INTRODUCTION

It is estimated that women make up one-quarter to one-third of

total business population worldwide. In some countries, the
growth in the number of women-owned businesses is far out-
pacing the overall growth of new businesses. Women also
constitute one in three of the labour force in manufacturing.
However, their presence in international markets is weak. Small
and medium enterprises, a sector that best represents women
entrepreneurs’ productive activities, can play a key role in
sustaining economic growth and equitable development in
developing countries. However, due to their size, individual
enterprises are usually unable to capture market opportunities
which require large production quantities, adherence to
standards and state-of-the-art technologies. This very
characteristic of SMEs hinders internalisation of functions such
as market intelligence, logistics and technology acquisition. It is
through networking that SMEs can overcome problems related
to their size and improve their competitive position. Information
and communication technology (ICT) is spreading fast around
the world. It is no doubt opening the doors for more
opportunities in international trade. However, international trade
is, at the same time, governed by a series of regulations and
agreements that require businesses to adopt if they are to be
competitive, and their products to be acceptable for consumers.
This paper suggests that while ICT is an important factor to
enter international trade, it does not ensure a sustained
competitive position for women entrepreneurs. Some other
factors are indispensable for them to better meet the challenges
1
of globalisation and to access and succeed in export markets.
These are hard technology: machinery, equipment; soft
technology: skills, knowledge and information; as well as
conformity with certain agreements and regulations related to
standards, accreditation, environment, pollution. In order to
achieve this, public and private sector institutions, NGOs,
international organizations and other technical assistance
institutions should develop and deliver programmes for women
entrepreneurs in a coordinated and systematic fashion.
Women entreprenurer's have been making a significant impact
in all segments of the economy in Canada, Great Britain,
Germany Australia and US. The areas chosen by women are
retail trade, restaurants, hotels, education, cultural, cleaning
insurance and manufacturing. It is the group of women or single
women running an enterprise or company in order to earn profit.
Now days because of women empowerment women are
stepping-stone into the industries and are taking the place of
men. Now a day's women's are running several business like
beauty parlours, switching shops, boutiques, etc.
They have made there marks in business because of the
following reasons:
 They want to improve their mettle in innovation and
competitive jobs.
 They want the change to control the balance between their
families and
 responsibility and their business levels.
 They want new challenges and opportunities for self
fulfillment.

2
 WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS-
DEFINITION

General concept of women entrepreneurs may be defined as “a

woman or group of women who initiate, organize and run a
business enterprise”.

In terms of Schumpeterian concept of innovative entrepreneurs,

women who innovate, imitate or adopt a business activity are
called “women entrepreneurs”. However, such innovators are
rarely found in the underdeveloped countries. What is primarily
needed in this countries per se is not innovators, but imitators or
the humbler entrepreneurs capable of exploiting the hitherto
existing possibilities on a small scale. The enterprise of these
people may be small and unimpressive when judged by
standards of the developed countries. But the high propensity to
imitate can set in motion the chain reaction which leads to
cumulative progress. Thus in the Indian context, entrepreneur is
more an adapter and imitator than a true innovator. He is more
the Marshall’s organizer of productive factors than
Schumpeter’s creative disturber. Any women or group of
women which innovates, amitates or adapts an economic
activity may be called women entrepreneurship.

"A women entrepreneur can be defined as a confident,

innovative and creative woman capable of achieving self
economic independence, individually or in collaboration,
generates employment opportunities for others through
3
initiating, establishing and running the enterprise by
keeping pace in personal family and
social life."
(Kamal Singh)

Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as

an enterprise ownedand controlled by a women having a
minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving
at least 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to
women.

In nutshell, women entrepreneurs are those women who think of

a businessenterprise, initiate it, organize and combine the factors
of production, operate theenterprise and undertake risks and
handle economic uncertainty involved in running a business
enterprise.

Some Facts:
 Women Constitute not only half of the World’s population
but also
sway the growth of the remaining half.
 They produce half of the world’s food supply
 They account for 60% of the work force
 Own less than 1% of the real estate

4
PROFILE OF A TYPICAL
WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR
 First born child of middle class parents
 Atleast one of the parents are self employed
 College educated
 Married
 First significant venture in early 30s
 Previous experience in a new venture
 Desire for independence and job satisfaction
 Self confident and moderate risk taker
 High tolerance for ambiguity
 High energy levels
 Start up problems: Obtaining credit, access to information,
marketing, lack of experience in financial planning,
taxation, cash flow management, personnel management

Leadership qualities of women entrepreneurs:

Women entrepreneurs have the ability to accept

challenges. They have characteristics such as
ambitious, adventurous, hard working, optimism,
patience, skilful and
industrious. They have a drive to achieve success
while facing challenges. They have the enthusiasm
to learn new ideas. They are conscious and are
5
aware about the ground realities. They are
educated and hence intelligent.

OBJECTIVES OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Why women entrepreneurs increasing day by day? What are the

objectives of women to become entrepreneurs? There are several
other questions regarding the reasons and forces that influence
women to become entrepreneurs.
Some people perceive that most of the women start new
business to keep
themselves busy; some suggest that they have excess resources
to utilize or invest in businesses; some believes that women
want to expose their abilities in shape of successful
entrepreneur. Most of women want to be independent and earn
for themselves only. Many people believe that the most common
reason for women to become entrepreneur is to support their
families. Because now days expenses are increasing very rapidly
so women comes forward to support and share expenses. The
following question is design to collect the opinion ofrespondents
regarding women objectives to become entrepreneur.

