WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: CLASSIFICATION, PROBLEMS AND

REMEDIES(1-3)

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: CLASSIFICATION, PROBLEMS AND REMEDIES

Dr. Adinath Kuchnur
Director, JSPM Jayawant Technical Campus, Pune,India

Abstract-Entrepreneurs play a key role in the socio-economic welfare of the country. They identify the
necessities of the enterprise, procure in the other factors of production and coordinate with them for
commercial gains. They are the innovators, researchers and risk-bearers of the enterprise. Due to mixed
economy in India, both public and private entrepreneurship exists here. Generally, large scale undertakings are
under public entrepreneurship while medium and small scale ones are under private entrepreneurship. In order
to develop and boost entrepreneurship in both the sectors, Government of India has initiated the
Entrepreneurship Development Programs across the country. The entrepreneurs can be classified into two main
categories- Male and Female entrepreneurs. It is apparent that male entrepreneurs have dominated the Indian
economy as compared to female entrepreneurs. This paper discusses the concepts, classification and problems
of women entrepreneurs and offers suitable remedial measures.

Keywords: Women Entrepreneurs, Financial Constraints, Independence, Family Obligations, Economic

Activities.
1. INTRODUCTION
Women constitute about 48% of the total population in India
as well as world and play a very significant role in every
field of the economy. In modern society, women have come
out of the four walls they were confined hitherto to
participate in sorts of economic activities. It is evident that entrepreneurs have been a recent phenomenon in the
women have been performing exceedingly well in various
fields such as commerce and industry, education, politics,
social work and so on. In advanced countries of the world,
there is a phenomenal increase in the number of self-
employed women after the World War-II. In USA, women
owned two-fifth of the total business. In Canada, one-third
of small business is owned by women and France one-fifth
of the industries are owned by women entrepreneurs. In the
Indian context, the scenario is very different as women
encounter socio-economic problems. Hence, it is necessary
to look into various concepts and problems of women
entrepreneurs and offer some remedial measures to promote
the women entrepreneurship in the country.
2. CONCEPTS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
Women entrepreneurs are the women or group of women,
who initiate, organize and operate a commercial enterprise
(Gordon and Natarajan, 2009). Khanka (2002) referred to
women entrepreneurs as those who innovate, imitate or
adopt a business activity. These constitute a narrow
definition of women entrepreneurs. In broader sense, the
Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs
based on women participation in equity and employment of
a business enterprise. Accordingly, a woman entrepreneur is
defined as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman
having a minimum financial interest of 51 percent of the
total capital and giving at least 51 percent of the
employment generated in the enterprise to women. It is
evident from this definition that the minimum investment to
be made by a woman entrepreneur and the women to be
employed is 51 percent each in an organization run and
controlled by a woman but in practice, it is very difficult to
meet these criteria. Women entrepreneurs have been making
a significant impact in all segments of the economy in the
Western world choosing the areas of retailing, hospitality,
education, consultancy, cultural, insurance, banking,
manufacturing and so on (Desai V, 2007). Women as
country. The social norms in India had made it difficult for
women to have professional life. Now, this has changed.
Progressive laws and other incentives have also boosted the
presence of women in entrepreneurial activity in the diverse
fields (Roy R, 2008). It can be argued that the women
entrepreneurship has been gaining momentum in the country
and that it will receive further thrust from the women
community in the days to come as well since galloping
efforts are being made to train and develop the women
entrepreneurs.
3. CLASSIFICATION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
Women entrepreneurs can be classified into the following
categories.
1. Luck entrepreneurs: These entrepreneurs start business
without any preparation, clear goals or plans. They happen
to grab the opportunities which they come across.
2. Inborn entrepreneurs: These entrepreneurs take business
as a profession on their own by self planning or motivated
through profit factor and also keeping themselves busy.
3. Shaped entrepreneurs: These entrepreneurs are
encouraged and trained through specialized training
programs such as Entrepreneurship Development Programs
to set up their own commercial units.
4. Compelled entrepreneurs: The women who are
compelled by circumstances such as death of father or
husband to lead the existing business are called compelled
entrepreneurs.
5. Nominal entrepreneurs: Those who act as faade for
business of their husband or father or a relative.

