Impact of Women-Owned Microenterprises (WOME)on the Local Economies
Women in Micro-Enterprises: A Study
- Melinda Gates
The transition from Women Development to Women-led development also depicts the story of a change of mindset. The change from considering women as the passive beneficiaries of development to active leaders and equal participants in the process, as the flag bearers and architects of modern India. Women-led development is the only way to look for a more sustainable, inclusive, and strengthened future. Women entrepreneurs can play the role of catalyst in the social and economic development of a country like India. They faced many obstacles specifically in the finance and marketing of their produce. Microfinance is playing a vital role in the success of SHGs, particularly the entry of rural women into micro-enterprises will be encouraged and aggravated. The upsurge in female entrepreneurship has the potential to facilitate women's socio-economic empowerment. Rana and Masood (2011) observe that during the last twenty years, a growing number of Indian women have blossomed into entrepreneurs. These female entrepreneurs have made contributions to the Indian economy and society through the establishment and expansion of their firms, which have touched on a wide range of sectors and industries.
The concept of women entrepreneurship is multidisciplinary in nature embodying economic, psychological, social, cultural, political as well as environmental attributes. According to Khanka (2000), a women entrepreneur is a confident, innovative and creative woman capable of achieving economic independence individually or in collaboration, generating employment opportunities for others through initiating establishing and running an enterprise by keeping pace with her personal, family and social life. This is more beneficial for women in rural areas as it enables them to add to the family income while taking care of their farm, home and livestock-centred tasks.
Micro-enterprise is an effective instrument of social and economic development. Microfinance is an agenda for empowering poor women. Micro enterprises are an integral part of the planned strategy for securing balanced development of the economy of poor women. Sidhu and Kaur (2006) revealed that entrepreneurship is the only solution for the growing employment among rural youth, especially women. It helps to generate employment for number of people within their own social system. Jyoti et al. (2017), Franco and Prata (2019) also focused that married women who start their businesses are more booming than their counterparts; however, this needs to be explored further so that other women may be given a fair chance at succeeding in their entrepreneurial activities.
The contribution of women entrepreneurs is still invisible and needs to be properly investigated. Various studies indicate (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2019; Jyoti et al., 2017; Welsh et al., 2018) that participation of women in the workforce in India is comparatively lower than developed countries primarily because of lack of education provided to the girl child and social restrictions prevailing in Indian society. “Stereotypes that frame women entrepreneurs as a disadvantaged group feed a false narrative that women lack the same competency as men regarding business leadership.” Women’s entrepreneurship has been recognized during the last decade as an important untapped source of economic growth. According to Statistics on women in India in 2010, the proportion of female main workers to total population is 16.65% in rural areas and 9.42% in urban areas. This shows overall less contribution of women in work but more percentage of women workers in rural areas.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL WOMEN THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS (SHG)
The SHGs are voluntary associations of people formed to attain some common goals. (Poornima et al.) found that a typical rural women’s SHG is a good example of capacity building for prospective entrepreneur. SHG provides an opportunity to improve their financial social and political status by their involvement as a team. On the recommendation of the NABARD, the Reserve Bank advised that the banks financing of SHG would be reckoned as part of their lending to weaker sections. As a follow up of the recommendations of the NABARD Working Group, the RBI took some measures in 1996 to give a thrust to micro finance-based lending.
Right efforts from multiple directions are required for the development of women entrepreneurs. The following efforts can be considered for effective development of women entrepreneurs:
• There are various schemes and plans of government for the encouragement of women entrepreneurs but on the grassroots level their execution remains poor, there should be a strong monitoring of these policies at different levels of execution.
• The government should organize training programmes to develop skills, professional competencies, leadership, and information on marketing and finance at village level.
• Information should flow in right direction with the help of NGOs and government organizations about policies, plans and strategies for the development of women in the fields of industry, trade and commerce.
• Making provisions for micro-credit systems and enterprise credit systems for women entrepreneurs - Women generally hesitate to go through the procedural formalities in extending loans imposed by the banks. They face problems in preparing project reports and completing other paperwork. The banks should simplify the application forms for women entrepreneurs.
• There is a need on the part of the formal financial sector to build up an effective and efficient financial strategy to improve access of women entrepreneurs to banks and financial institutions. The banks should take up steps to reach potential women entrepreneurs and encourage them to avail of credit and credit plus services from banks.
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References:
Harpriya, Sharma RK, Sah AN. Impact of demographic factors on the financial performance of women-owned microenterprises in India. Int J Fin Econ. 2022;27:6–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.2133
Stastics of women in India 2010 Published by: National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, 5, Siri Institutional Area, Hauz Khas, New Delhi – 110016
Massod Rana Zehra masood,2011,Emergence of women-owned businesses in India-insight Journal of Arts Science & Commerce ISSN 2229-4686
S.S.Khanka 2000, “ Entrepreneurship Development, publishers S.Chand & company Ltd. India
Kiranjot Sidhu, Sukhjeet Kaur, (2006). Development of entrepreneurship among rural women, J. Soc. Sci., 13(2): 147-149
Franco, M., & Prata, M. (2019). Influence of the individual characteristics and personality traits of the founder on the performance of family SME's. European Journal of International Management, 13(1), 41–68.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. (2019). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Global Report.
Jyoti, J., Sharma, J., & Kumari, A. (2017). Factors affecting orientation and satisfaction of women entrepreneurs in rural India. Annals of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2, 5813.
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