6
 ROLE OF WOMEN AS AN
ENTREPRENEUR'S
1) Imaginative: It refers to the imaginative approach or original
ideas with competitive market. Well-planned approach is needed
to examine the existing situation and to identify the
entrepreneurial opportunities. It further implies that women
entrepreneur's have association with knowledgeable people and
contracting the right organization offering
support and services.
2) Attribute to work hard: Enterprising women have further
ability to work hard. The imaginative ideas have to come to a
fair play. Hard work is needed to build up an enterprise.
3) Persistence: Women entrepreneurs must have an intention to
fulfill their dreams. They have to make a dream transferred into
an idea enterprise; Studies show that successful women work
hard.
4) Ability and desire to take risk: The desire refers to the
willingness to take risk and ability to the proficiency in planning
making forecast estimates and calculations.
5) Profit earning capacity: she should have a capacity to get
maximum return out of invested capital. A Woman entrepreneur
has also to perform all the functions involved in establishing an
enterprise. These include idea generation, and screening,
determination of objectives,

7
project preparation, product analysis, determination of forms of
business organization, completion of formal activities, raising
funds, procuring men machine materials and operations of
business.

FUNCTIONS OF A WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR'S

Fredrick Harbiscon, has enumerated the following five functions

of a women entrepreneur's :
 Exploration of the prospects of starting a new business
enterprise.
 Undertaking a risk and handling of economic uncertainties
involved in business.
 Introduction of innovations, imitations of innovations.
 Co ordination, administration and control.
 Supervision and leadership.

In nutshell, women entrepreneur are those women who think of

a business enterprise,initiate it organize and combine the factors
of production, operate the enterprise,undertake risk and handle
economic uncertainties involved in running a business
enterprise.

8
 WOMEN OWNED BUSINESS
HELPS KEEP THE ECONOMY
GROWING
According to the non profit, Washington D.C. –based centre for
women's business Research, women's entrepreneurship is
growing dramatically and has been one of the defining trends of
the past decade." The significance of women owned business is
documented in four reports issued by the CWBR:
 Seizing the opportunities by wells Fargo provides a detailed
overview of women – owned entrepreneurship.
 Location, Location by Wells Fargo identifies the regions
and states in which women –owned business are
flourishing.
 Access to Market by fleet Boston explores the opportunities
and obstacles women encounter in entering corporate
markets.
 Methods that work by PepsiCo foundation identify the
strategies women can use to launch and successfully launch
business.

According to CWBR, there are 6.2 million privately held

majority (50% or more) women owned businesses in the
U.S.employing 9.2 million workers and contributing

9
$1.15 trillion to the economy. Half of all privately Owned
business in the U.S. are owned by women, and between 1997 to
2005 women owned business grew at thrice the rate of all
businesses. Together, women owned businesses and those
owned equally by men and women number 10.2 million employ
more than 18 million workers and generate $2.32 trillion.
According to Women in the economy, a study conducted by
Government of India, there are approximately 10 million homes
based Business in India and 55,000 of them generate more than
$1 million in revenue each year.

Beneath the numbers, Experts say, are trends that are vital to the
growing economy chief among which is entrepreneurism. The
small business Administration's global Entrepreneurship
Monitor 2002, a 21 country study of the connection between
entrepreneurship and economic activity, found that economic
growth is directly related to the level of entrepreneurial activity,
and that where entrepreneurism is high, so too is the level of
involvement of women. Michael Hay, Professor at London
Business School, puts it this way:" countries that are able to
replenish the stock of businesses and jobs are best
placed to compete effectively. Put differently women owned
businesses ride the wave of entrepreneurism and
entrepreneurism rides the wave of healthy economic activity
generally.

10
 REASONS FOR STARTING AND
CONTINUING BUSINESS BY
WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

1. Money:
The desire and need to generate income in households where
incomes have been reduced or where wage Earners have been
laid off.

2. Demographics:
Divorce and family dislocation have been incentives for start
up's fewer than 1/3rd of all women entrepreneurs are married
and living with their spouses.

3. Technology:
Technology makes it possible for women to work productively
from home and to stay actively involved in the lives of their
children. 27% of women with home based
businesses have children under the age of 18, 25% have children
as young as 6 years old and 30% have children less than 6 years
old. To a much greater extent than men (56 to 48%), women
starts businesses to supplement income and to manage family
responsibilities. Technology allows the cultivation of clients
nationwide and even worldwide and there are lots of resources
to help women get started. The greatest advantage of owning a
business, According to Ashley:" Working for yourself makes all
the difference because you can do thing's the way you know are
right so that your work speaks your values, beliefs, and ethics at
the same time you are providing a necessary service.
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 GROWTH AND PERFORMANCE
OF WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES
Research on growth and performance of women-owned
businesses shows mixed results. A Canadian study showed that
women-led businesses were no more likely to go out of business
or be less successful than those led by men, or to differ
significantly in earnings growth. This study stands in contrast to
those showing women-owned businesses had lower sales
volumes and lower incomes as a result of positioning in less
profitable industries, as well as lack of access to capital, and
inability to secure government contracts. Another study found
that women business owners had smaller annual sales and
employment growth but no gender differences in return on
assets. On the other hand, a study about gender and growth
found that having access to financial resources and emphasizing
the financial aspects of the business had stronger effects on
growth than did intention or choice. A qualitative study
found that gaining start-up capital was not nearly as difficult as
acquiring growth capital. Gundry and Welsch compared women-
owned businesses that exhibited high levels of growth with low
or no growth businesses, and found differences on
the selection of strategies that focused on market expansion and
new technologies, a greater intensity of commitment to business
ownership, and a willingness to incur greater opportunity costs
for the success of their business. Researchers in other countries
also explored issues related to growth of women-owned
businesses. Cliff found that personal considerations appeared to
override economic consideration in the business expansion
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decision. Canadian female entrepreneurs were found to be just
as likely to want to grow their businesses as their male
counterparts. However, they reported more concerns about the
risks associated with fast growth and generally preferred to
adopt a slower and steady rate. In the United Kingdom, a study
found no impact of any gender-based
effects of individual or business characteristics on the firms’
potential to achieve significant growth. However, in Sweden,
one study supported the conclusion of no gender differences,
while another concluded that growth preferences for women
were lower. Another study showed that during economic
fluctuations, particularly recession, the growth probability for
firms run by males increased, but for firms run by females,
growth became more limited.