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 WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: CLASSIFICATION, PROBLEMS AND REMEDIES(1-3)
4. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
Several studies reveal that two factors influence the women
entrepreneurs in India.
a) Pull factors: Pull factors are those which encourage
women to become entrepreneurs. These include desire to do
something new in life, need for independence, availability of
finance, concessions and subsidies.
b) Push factors: Push factors are those which compel
women to become entrepreneurs. These include unfortunate
family circumstances like death of husband or father,
financial anomalies, responsibilities in the family, etc.
5. FUNCTIONS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
Women entrepreneurs have to perform all the functions
involved in establishing and running an enterprise. These
include idea generation and screening, determination of
objectives, project preparation, product analysis,
determination of forms of organization, completion of
promotional formalities, raising funds, procuring men,
machine and materials and operation of business. According
to Frederick Harbison, a woman entrepreneur is expected to
perform the following five functions:
i) Exploration of the prospects of starting a new business
enterprise.
ii) Undertaking of risk and the handling of economic
uncertainties involved in business.
iii) Introduction of innovations or imitation of innovations.
iv) Co-ordination, administration and control and
v) Supervision and leadership
6. PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
The problems of women entrepreneurs in India are immense
and complex. They are prone to more serious problems than
men entrepreneurs. The following are some major problems
encountered by women entrepreneurs:
i) No freedom: The very basic problem of a female
entrepreneur is that of her being woman. She is expected to
be a subordinate of man in all walks of life. The primary
ingredients such as freedom and authority required for a
successful entrepreneur are inadequate for Indian women.
ii) Social restrictions: Some social restrictions are imposed
on women and are equally responsible for keeping females
away from training and skill in rural India, overbearing
presence of elders restricts
the young girls from venturing out and very strict
boundaries are demarked around their mobility.
iii) Low literacy: The low literacy status hinders women in
carrying out their activity as entrepreneur. Lack of education
handicaps their grasps of technological and marketing
knowledge.
iv) Low risk bearing capacity: Risk bearing capacity which
is a crucial factor in running an enterprise successfully is
low among women. Moreover, the impact of losses is more
severe on women since they lack sufficient social support.
v) Multiple responsibilities: A woman has to perform
multiple responsibilities towards her family, society and
work simultaneously. Consequently, a serious conflict
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
Vol. 1(1), January 2014 (ISSN: 2321-8088)
emerges between home and work resulting in high stress
level inhibiting her success, freedom and progress.
vi) Financial constraints: The menace of finance for
women entrepreneurs still remains a challenge. They lack
access to external funds due to their inability to provide
tangible security. Very few women have property in their
name. Banks have also taken a negative attitude while
sanctioning financial assistance to women entrepreneurs. As
a result, they rely on their own funds and loans from family
friends, which is inadequate to smoothly run the
organization.
vii) Marketing problem: Marketing is a serious problem
encountered by women entrepreneurs due to one or the other
reasons such as cutthroat competition, lack of storage
facilities, difficulty in synchronization of the product with
the market needs, inadequate arrangements for marketing of
products of women entrepreneurs, etc.
viii) Limited mobility: Another problem encountered by
women entrepreneurs is that it is very difficult for them to
travel from place to place on business mission. Further, the
humiliating attitude of government agencies make life
miserable for women and force them to get out of the
business in certain cases.
7. REMEDIAL MEASURES
In order to promote women entrepreneurship, the following
measures have to be initiated at various stages of the
economy.
i) Formal education: The first measure would be to provide
formal education the curriculum of which must
accommodate the subjects namely commerce and
management, computer science, small-scale industry,
entrepreneurial development, etc.
ii) Entrepreneurial activities at school level: The girls at the
school level should be inspired to inculcate entrepreneurial
activity-preparation of small projects and their execution.
Generally, women wish to go after the jobs rather than make
them happen. In order to induce the women, planned efforts
should be made among the educational institutions,
government agencies and the corporate world.
iii) Information dissemination: All possible information
should be disseminated for women entrepreneurs.
Government agencies, Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
Association of Women Entrepreneurs, Universities, NGOs,
etc must assume responsibilities in this respect.
iv) Distinct publication: Distinct publication should be
brought out and circulated among women entrepreneurs at
concessional rates in order to create awareness and
encourage them to get benefited from the schemes launched
for them. Media should be used to supply maximum
information for promoting the cause of women
entrepreneurs.
v) Adequate financial assistance: Women entrepreneurs
should be provided with adequate financial assistance
without collateral security to the eligible technocrats. The
terms and conditions for sanctioning the term loans as well
as working capital should be flexible. It is also advised that
a certain percentage be earmarked for women in various
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self-employment schemes designed by the government
agencies.
vi) Easy access to technology: Women entrepreneur find it
difficult to acquire the essential technology due to lack of
funds and information. Therefore, they cannot have proper
tools and equipments to improve the product quality. Setting
up of Special Institutions at the state level would help to
upgrade their skill and acquire new techno-managerial
knowledge so that they could go in for innovative
technologies of production.
vii) Hassle free procedures: Hassle free procedures,
formalities, rules and regulations, etc should be in place with
regard to registration and getting assistance from various
departments and government agencies.
viii) Formation of cooperatives: It is suggestible that big
and small business women cooperatives may be formed to
cope up with severe competition and market the products.
Rural market catering to nearly three-fourth of total
consumers in India offers a vast scope for women
entrepreneurs. Rural tourism is another area which can be
marketed by rural women entrepreneurs.
[6] Khanka S. S. (2008) Entrepreneurial Development S.
Chand, New Delhi pp 18-23.
[7] Roy R. (2008) Entrepreneurship Oxford publication,
New Delhi, pp 16-17.
[8] Gorden and Natarajan (2009) Entrepreneurship
Development Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai,
pp 61-73.
[9] Anand V. V. (2011) The Thriving Women
Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu: Motivational Factors
Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, August,
Vol. 4, No. 8, pp 44-51.
[10] Muralikrishna and Sangeetha (2011) Entrepreneurial
Climate in Establishing and Managing the Business by
Women Entrepreneurs of Different Financial Status
Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, October,
Vol. 4, No. 10, pp 4-10.

