A STUDY OF PROBLEMS & PROSPECTUS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

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1 A STUDY OF PROBLEMS & PROSPECTUS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ABSTRACT: Dr.T.K.Jadhav* Empowering women entrepreneurs is essential for achieving the goals of sustainable development and the bottlenecks hindering their growth must be eradicated to entitle full participation in the business. Apart from training programs, Newsletters, mentoring, trade fairs and exhibitions also can be a source for entrepreneurial development. As a result, the desired outcomes of the business are quickly achieved and more of remunerative business opportunities are found. Henceforth, promoting entrepreneurship among women is certainly a short-cut to rapid economic growth and development. Let us try to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and thus allow women to be an entrepreneur at par with men. Women entrepreneurs become backbone of business. They work very efficient & efficiently so it becomes very necessary to encourage the women entrepreneurs not only by Government but also their family. They also become a part of development of country. Keywords: women entrepreneurs, sustainable development, agro based industries, handicrafts etc., INTEODUCTION: In India the female population is 495 million as per the census in Women s Contributes to nearly half of the country population. In traditional societies women are contained within four walls of the house performing mainly household activities. It also true that Behind the success of every man there is a women. In reality women contribute a lot of success in every men life. But they are not recognized properly. WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: Women entrepreneurs may be defined as a Women or group of women who initiate, organize & run a business enterprise. Majority of these women are engaged in the unorganized sectors like agricultural, agro based industries, handicrafts, handloom & cottage based industries.

2 *Principal, Sahakarbhushan S.K.PAtil College, Kurundwad (MAHARASHTRA) RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: AREA OF STUDY & SAMPEL SIZE: The study is conducted in Poona city. We have selected sample data of women entrepreneurs are emerging in various fields namely tailoring & garments manufacturing, handicrafts, beauty parlors, catering, services, dairy farming, zerox, typing, computers job works etc. 200 women entrepreneurs were interviewed with the help of interview schedule. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: 1- To study the women entrepreneurs in the Poona city on small scale unit bases. 2- The study is highlighting the major issues & challenges of women entrepreneurs. 3- TABLE NO To evaluate women entrepreneurs performance. Primary data: The study is mainly based on primary data collected from women entrepreneur in Poona City. The data is mainly related only to the women engaged in the field of Tailoring, Beauty Parlour, Catering services, Typing & dairy farming. Secondary data: We have collected information and data by the way of secondary method. 1- Journals, periodicals, and news papers. 2- Research papers published in conference and seminars. 3- Internets. Respondents Classification According to Business

3 Sr. No BUSINESS SAMPLE PERCENTAGE 1 Tailoring 60 30% 2 Beauty parlor 40 20% 3 Catering services 40 20% 4 Typing 40 20% 5 Dairy farming 20 10% TOTAL % The table shows that the 30% are the respondent engaged in tailoring business in the Poona city which is on first rank position. The second position has three types of units such as Beauty parlor, Catering services and Typing which is 20% and only 10% respondent has in the field of dairy farming on third position.. TABLE NO. 1.2 Financial Constraints of Women Entrepreneur Sr.No. CONSTRAINTS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE 1 Shortage of Capital 30 15% 2 Negative attitude of the Bank 20 10% 3 Delay in sanctioning of Loan 40 20% 4 Inadequate size of Loan 20 10% 5 Lack of Accounting Skills 20 10% 6 Male Domination 20 10% 7 Lack of Self Confidence 10 5% 8 Problem in Public Relation 20 10% 9 Lack of Economic Freedom 20 10% TOTAL % The women s face different types of the problems in his small unit business such as Delay in sanctioning of Loan 20% is on first rank position, Shortage of Capital 15% is on second position and other all types of problems are the on third rank position such as Inadequate size of Loan, Lack of Accounting Skills, Male Domination, Problem in Public Relation Lack of Economic Freedom, and Lack of Self Confidence such as only 5 to 10%. PROBLEMS & PROSPECTUS:

