How to weed out the roadblocks to the rise of women entrepreneurs in India

Women are natural entrepreneurs. APJ Abdul Kalam even thought that “empowering women is a prerequisite for creating a good nation, as successful women leads to good society, and good nation.” However, there have been many reasons contributing to the low number of women entrepreneurs. Though, over the years, there has been a healthy trend of women picking up entrepreneurial responsibilities to explore startup opportunities, the number is not as significant as it should be. The reasons for them not following their dreams, or leaving their journey in between, could range from societal pressure to lack of knowledge to family conflicts. In this article, I have tried to pen down five most common factors that are roadblocks to the rise of women entrepreneurship in India.

Access to financial resources: Women in India are still not financially dependent. They have to go through a lot to gain financial access. Since most of the assets are in the name of male family members, they do not have complete freedom to get credit/funds based on the collateral. Most of the time they rely on their savings.

Remedy– They can reach out to their family and friends for some loan amount to bootstrap their startup. Alternatively, there are woman-oriented funds that help women entrepreneurs. Government and many SME bank loans are also helping women entrepreneurs in their startup journey by providing funds without collaterals and low interest rates.

Inadequate education and access to information: Education about enterprise, mentoring before kick-starting a venture, career guidance, marketing information, and working capital management etc., are missing and women find themselves lost despite having a good idea. Many of them even start the execution, but lack of experience and right skill-development pushes them out of the race in the middle of the journey. They also face challenges in the sales and marketing of their products due to inadequate knowledge about the market and not knowing how to target the real audience.

Remedy- Attending workshops and meet-ups for startups does help. One can also go through various government initiatives like NASSCOM, DIPP, NEN etc., to understand the startup environment. Such networking events not only help you catch hold of the right folks, but also enhance your knowledge in the field. They also give you the platform to discuss the related queries and gain various perspectives. It is always advisable to do your homework before getting into any startup. Reading about startups, learning from fellow entrepreneurs from portals like HerStory etc., also helps.

Family conflicts: In a country like India, where there are set stereotypes of men taking care of bringing in the money, while women look after the household, bringing a balance between business and home is a difficult choice for women. Their inability to attend to domestic work and allocate time to help kids with their studies due to the time spent on business adds to the family conflicts. All successful women entrepreneurs had great spousal support from the time of initiation of business to running it successfully. There are women who start their enterprise journey from home, so that they can make a balance between home and office, but this also questions their credibility, and hence important for them to get a separate office space. The insecurities and ego clashes in men also adds fuel to these conflicts.

Remedy: An open conversation in family is the key. One need to take your spouse, immediate family members in confidence and tell them about your dreams and why starting on your own is important for you. During conversations, try to handle their apprehensions with complete confidence and understand them in a more collaborative way. There could be times when you have to take hard decisions. Go ahead with them and listen to your heart.

Lack of societal support: Women in India are usually stuck between traditions and their dreams. There are lot of family-related expectations attached of them, unlike men, which, when not fulfilled, put them in a tight spot. Our societal culture is still not conducive/supportive to working women, as running startups is still considered secondary in a woman’s life, her primary task being confined to home. This often leads to loss of self-worth in many women, and they don’t get sufficient confidence to take the plunge.

Remedy: During entrepreneurial journey, one gets to hear multiple comments from folks around. What is important is not to pay too much heed to it all, unless it is coming from your immediate family members. In case it is from them, try to make them understand collaboratively. But, try to ignore the negativity from the rest. This could be difficult in the early days, but have confidence in yourself and take it up.

Difficulty in networking: Two men can discuss their business deals over a mug of beer, but it is difficult for women to nurture their professional relationships, as they are usually misunderstood by peers. When females try to network, many times, they are being looked upon as potential partners and a healthy professional partnership is lost. Shyness, lack of awareness, family approvals, safety concerns usually keep women away from reaching out to the right set of people who may have helped at running their venture successfully, and this hampers their growth.

Remedy: Open conversation is key. Keep a clear line of demarcation between your professional and personal life.

However, it is heartening to see the trend changing, with many successful women entrepreneurs making a dent in the erstwhile male-dominated ecosystem. Anisha Singh from mydala, Richa Kar from Zivame, Shradha Sharma from YourStory, Richa Singh from Yourdost are a few names that took the road less travelled and opted for the domain not so common.

Efforts should be taken to encourage women from rural areas too, as they are entrepreneurs in their own unique way. A few of them are bread winners for their family already.

I strongly feel right communication within the family, combined with a great business idea can surely get one to a sustainable venture.

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