13
 FINANCING WOMEN-
OWNED BUSINESSES
Many researchers believe that growth and performance are a
function of financing. Financing was and continues to be a
major topic of research in the field. Research in the 1990s
showed that at start-up, female owners preferred internal sources
to external financing. However, the owner’s sex was not an issue
in predicting the choice of equity versus debt financing. Also, no
gender difference was found in the use of financial management
services. Using data from Britain, however, Carter and Rosa
found several significant gender differences in business
financing. Results from research about possible discrimination
in banking practices are mixed. After accounting for structural
differences between male- and femaleowned businesses, one
study found no differences in the rate of loan rejections (or any
other objective measures of terms of credit). Haynes and Haynes
examined women’s access to institutional and noninstitutional
lenders in 1987 and 1993, finding a higher probability for
women of borrowing from family and 190 PEOPLE friends but
suggesting that women-owned small businesses had gained
access to line-of-credit loans from commercial banks on a par
with the men-owned small business in the same period of time.
Another study found that women-led businesses that used bank
loans as a primary source of start-up capital outperformed those
that used alternative funding sources. Riding and Swift studied
men and women business owners operating in similar industries
and explored whether gender differences existed in the terms
and conditions of bank financing, the level of service provision,
and the overall quality of the banking relationship. Few
14
differences were found except that females secured larger loans
than males, yet were charged higher interest rates than males.
Higher interest rates and higher collateral requirements were a
recurring theme. In addition, 12.5 percent of the women
business owners reported that they believed they had
experienced gender-related discrimination in their banking
relationship. Indeed, some evidence of discriminatory behaviors
in the personal interactions between female business owners and
bank managers appeared to exist. Buttner and Rosen concluded
that women were more likely to attribute the denial of a bank
loan to gender bias than men were, and some evidence existed
that some of the differences were based on the gender
stereotypes held by the capital providers. Similarly, a study in
New Zealand tested for discrimination and found significant
gender differences around levels of education, although not
always favoring males. Women business owners were also
significantly more likely to perceive disrespectful treatment by
lending officers. Women in the United Kingdom were more
often refused credit on the basis of their lack of business
experience and their domestic circumstances. Finally, Dutch
entrepreneurs also reported encountering some barriers that they
believed were gender specific. Finally, while the body of
literature concerning women and debt capital is now quite
robust, the first article to focus specifically on women and
venture capital appeared more recently and reported that over
the time of the study women-led firms received only 2.4 percent
of all equity investments in the United States. Three
explanations were proposed for why women received so little
equity capital: institutional or network barriers, lack of
appropriate human capital, including education, experience, and
leadership skills, and strategic choices of
growth, product, and markets.

15
 WOMEN IN ECONOMIC
LEADERSHIP
Women economic empowerment is the policy level priority to
bring the previously neglected half of Indian population in to the
mainstream of economy. The Financial Express was face to face
with a few women who are empowered and work for the
development of other women entrepreneurs. The evident fact is
that women are half of the total; their contribution to the
economy is unrecognized in most cases. They are
underrepresented in many economic sectors. These discouraging
figures turn momentarily pale when it is seen that, among
women a good number are successful and have scaled to the
peak where many men find it hard to reach. They are mentors
for hundreds of thousands of women particularly in business
having the qualities like hard work, devotion, sincerity,
professionalism and significant managerial capacity.

According to Laila Kabir a noted Entrepreneur:

"If women get the opportunity to develop as entrepreneurs, I
think they can do very well because they very early in life learns
to manage available resources and time successfully"
And it is very true because women are far more better Managers
as compared to their Male counterparts because they learn
Management not in Schools but through real life Experiences.
The biggest challenge that many literate and illiterate women in
rural and urban areas faces in entering into small industry as
entrepreneurs is due to the lack of knowledge on product,
Market and Quality and its to be seen that some committee
16
should be constituted and the recommendations which are
placed should be implemented in phases to root out the problems
mentioned above.

According to Noted women Entrepreneur Anu Aga C.E.O

Thermax Industries Ltd., Every woman has the potential to be an
Entrepreneur and it can be developed through nurturing skills
and ideas. According to her women in business attain success
for their intelligence, efficiency, commitment and Honesty. But
she said that women in our country have to earn an extra quality
to consider the society and it's norms and values for the sake of
business and added that although it is an added burden on them
but this consideration helps them to stand beside the men as
equals, however she feels that the big thirst for finance and
knowing the Markets created among women need to be satisfied
through taking necessary steps by all stakeholders including
Banks and the Government. In the End there is an urgent need
for establishing a Women Development Bank (WDB), a
separate and independent bank for women, in the rural and
remote areas after observing that a large number of women fail
to compete with the male entrepreneurs in receiving bank loans
and assistance. The government of India should acknowledge
the importance of Entrepreneurs and provide assistance to
groom entrepreneurs especially in the wake of liberalization
policy. At the same time, the education system should be
revamped so as to groom female Entrepreneurs. Every economy
has recognized the need of having entrepreneurs. In fact in the
U.S. and most of the developed countries, as much as 36% of
the total working class are entrepreneurs. Our future rests
squarely upon the entrepreneurial ventures founded by creative,
adventurous individuals. People who seize opportunities,
who harness and use resources in usual ways to emerge into the
new era with a flourish.
17
 HOW TO DEVELOP WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS

Right efforts on from all areas are required in the development

in the development of women entrepreneurs and the
participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Following efforts
can be taken in to account for effective development of women
Entrepreneurs and in turn resulting in the economic development
of the country.