4 According to this study, the majority of female entrepreneurs are years old and only one third are younger than 35 years. The percentage of entrepreneurs increases with age, perhaps indicating that women often start their own business when they cannot find a convenient job nearby. The majority of respondents have family relations: 79% are married. Generally, women are active in areas that do not require large investment: services (beauty-services, hairdressing, sewing, etc), tourism and agriculture. In addition, many women also work in another area, in order to decrease the business risk. Women tend to start their businesses slowly, take fewer risks than men, and try to avoid taking out loans. The main reasons for becoming an entrepreneur. The primary driving forces are the wish to have a job and earn money, but also to be financially independent and/or have flexible working time. For many women, the possibilities of gaining new experience and knowledge, as well as testing one s business capacity, are important factors. a) Lack of confidence In general, women lack confidence in their strength and competence. The family members and the society are reluctant to stand beside their entrepreneurial growth. To a certain extent, this situation is changing among Indian women and yet to face a tremendous change to increase the rate of growth in entrepreneurship. b) Socio-cultural barriers Women s family and personal obligations are sometimes a great barrier for succeeding in business career. Only few women are able to manage both home and business efficiently, devoting enough time to perform all their responsibilities in priority c) Market-oriented risks Stiff competition in the market and lack of mobility of women make the dependence of women entrepreneurs on middleman indispensable. Many business women find it difficult to capture the market and make their products popular. They are not fully aware of the changing market conditions and hence can effectively utilize the services of media and internet. d) Motivational factors Self motivation can be realized through a mind set for a successful business, attitude to take up risk and behavior towards the business society by shouldering the social responsibilities. Other factors are family support, Government policies, financial assistance from public and private institutions and also the environment suitable for women to establish business units. e) Knowledge in Business Administration Women must be educated and trained constantly to acquire the skills and knowledge in all the functional areas of business management. This can facilitate women to excel in decision making process and develop a good business network. f) Awareness about the financial assistance Various institutions in the financial sector extend their maximum support in the form of incentives, loans, schemes etc. Even then every woman entrepreneur may not be aware of all the assistance provided by the institutions. So the sincere efforts taken towards women entrepreneurs may not reach the entrepreneurs in rural and backward areas. g) Exposed to the training programs - Training programs and workshops for every type of

5 entrepreneur is available through the social and welfare associations, based on duration, skill and the purpose of the training program. Such programs are really useful to new, rural and young entrepreneurs who want to set up a small and medium scale unit on their own. h) Identifying the available resources Women are hesitant to find out the access to cater their needs in the financial and marketing areas. In spite of the mushrooming growth of associations, institutions, and the schemes from the government side, women are not enterprising and dynamic to optimize the resources in the form of reserves, assets mankind or business volunteers. Most of these problems characterize business start-ups in general in Rural Area of Miraj Taluka and not only for female entrepreneurs. The main obstacles for a business start-up, according to the study, were: lack of financial resources; lack of knowledge (marketing, sales, accounting, etc); unstable legislation regulating business activities (accounting rules, compulsory statistics, etc). The study did not find a negative attitude towards female entrepreneurship. In the list of possible obstacles, one question suggested the underestimation of women as entrepreneurs. However, 64% of respondents stated that this was not a barrier, and only 15% stated that it was. The survey also casts light on the problems that arise in reconciling entrepreneurship and family life. Women mentioned that they do not have enough time for their family, home, children, or for themselves and their hobbies. Nevertheless, only 18% have used the help of a housekeeper and 14% have hired baby-sitters. Respondents also pointed out that there are limited possibilities for taking a vacation, as they face difficulties in finding a replacement and it can be complicated to coordinate holiday time with the other family members free time. Highly educated, technically sound and professionally qualified women should be encouraged for managing their own business, rather than dependent on wage employment outlets. The unexplored talents of young women can be identified, trained and used for various types of industries to increase the productivity in the industrial sector. A desirable environment is necessary for every woman to inculcate entrepreneurial values and involve greatly in business dealings. The additional business opportunities that are recently approaching for women entrepreneurs are: Event Management Tourism industry Telecommunication Plastic materials Mineral water Herbal & health care Food, fruits & vegetable processing

6 Empowering women entrepreneurs is essential for achieving the goals of sustainable development and the bottlenecks hindering their growth must be eradicated to entitle full participation in the business. Apart from training programs, Newsletters, mentoring, trade fairs and exhibitions also can be a source for entrepreneurial development. As a result, the desired outcomes of the business are quickly achieved and more of remunerative business opportunities are found. Henceforth, promoting entrepreneurship among women is certainly a short-cut to rapid economic growth and development. Let us try to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and thus allow women to be an entrepreneur at par with men. SUGGETIONS: 1. The training institutions will established in cities to provide better training to the women entrepreneurs. 2. There is no organization & association among the women entrepreneurs. Hence the Government to take necessary steps to create the association & organization. 3. The Government provides to specially finance schemes to women entrepreneurs. CONCLUSIONS: Women entrepreneurs become backbone of business. They work very efficient & efficiently so it becomes very necessary to encourage the women entrepreneurs not only by Government but also their family. They also become a part of development of country. The respondents expectations regarding supportive arrangements are: More support from financial institutions, particularly in obtaining micro credit; One institution to coordinate issues of rural entrepreneurship. More training and advice opportunities. Main areas of training include legislation, foreign languages and marketing. Also, there is need for advice in accounting, taxation, and the different support programmes and funding resources available References: 1) Communication,2008,New Challenges before Indian Higher Education, University News 46(150)April ) Dhar,B.B.(2001); Higher Education Scenario in the 21 st century; Accepting Challenges to change, University News, August 27-sept.2. 3) Rameshwari Pandya, and Pooja Mistry, Higher Education, challenges and issues vol.48 July 12-18, ) Theoriest of globalization 5) 6) 1-Journals, periodicals, and news papers. 7) 2-Research papers published in conference and seminars. 8) 3-Internets.

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