Women Entrepreneurs Are Coming Forward In India, But Lack Of Institutional Support Hampers Their Way

Baljeet Kaur is a successful entrepreneur and a business consultant working in Ludhiana. But more than that, it is her life¡¯s journey that inspires you. From being a timid daughter-in-law of a well established joint family to a successful business consultant today, she has come a long way. She established her own business consultancy- The Transformers, in Ludhiana in 2017.

Adopting a rather philosophical approach, Kaur says ¡°Establishing and running a business venture is never an easy feat. The challenges are more pertinent and significant when it comes to women entrepreneurs. The struggle is long and hard, but if you have the willpower, you can make a name for yourselves.¡±

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Kaur is just one of the many female entrepreneurs who have endeavoured to make it big in the extremely competitive Indian startup ecosystem. While there is no dearth of women entrepreneurs who have established startups of name and repute, India has done little to make the task easier for them.

The Mastercard Index for Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) 2018 ranks India 52nd out of 57 nations it covered. The report gauged the progress women entrepreneurs are able to make by capitalizing on available opportunities and the existing support environment. Assessing 57 economies that constitute 78.6% of the global female workforce on various parameters like women¡¯s advancement outcomes, knowledge assets & financial access and supporting entrepreneurial factors, the report painted a dismal picture of India.

Institutional Support - Promising On Paper, Absent In Reality

One of the major challenges that women entrepreneurs face is the lack of easily available capital to kickstart their venture. While there are many government schemes that provide women with collateral-free loans, their implementation is far from perfect.

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Parul Sharma, who established Social Reformer, an NGO for the welfare and integration of disabled kids with the mainstream in North Delhi, is extremely pessimistic about government schemes helping women entrepreneurs. She recalls an instance where she was asked to pay Rs 10,000 to the official who would register her NGO, when the government mandated fee was merely Rs 50.

¡°Everytime I visited the government office to avail the financial and other incentives the government had to offer to women entrepreneurs, I came back discouraged.¡±

Many women entrepreneurs, operating on a small to medium scale of operations do not avail these scheme. Due to lack of appropriate mentoring or guidance, most women entrepreneurs are lost for direction when they think of expanding or scaling up their operations.

Surbhi Bhadauria Pandey, founder of The Thaluas Digital Services, a digital marketing agency in Noida, reiterates the importance of proper mentoring and guidance in the initial stages of entrepreneurship. She says, ¡°I was lucky enough to have received advice from good mentors in my early days. Attending startup meets and conclaves helped me get in touch with individuals well-acquainted with the startup world.¡±

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But she also does not shy away from acknowledging how difficult it is to get capital. ¡°I have not tried to raise money from any government schemes. But, it is extremely hard to get angel investors to get to invest in your idea.¡±

Her words aren¡¯t very far from the truth. A research report in 2017 by Yourstory, a media firm stated that out of all private equity investment raised in the country that year, only 2% went to start-ups with women founders.

Lack Of Social Support

Apart from lack of institutional support, the gender and cultural stereotypes deeply entrenched in the society hinder women entrepreneurs. The socio-cultural ecosystem of India has traditionally placed men in the dominant role, positioning them as better equipped with business acumen. And while this thought should have been long redundant, vestiges of it are still reflected in the way women entrepreneurs are perceived in the society. Cultural bias, lack of access to financial resources and timely loans and no societal support- all come together to ensure women entrepreneurs are forced to give up even before they start.

According to Sixth Economic Census released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in 2016 , women constitute around 14% of the total entrepreneurship i.e. there are only 8.05 million women entrepreneurs out of the total 58.5 million entrepreneurs. This is reflective of the many challenges that women face in the startup ecosystem when it comes to access and ownership of resources.

Kaur recalls, ¡°The very first time I pitched the idea of even doing a job, my family refused to support me. They categorically stated that no man would want to learn business from a women. They relented to let me volunteer, since they could not accept a women¡¯s money in the household. It was only after 15 years of consistent work in the field was I able to establish a startup of my own.¡±

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While the situation in tier-2 cities like Ludhiana, where Kaur is based, might be rigid, metro cities are more relenting and accepting of women entrepreneurs. But even they are not without their share of struggles. Bhadauria Pandey states, ¡°My mother-in-law doesn¡¯t understand the significance of my venture, but thankfully, I have my husband to support me while I work to run my agency. ¡°

The Way Ahead

According the MIWE Index, India ranks 55 in the sub-parameter of ¡®Knowledge Assets & Financial Access¡¯ for women entrepreneurs. And while the situation looks bleak, Shashi Singh, Chairperson, Consortium of Women entrepreneurs, thinks the situation is much better than the perceived.

¡°There is no dearth of policies and programs when it comes to facilitating women entrepreneurship. A lot is being done in many spheres of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, the task is not easy. It is important not just to do away with the social stigma and lack of support within family and society. But what is more significant is to make sure that women are educated and aware enough to access these entrepreneurial resources.¡±, she says.

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NITI Aayog came up with a ¡®Women Entrepreneurship Platform¡¯ in 2017 with the objective of increasing this awareness. Launched as a website, the portal intends to bring together a pool of resources, ranging from knowledge bank to networking opportunities.

Ms. Neelashi, an official in NITI Aayog who has worked closely on the project says, ¡°The platform is an aggregator and a general platform of all essential information that a women might need in order to start her own venture or need access to more networking opportunities. We also have various roadshows and awareness programs where women can come together to seek solution to any entrepreneurial problem she faces, or just to network more.¡±

Despite an abundance of initiatives, both existing and in the offing, the ground reality of increasing ease of establishing and doing a business for women seems bleak. And while women entrepreneurs continue to rise and thrive despite all these odds, the least that can be done is to give wind to their wings.

The writer is a New Delhi-based freelance contributor.