 Consider women as specific target group for all the

developmental activities.
 Better educational facilities and schemes should be
extended to women folk from government.
 Adequate training programme on management skills to be
provided to women community.
 Encourage women participation in the decision making.
 Vocational training to be extended to women community
that enables them to understand the production process and
production Management.
 Skill development to be done in women polytechnics and
ITI's.
 Training on professional competence and leadership skills
to be extended to women Entrepreneurs.
 Training and counseling on a large scale of existing women
Entrepreneurs to remove psychological causes like lack of
self confidence and fear of success.

18
 Continuous monitoring and improvement of training
programmes.
 Industrial Estates could also provide marketing outlets for
the display and sale ofproducts made by women
Entrepreneur.
 Repeated gender sensitization programmes should be held
to train financiers to treat women dignity and respect as
persons in their own Right.
 Training in entrepreneurial attitudes should start at the high
school level throughwell design courses, which build
confidence through behavioral games.
 More governmental schemes to motivate women
entrepreneurs to engage in small scale and small scale
business ventures.
 District Industries Centres and single window agencies
should make use of assisting women trade and business
guidance.
 Involvement of Non governmental Organization in women
entrepreneurial Training Programmes and counseling.

19
 MEN’S ROLE IN WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

In women life men play different roles is shape of father,

brother, husband, uncle, cousins and others. These all relation in
our society wants to secure women from external environment
forces and fulfill all the needs of women, this show positive role
of men for women but our society norms and cultural values
allows the economics activities for men only. The tradition of
male honor associated with the chastity of their female relations
restricts women’s mobility, limits social interaction and imposes
a check on their economic activity. The social, cultural and
traditional taboos on women allow men to carve legitimacy for
themselves in public affairs, as well as in the sphere of
production and related economic activity. This following
question is design to collect the opinion of people regarding men
role in women entrepreneurship.

20
 MALE VS. FEMALE
ENTREPRENEURS–A
COMPARISON
Women Entrepreneurs do things differently, as compared to
male entrepreneurs.

Women tend to work more in teams are less self-centered.

Personal ego to them is less important for them than success

of the organization or business idea they are pursuing.

It is a known fact that personal characteristics as well as

social aspects clearly play some role in developing
entrepreneurship but entrepreneurs can also be developed
through conscious action.

Men are more emotional than women entrepreneurs:“Women

have larger social networks for advice and resources. But men,
surprisingly, have larger "emotional" networks - the complex of
associations that provide warmth, praise, and encouragement.
And men apparently profit more from these emotional
attachments than women do. The entrepreneurial style adopted
by women was different from that of men. Studies have revealed
that women focus more on intuition and relationships for
running businesses, while men emphasize logic and efficiency.
The ability that women have to look beyond the obvious and
identify hidden opportunities sometimes helped them gain an
edge over men.
21
Stronger Focus on Values:

It’s not that men don’t put values in the front lines of their
company, but most women entrepreneurs make it the number
one priority over everything else.
According to Margaret Heffernan, who recently wrote How She
Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of
Business, women think about what their business will stand for
before they start planning anything else.

Will Ask for Help:

Many men (not all) have difficulty asking for help when it
comes to something like their very own business. Pride can
sometimes get in the way. But most women don’t have a
problem admitting that they’re not sure how to accomplish a
certain task or what needs to be done next in the building-a-
business game. This can sometimes provide an advantage in a
well-spring of knowledge from sources that help ground their
business more quickly.

22
 PROFESSIONAL WOMEN
:PROBLEMS &
PERCEPTIONS

When one tries to explore the root cause of the

underachievement of women as professionals, one finds that
reasons are actually different from the commonly attributed
“lack of commitment and competence” on part of women
professionals the underlying reasons are more related to the
social reality of Indian women which imposes certain socio-
cultural role-models & stereotypes leading to a conditioning of
people’s psyche.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES FACING

WOMEN IN BUSINESS:
All business owners face certain challenges, but women,
because of their gender, often have additional challenges and
obstacles that their male peers are less likely to encounter.
Working women who have children experience even more
demands on time, energy and resources.
But this does not mean women are less successful than men, in
fact, statistics show that women are starting businesses at more
than twice the rate of male-majority-owned businesses. The
growing success rate of women entrepreneurs shows that they
are resourceful, and able to succeed, despite the odds.

23
There are three major areas where women business owners may
face challenges, less common to men in business:
 Gender Discrimination and Stereotyping
 Dual Career-Family Pressures
 Lack of Equal Opportunities in Certain Industries

Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship

Level -> Individual Household Business Community/
Barriers /Family Government
Financial Women look Men decide Less income= In some
for security about less countries,
expenses property= signature of
no security= husband
no loan required for loan
Economical Women get Women lack Lack of Women
less support for management discriminated in
education household know-how terms of access
work to economic
resources
Socio-Cultural Independent Violence Limited In male
thinking is against mobility – dominated
not allowed women by problems industries,
to women husband with women
the entrepreneurs
marketing, are not accepted
transportation
& selling of
goods
Political-Legal Women act Women have Less means Lack of
privately, got less to exert knowledge
not influence and power/less about women
politically negotiation protection Entrepreneurs
power in the by the state to be able to
family for women develop
entrepreneu appropriate
rs policies
Psychological Low Women are Women are State views
- selfesteem, divided afraid to be men as the
Philosophical do more ones who
not dare to successful publicly
demand than represent the
24
 rights men/husba family
nds

