneurial activity especially in medium and small scale enterprise.

Shahnaz Husain is one of the successful women entrepreneurs. She started Shahnaz Herbal at the age of 16. The company is best known for its herbal cosmetics particularly skin care product ‘without animal testing’. The company has over 400 franchise clinics across the world covering 138 countries. She has been bestowed with the ‘Padma Shri’ award by the government of India in 2006 and world’s great’s women entrepreneur award by 1996 success magazine.

Mrs. Chanda Kochhar is the managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s largest private sector bank. She is widely recognized for her role in shaping the retail banking sector in India and for her leadership of the ICICI group as well as her contribution to various forums in India and globally.

Women in India have come a long way from being just ‘home makers.’ The world now sees them with a different eye and a new respect. Women entrepreneurship in India has come a long way from women working only part time. Studies have shown that successful women entrepreneurs start their business as a second profession. Because of their previous careers, women entrepreneurs enter the business world later on in life, around 40-60 years old. According to the global entrepreneurship monitor report, ‘women are nearly one – third more likely to start businesses out of necessity then men.’ Because women are overtaking men peers in the level of education obtained, having higher education degrees is one of the significant characteristics that many successful women entrepreneurs have in common. The women workforce play very significant role in the expansion and growth of the Indian economy. The role of women in the economic development of the nation cannot be neglected. In fact they have to be encouraged and motivated to take active part in any business activity. Women occupy a large share of the economy also in the micro and small enterprises sector of India. The acceleration of economic growth requires an increased supply of entrepreneurs and women comprised almost half of the population in India.