How 21st Century is Creating Great Opportunities for Women as Entrepreneurs in Real-World
The twenty-first century is the turning point in the world history – from analogue to digital; a shift that has closed doors to many conventional businesses and opened new vistas for unconventional concepts. But, above all, the onset of the digital era is a big blessing for women entrepreneurs. According to Tory Burch, fashion world’s leading business lady, “Women in emerging marketplaces put as much as 90% of their earnings back into their local economy.”
The rise of technology is directly proportional to the development of a region and its economy, but the growth of digital technology is not only significant in increasing the pace of economies, but it has also minimized man-woman disparity in the business world. The 21st century seems pretty unbiased and supportive to all: a beginning of equality in the business world from where the new age of women entrepreneurship starts. Now, they can also convert ideas into enterprises because the traditional infrastructure is no more an obstacle to an entrepreneur if s/he is ambitious, innovative, and insightful.
The Virtual Becomes Virtuous
Lynda Weinman, a graphic arts professor-turned author, and then an entrepreneur is one among those inspirational business leaders who successfully explored the market for their offerings. It was in the year 1995 that after struggling to find a book on web design to recommend to her students, she decided to write her own and came up with her book, Designing Web Graphics. The book became a huge hit and even sold hundreds and thousands of copies around the world. The success of the book further encouraged Lynda to start her own Internet-based training company named Lynda.com. The company earned interest and huge respect both from the students and the professionals and in April 2015 it was sold to LinkedIn for $1.5 billion.
Lynda is not the only accomplished businesswoman; there is a huge list successful women entrepreneur who rocked the business world with their innovative ideas, and not by splurging tones of money. India is also not far behind than the US and Europe, where the virtual world is ruled by lady luck. From Suchita Salwan of LBB to Anisha Singh of Mydala.com and Neha Behani of Moojic to Radhika Aggarwal of ShopClues; there is a large clan of inspirational women leaders which is the birth of 21st century’s opportunities, especially the digital technology.
Easy Access to Finance
Funding is all about traction; the stronger the idea, bigger will be the inflow. Investors and venture capitalists take more interest in the vision of a person rather than background or gender. Today, the younger generation of business leaders is incredibly impressive in presenting their business plans and attracting the investors. Moreover, in the present time, crowdfunding emerges as a suitable substitute for business loans which often hurt entrepreneurs in the infancy stage due to high-interest rate. Apart from these, governments are also promoting to women entrepreneurs under various state-run schemes. Also, the growth of NBFCs and microfinance institutions in the country is making borrowing much easier, and women entrepreneurs are getting big help from such unconventional lending institutions.
Promotion through Social Media
A business, especially in the B2C category cannot grow and survive without communicating with its potential customers on a regular basis. Indeed, promotion is an indispensable aspect of customer goods and services because it helps to attract the target audience. Earlier, print and electronic media were the two main vehicles for a brand’s vast outreach and both were expensive enough to small business. But, the social media has completely changed the communication scenario with its ubiquitous presence, interactive behaviour, and cost efficiency. Now, there is no need to set a hefty marketing budget to promote a brand in print or electronic media. Empowered with the digital revolution, women entrepreneurs are promoting their products and services on almost free social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