HOW WOMEN CAN OVERCOME

BUSINESS CHALLENGES ?
Women often have life skills and natural abilities that are useful
in businesses. Women tend to be great net workers, have
inherent skills for negotiating, and the ability to multitask.
Single mothers are often good at delegating and budgeting;
skills that they rely on to manage their families.
Specific strategies to help women entrepreneurs succeed
include:
 Create a Strong Network
 Consider Certifying as a Women-Owned Business
 Understand the Power of the Internet
 Learn New Ways to Balance Work and Life
 Get Inspiration and Advice From by Other Women
Succeeding in Business
 Women have to go through the same stages of setting up an
enterprise as do men
 They face similar challenges, irrespective of gender based
social impediments like social stigma, unfavorable
infrastructure, support systems, etc. which block their entry
and reduce their pace of growth
 The need today is to help women overcome these blocks
and draw maximum participation from them to set up
enterprises, which will help them
 Educate/train the women entrepreneurs
 Help then in setting up of home based businesses
 Make easy finance available
25
 Develop special schemes for women entrepreneurs
 Achieve self reliance and place women entrepreneurs at par
with their male counterparts
 Develop gender sensitivity
 Examine the processes of gender inequality
 Acquire skills of identification of potential women
entrepreneurs
 Empowerment is not only an external process, but a process
that has to bring about intrinsic changes in women as well
as in men
 When women get organized and raise their consciousness
about their disempowerment and use their critical
understanding to organize themselves and struggle for
greater access to resources, there are very few problems
they could face

26
IMPROVING & ENHANCED WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS’
COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY

1. WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDUSTRIAL

DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE:

Women’s small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) constitute

a seedbed for entrepreneurship development and are an
important source for the emerging private sector in developing
countries. They naturally play an important role for private
sector led growth. Taking into account that women constitute
one in three of the global labour force in manufacturing, the
importance of women entrepreneurship development
becomes even more obvious for promoting and sustaining
industrial development. Society recognizes that the participation
of women in industrial production is a means of empowering
women economically which results in better education, better
health and child care. Women’s economic empowerment leads
in many instances to more social recognition and less
discrimination. It is also widely recognized that promoting small
entrepreneurship may lead to a more equitable distribution of
income thus contributing to poverty alleviation. Particularly, as
women are more affected by poverty worldwide, promotion of
women entrepreneurship and boosting of women’s businesses
become all the more important. It is estimated that women make
27
up one-quarter to one-third of total business population
worldwide. In some countries, such as United States and
Canada, the growth in the number of women owned businesses
is far out-pacing the overall growth of new businesses.1 In the
United States, women entrepreneurs are called the new heroes of
economic development. Their enterprises expand and grow at a
fast pace in all walks of life, from catering to information
technology. However, women’s entrepreneurial endeavours are
not without constraints and problems. Some are due to
stereotype discrimination, others are related to their limited
training, limited access to economic opportunities, information
and technology, particularly in the developing countries. In
order to be competitive in national and international markets,
women should not be constrained by these limitations. Increased
participation of women entrepreneurs in national and global
economies can be promoted through the creation of an enabling
environment with policy measures addressing impediments to
women’s businesses, training and improved access to new
technologies.
Women entrepreneurs often face difficulties in gaining market
access as their products do not enjoy comparative advantages.
They are unable to meet either quality requirements or
environmental regulations imposed by the markets due to their
inadequate skills, low level of technologies and production
techniques. Lack of modern marketing techniques or
information further hampers them to export their products.
Moreover, particularly in the case of Africa, women
entrepreneurs face increasingly competitive threats from large
Asian developing countries. Thus it becomes imperative that
through various interventions and support services, they become
capable of participating in the global value chain of industrial
production. This requires not only knowledge and skills but also
information access and absorptive capacity of new technologies.
28
Collective efficiency in terms of networking and clustering of
enterprises is another aspect that contributes to this process
particularly as it relates to the (SME) sector where women
entrepreneurs are most involved.

2. NETWORK AND CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT

AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES:

While small and medium enterprises, a sector that best

represents women entrepreneurs’ productive activities, can play
a key role in sustaining economic growth and equitable
development in developing countries, this potential is often not
tapped fully. This is mainly due to problems attributed to the
size of their enterprises. Individual enterprises are usually
unable to capture market opportunities which require large
production quantities, standards and state-of-the-art technology.
This very characteristic of SMEs hinders internalisation of
functions such as market intelligence, logistics and technology
innovation. It also constitutes a hurdle to capture new market
opportunities or to open up to international markets. It is through
networking that SMEs can overcome problems related to their
size and improve their competitive position. Due to the fact that
they often share common problems, they can also support each
other.This is evidently a situation which could create
competitive advantages for women entrepreneurs. Through
horizontal cooperation, i.e. with other enterprises occupying the
same position in the value chain, women entrepreneurs can
demonstrate collective efficiency in achieving optimal scale in
the use of machinery and pool together their production and
marketing capacities. Through vertical cooperation, i.e. with
29
other SMEs as well as with large-scale enterprises in the value
chain, women entrepreneurs can better specialise in their area of
production, exchange information and knowledge to improve
product quality and technologies. This will enable them to
capture more profitable niches in both domestic and
international markets.. Local support institutions are
strengthened to act as facilitators of the networking process and
common development projects are undertaken.

