A study of women entreprenuers in India

Abstract

Women’s participation in the work force of India is low compared to advanced countries’. A special problem area is the white-collar jobs which most women have to leave after marriage and child birth. Some of such women go in for entrepreneurial activities. A qualitative survey of motivations, constraints and success/failure of such homepreneurs/mompreneuers gave the following results. Women have been running successful home-based businesses in the field of weaving, baking, block printing, etc. for many years. Today’s women have ventured into many new fields powered by computer technology, internet and enhanced communication systems. Today’s mompreneurs have children and are mostly well educated. They are not the chief earners of their families but work for other reasons like supporting the families and personal economic independence. The educated mompreneurs have joined in order to utilize their education and raise their own status. They work from cities and deal mainly in garments and toys. Some reasons why women choose entrepreneurship over employeeship at this stage could be work place issues, restriction imposed by family members and compulsion arising from socio-economic situation. They prefer occupations that allow them to work from home mainly for family reasons and for relaxed work atmosphere. They use the resources in the family including the labour of their younger generation but are reluctant to use its financial resources. Without the family’s support procurement of loan is difficult too. Most new entrepreneurs are first-time entrepreneurs, they operate their business solo. They avoid employing assistants before completing five - six years as they find it unprofitable. A significant number of mompreneurs market their products directly to the customers. They typically use social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook (FB) to reach out to prospective clients. They share the product specifics along with price and promotion details. Many mompreneurs are open to the customers physically visiting their premises to verify the product before buying, if they have ready stock with them. Some are listed on business directories like those offered by Google and JustDial.com. Most offer customers the option of ‘cash-on-delivery’ or a short credit period for all goods sold. Even after five to six years, profit remains low. Besides their lack of marketing skill, the key obstacle mompreneurs experience is the perception of others as their lack of seriousness. Their challenge lies in the following factors: (1) Ability to deliver the promised good within the specified time, (2) Handling of returned goods, and (3) Dissatisfied customers.