Empowering Indian Economy With Women Entrepreneurship
The success of every venture comes from hard work, time, money, and energy invested by its founding father or even mother. Yes, today is the generation which has a mix ratio of men and women entrepreneurs supporting India’s economy with their entrepreneurial skills. The Sixth Economic Census 2018 by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reveals that around 14% of total entrepreneurship is accounted for women. That means, women entrepreneurs in India are 8.05 million out of total 58.5 million operating mostly in non-agriculture sectors. Though the number is small, it clearly indicates that women are breaking the glass ceilings and societal restrictions to fulfil their entrepreneurial ambitions.
Since time immemorial, women lacked the open and equal access to formal education, employment, fair wages, and safe work environment. However, this has not changed much in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities; metro cities are embracing and promoting women education and entrepreneurship for the good of all.
Changing definition of an entrepreneur
A few decades back, the word entrepreneur was reserved only for a businessman who would earn living for his family. Of late, the word is understood in its truest meaning— someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity, as it goes in the Cambridge Dictionary. This ‘someone’ can be a man or a woman or any go-getter who grabs the business opportunity and takes risks. Defying the gender roles, women have kick-started the wave of female entrepreneurship, whose slight traces can be found in much-talked-about Bollywood film Ki & Ka.
Having each other’s back
The boss women know it exactly how to mould their daily challenges into lucrative business opportunities—homemakers with great culinary skills begin tiffin services, who are good at stitching and knitting begin their own boutique, who find themselves good at fashion designing and business management set up their own apparel business. What’s more, is that these women create opportunities for other men and women as well. A well-educated businesswoman employs a hundred less privileged ones, like we see mostly in the Indian ethnic fashion industry and in the corporate sector, too.
Unlocking potential amidst gender disparity
Gender disparity has always remained a bane to our society, crushing down women’s aspirations. But, it’s good that times are changing, no matter the pace. In many spheres, women are provided with opportunities and favourable environment to unlock their potential and live up their dreams. The successful female entrepreneurs encourage women to dream big and make it true. And, those realising women’s potential as well as worth in the country’s economy are not less in number. McKinsey Global Institute stated in its 2015 study that women’s equal participation in the business world could elevate India’s GDP by 16-60 per cent by the end of 2025. Also, the Indian government’s initiative called “Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development” (TREAD) is directed towards empowerment of women through the development of entrepreneurial skills and business acumen in non-agriculture sector.
Turning weaknesses into core strengths
Often tagged as “emotional”, women have made this emotional quotient their core strength to build strong relationships with employees and encouraging them to achieve both professional and personal greatness. Their understanding, trust, empathy, and compassion allow them to form and sustain business relationships, integral to business success. Also, having mastered the art of multi-tasking, women are organised and have better risk-taking capabilities than men. So, they target profitable and sustainable growth for both brand and employees over the years than overnight success. Though the world of business is male-dominated, when it comes to effective leadership, it would not be wrong to say women are unbeatable.