3. ACQUIRING NEW TECHNOLOGIES MAY BE

EASIER THROUGH SME NETWORKS AND
CLUSTERS:

Helping an SME cluster to articulate its needs more effectively

is an important step addressing the relationships between
enterprises and business development service (BDS) providers.
A great deal of work is required to ensure that BDS providers
respond to the newly emerging demands and use their skills and
competence to provide the services needed by enterprises. Once
a consensus is reached among the entrepreneurs in the cluster, a
dialogue starts between the provider and the clients as a result of
which pilot product or service development takes place. This
was very clearly demonstrated by the introduction of
information technology in the cluster of Ludhiana, in India:
Adoption of IT was high on the agenda of the hosiery cluster of
Ludhiana but was prohibitively expensive due to the non-
existence of a point of presence in the area.
- improving the linkages among the cluster actors
- enhancing the design production and marketing capacity of the
firms
30
- developing a product image (including a common brand) in
line with current market demand
- improving and increasing the types of business development
services available to the cluster, including training in ICT.
Therefore, several networks were promoted and an export
consortium, Consortium of Textile Exporters, was formed. New
products and designs were introduced, a common brand image
was promoted, all accompanied by marketing courses, including
joint participation in trade fairs. In addition, a credit scheme was
promoted. The clusters are now being given ICT courses to be
able to have access to global networks. All businesses, small,
medium and large, have been affected in various ways by recent
global economic events. In order to accelerate industrialization,
it is necessary to create growth potential and improve the
competitiveness of industrial enterprises. This requires having
easy access to information on skills, capital, technology,
export markets, raw material supplies and other value-added or
support services.

31
 EFFECTS OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURSHIP ON
FAMILIES

The role women as entrepreneurs highly effect on the families

and there is state of conflict between the entrepreneur role and
other roles like life, mother etc. Mostly people perceive that the
women being entrepreneurs affect their roles in family life
negatively, while positively affecting their roles in social,
economical and individual life and they suffered from conflicts
between the entrepreneur role and other roles in family and that
the role of entrepreneur mostly conflicted with the roles of
housewife, mother, and wife, respectively. The reproductive role
limits women to the home, where they bear children and raise
the family, playing only an auxiliary part in production activity.
The following question is design to collect the opinion of
respondent regarding effect of women entrepreneurship on
families because mostly people perceive that women
entrepreneur neglect their families because they spend more
time in business activities.

32
 SCHEMES FOR WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
 Seed capital scheme
 National equity fund
 Prime minister’s employment guarantee scheme
 Single window scheme
 DIC scheme
 KVIC scheme
 Bank schemes for women entrepreneurs
 Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM)
 Mahila Udyog Nidhi and Mahila Vikas Nidhi
 Priyadarshan Yojana

1) Seed Money Assistance:

 Funds for unemployed youth and women aged 18 to 35
years, with minimum qualification- Std. VII th pass @ 10%
 Maximum seed capital available Rs.5 Lakh
 Assistance percent is 10% to 15% of total fixed capital,
22.5% for backward classes
 Repayment period- 7 years

33
2) Prime Minister’s Employment:
Guarantee Scheme
 Maximum age of 35 years, with qualification- X th pass
 Assistance by way of loans up to 95% of project cost
 15% subsidy is made available
 Subsidy of up to 15% or Rs.7,500, whichever lesser
provided by government of India
 Parents of the candidates cannot have annual income
exceeding Rs.24,000

3) DIC scheme:
 Encouragement to start women entrepreneurship in areas
with population of less than Rs. 1 Lakh
 Investment in machinery up to Rs.2 Lakh is allowed
 20% of this investment is granted as seed capital
 For backward classes, the seed capital is up to 30%
 The interest rate is 4%
 Remaining capital needs to be financed by banks/financial
Institutions

4) Single Window Scheme:

 Scheme by SIDBI to provide fixed and working capital
from a single source

34
  Project cost excluding working capital and margin money,
can go up to Rs. 20 Lakh
 Repayment period-10 years
 Founder’s capital- Minimum 25%

5) Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM):

 Established on the 24th February,1975
 Schemes: Maharashtra Rural Credit Programme (MRCP),
Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY),
Swayamsiddha Programme (IWEP), Mahila Swavalamban
Nidhi (MSN), Ramai Mahila Shakshamikaran (SCP),
NABARD Add-On Project, Rashtriya Samvikas Yojana
(RSY), Krushi Saptak Yojana and Tribal Development
Project (TSP)
 Activities/objective: Self employment of women, training
them in various product and service industries, assisting
them to start business and manage it

6) Mahila Udyog Nidhi and Mahila Vikas Nidhi:

 Started by SIDBI in 1990
 Provides finance up to Rs.10 Lakh through state financing
corporation and SIDC
 Financial assistance provided as concessional rate
 Mahila Vikas Nidhi also provides assistance in training
women Entrepreneurs