8. CONCLUSION

It is evident from the preceding discussion that women

entrepreneurs are sensitive to changing socio-economic
conditions in the country. They are keen to take advantage
of such positive changes. They also want to prove their
metal in dual role of work at home and participation in
entrepreneurial activities. It is expected that the negative
attitude towards women entrepreneurs by the family and
society will fall off in future.
The development of women entrepreneurship in India
depends largely on the exploration of rural market. Rural
India comprising nearly six lakh odd villages offers a vast
scope for women entrepreneurial activities. Several Asian
economies have made great strides towards the development
of rural enterprise. For instance, the convergence and
development of rural township and village enterprises in
China has been most spectacular event in her economic
reform. India should emulate China in the matter of
accelerating entrepreneurial effort in the country.
REFERENCES
[1] Singh N. P. (1986) Successful Women Entrepreneurs:
Their Identity, Expectations and Problems National
Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Development, New Delhi.
[2] Dhameja S. K. (2002) Women Entrepreneurs:
Opportunities, Performance and Problems Deep and
Deep Publication, New Delhi.
[3] Manimala M. J. (2006) Entrepreneurship Theory at
the Crossroads: Paradigms and Proxis Biztantra, New
Delhi.
[4] Desai V. (2007) Dynamics of Entrepreneurial
Development and Management Himalaya Publishing
house, Mumbai, pp-119-134.
[5] Parikh N. (2007) Intrapreneurship Concepts and
Cases The ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad.
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Vol. 1(1), January 2014 (ISSN: 2321-8088) Page 3