35
 THEIR BUSINESS: TOP WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS

1) SHAHNAZ HUSAIN:
Shahnaz Husain (Shahnaz) was anothersuccessful woman
entrepreneur of India. She popularized herbal treatments for
beauty and health problems. Her company, Shahnaz Husain
Herbals, was the largest of its kind in the world and had a strong
presence in over 100 countries, from the US to Asia. By 2002,
the Shahnaz Husain Group had over 650 salons around the
world, employing about 4200 people. The net worth of the
Group was $100 mn. Shahnaz Husain was born into a royal
Muslim family which originally came from Samarkand (in
Pakistan) and later held important posts in the princely
kingdoms of Bhopal and Hyderabad before India's
independence. Shahnaz’s father, Justice N.U Beg, was a
progressive man who instilled in her a love for poetry and
English literature. Shahnaz Husain received her schooling in an
Irish convent. A western education coupled with a traditional
family background gave Shahnaz Husain wide exposure and
developed her into a well rounded personality. She was married
at the age of 15 and had a child by the next year.
When her husband was working in Iran, Shahnaz Husain
became interested in cosmetology. After she began her training,
she realized that chemical cosmetics had a harmful effect on the
human body. As a result, she turned her attention towards
36
ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, which used
natural substances and extracts to heal and improve the body.
Subsequently, she trained extensively in cosmetic therapy for 10
years in some of the leading institutes of London, Paris, New
York and Copenhagen. On her return to India in 1977 she set up
her own salon at her house in Delhi with an initial investment of
Rs 35000. Instead of offering chemical treatments like other
salons, Shahnaz Husain's salon offered Ayurvedic treatments.
Shahnaz’s custom made natural products for skin and hair
problems quickly became successful. Shahnaz Husain pioneered
the commercialization of ayurvedic cosmetics.
Until she started her business, ayurveda was practiced in
peoples' homes or by local ayurvedic doctors. The
commercialization of ayurveda was relatively unknown in the
1970s when Shahnaz Husain entered the business. Shahnaz
Husain capitalized on this deficiency. She identified ayurveda as
a niche market and catered to it. Her products gained popularity
in India, and her treatments were booked months in advance.
Encouraged by her success in India, Shahnaz Husain started
exploring avenues abroad. She was disturbed by the fact that
India was not represented in any of the international beauty
forums. Determined to change the situation, she represented
India for the first time in the CIDESCO beauty congress, where
she was appointed President for the day's proceedings. She used
this opportunity to focus the world's attention on India and
ayurveda.
The turning point in her business came when she represented
India at the Festival of India in 1980. Her team was given a
counter in the perfumery section of Selfridges in London. She
managed to sell her entire consignment in three days and
also broke the store's record for cosmetics sales for the year. As
a result, she was offered a permanent counter in Selfridges.

37
Shahnaz Husain was also the first Asian whose products were
retailed in the Galeries Lafayette in Paris and to be featured in
the 18-foot shop window of the store. Although it was not easy
to enter the highly competitive western markets and especially
difficult to attract attention to the Indian system of ayurveda, she
was able to gain a firm foothold in the markets. Shahnaz Husain
products were carried by many prestigious stores across the
world, such as Harrods and Selfridges in London, the Galeries
Lafayette in Paris, Bloomingdales in New York, the Seiyu chain
in Japan, Sultan Stores in the Middle East and other exclusive
outlets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Shahnaz Husain operated on the principle of natural care and
cure. Her company formulated and marketed over 400 ayurvedic
products for various health and beauty problems. Ayurvedic
products became popular across the world because they were
natural, well suited to the human skin, and were non toxic.
Shahnaz Husain claimed that her products were completely pure
and were formulated in strict accordance with ayurvedic
principles. They were environment friendly and were not tested
on animals. All products went through strict quality control
before they were marketed. Her products captured the
imagination of the world with their promise of beauty in a
natural and harmless way. Shahnaz Husain used natural
ingredients like fruits, flowers, vegetables, herbs, honey, etc.,
which soothe and heal without causing any harm. The group had
two R&D units and a herb and flower farm near Delhi.
Strict quality control was exercised at every stage of product
development, right from the raw material stage to the final
product. This ensured that the final product lived up to the
promise Shahnaz Husain made of quality and purity. Shahnaz
Husain did not believe in advertising; instead, she relied entirely
on word-of-mouth publicity for her products. She believed that a
satisfied customer was the best form of advertising. Before
38
Shahnaz Husain entered the retail market, her clinics were the
only outlets for her products. By the 1990s, the range and
popularity of Shahnaz Husain's products had increased so much
that her products were retailed in most of the big retail stores in
India and abroad.
In 1977, when she had set up a parlor at her home in New Delhi,
she had put up a banner with her qualifications on it. Within
days she was booked six months ahead. She said, “I removed the
banner and since then I have never advertised. I have let my
products speak for themselves.”
By 2000, Shahnaz Husain had over 650 salons in 104 countries
around the
world. Using the franchising mode to expand in India and
abroad, she built up a large network of over 600 franchisee and
associate clinics around the world. All the franchisees were
required to undergo training in specialized treatments at Shahnaz
Husain’s school of beauty therapy. After training, all franchisees
obtained the right to use the Shahnaz Husain name and
specialized treatments and were given a 30% profit margin on
the sale of products.
Shahnaz Husain believed that an entrepreneur must have a
dream and the commitment to pursue it. She believed that
business was not simply about employing the right management
principles. She said, “I have often gone beyond pure business
dealings as such, because for me dua (blessings) is important.”
Shahnaz Husain believed that a true entrepreneur is a person
who has independence of spirit: “One should be innovative,
dynamic and willing to try every avenue towards success.”
She did not look on her work as a career. It was more like an
obsession and the sole purpose of her existence. All her dreams
revolved around her work and she applied herself to it with
complete commitment. According to Shahnaz Husain, a

39
desire to excel, hard work and relentless determination also go
into making an entrepreneur. She said, to succeed, one must
never give up and never stop trying: “I always feel I have
another mountain to climb and another frontier to cross. I never
rest on my laurels.” She puts in 18 hours of work and
channelizes all her energy into her company. Her commitment
and self confidence have made her company one of the most
successful of its kind in the world.

2) EKTA KAPOOR:
Ekta Kapoor was said to be the face and brain of Balaji
Telefilms Limited (BTL), and was almost solely responsible for
the phenomenal success of most of BTL's serials. According to
Ekta, her childhood was “materially easy but emotionally
difficult.” As a child, she was extremely obese and suffered
from low self esteem. She was a poor student and was happy to
get by with the minimum pass marks. Even as a child she was an
avid television watcher and spent most of her free time glued to
the TV. She felt guilty about letting her parents down, but was
unable to do anything about it. The turning point in Ekta
Kapoor’s life came in the early 1990s when a non
resident Indian, Ketan Somayya, approached her father and
requested him to make some software for the channel he wanted
to start. Ekta’s father asked her to take up
the responsibility of making the software. Consequently, Ekta
Kapoor made six pilots, of about three episodes each, at a cost of
about Rs 0.5 million. The proposed channel, however, did not
fare well and had to be sold to Zee TV. Not wanting to waste her
efforts, Ekta Kapoor started looking for other buyers for her
pilots. She was not successful in finding buyers for the first
pilots, but her father came to her rescue and gave her more
40
money to make more pilots. BTL was set up in 1994 by her
father. Mano Ya Na Mano, (Believe It or Not) BTL’s first serial
was telecast in 1995. BTL came out with an initial public offer
(IPO) in October 2000 to set up an
integrated studio in Mumbai and to buy advanced equipment. In
its first year as a public company, Balaji showed a net profit of
Rs 646 million on net sales of Rs.3.45 billion for the nine month
period ending in December 2000. The initial years in the
business were not very easy for Ekta Kapoor. There were times
when she used to have 5 or 6 pilots ready but none of them
would get approval from the channels. People did not take her
seriously. Experienced writers would try to force her to accept
sub-standard scripts as they thought she was the “brainless
daughter of a moneyed father”. She was able to overcome these
barriers through sheer grit and determination.
She worked relentlessly, even foregoing holidays, to make a
mark for herself. Her time was completely occupied with
thinking out stories, finalizing scripts, deciding on sets,
costumes, casting, etc. Her hard work and commitment
eventually paid off, and by the early 2000s she had two highly
successful serials, Kyunki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Because
the Mother-in-law was also a Daughter-in-Law) and Kahani
Ghar Ghar Ki (The Story of Every Home) to her credit. She was
called the lady with the Midas touch as she hit gold with almost
all her projects. By the end of 2002, she had about 35
programming hours per week on television - no mean task for a
person in her late 20s. Her hold on television viewers was very
strong. She had shows on almost all channels telecasting Hindi
programs, as well as some on regional channels. BTL became
the biggest name in television and every offering of Ekta Kapoor
was lapped up by eager viewers. Ekta Kapoor believed that her
initial failures contributed a lot to her success at a later stage. As
a novice, she made too many presumptions about the tastes of
her audiences. But after her first few projects failed, she became
41
more careful. She started watching television carefully to
analyze the programs that were succeeding and those that were
failing to understand the likes and dislikes of the viewers. She
said that her study of TV programs helped her understand
viewers' preferences.
Ekta Kapoor was responsible for introducing a number of
changes in Indian television. She was credited with introducing
Indian viewers to daily soaps when weekly soaps were the order
of the day. She felt that weekly serials could not hold the interest
of the audience because of the time gap between episodes. When
people missed an episode, they lost interest and stopped
watching the serial altogether. Daily serials, however, not only
captured and sustained the interest of the viewers, theywere also
more remunerative for the producer.
Ekta Kapoor also introduced the genre of family-based serials in
India. She understood that the average Indian was very family
oriented and loved to be surrounded by members of their
extended families. She capitalized on this characteristic by
making serials that showed the life of large joint families.
People welcomed this theme as they were fed up with stories
about extramarital affairs. They
wanted feel-good serials with which they could identify, and
Ekta Kapoor gave them what they wanted. Most of BTL’s
serials featured regularly in the top ten programs
and, almost without exception, enjoyed high viewership ratings.
Ekta Kapoor managed to change the concept of prime time
television when she made 10:30 pm a prime time slot. When she
chose 10:30 as the slot for KSBKBT, Ekta Kapoor did not
expect the serial to become so popular. Till then, prime time on
television was between 8:00 and 9:30 pm. After that, people had
their dinners and went to bed. But after KSBKBT became
popular, people changed their television viewing habits and
10:30 pm became a high viewership slot. Since Ekta Kapoor
was the creative head of BTL, most of the successes of the
42
company could be traced back to her. She was a hands-on
manager, closely involved with all aspects of the serials– from
the concept, to the script, the actors and the sets. She believed
she had a knack for choosing the right faces for the right parts.
Since she felt she understood audience preferences, she
maintained full control over the development of serials.
She paid a lot of attention to detail and monitored all aspects of
BTL’s serials for the first few episodes. After she was convinced
that her creative team could manage on its own, she eased off.
However, she still kept track of the ratings and responses. If
there was a crisis, like a fall in ratings, she stepped in again.
Ekta was constantly on the look out for new ideas for serials and
claimed to source most of her stories from real life situations or
people. She sourced the concept of KSBKBT from a
short story she read in a magazine.
BTL productions were lavishly presented and slickly marketed.
Most its new serials could easily sail through on the basis of its
past successes, but Ekta Kapoor ensured that nothing was left to
chance. She advertised constantly to create visibility. In fact, she
even made some of the characters in her serials praise other
serials. For instance, some of the characters in the serials are
shown discussing her other serials or finishing housework
quickly to catch up with them. Her unique style of naming the
serials (all names started with K and all the titles were structured
in a strange manner) also drew the attention of viewers. She was
once advised by an astrologer that the letter ‘K’ would be lucky
for her. As a result, she started naming all her serials with K.
According to Ekta, ninety percent of her serials beginning with
that letter have been successful, so she does not see the need to
change the practice. On the human resources front, Ekta Kapoor
seemed to be something of an autocrat. She yelled at her
subordinates as she believed that if she did not shout, things
would not get done. She was also completely indifferent to star
status and expected all the actors in her serials to toe her line.
43
Erring or rebellious actors were replaced by others, or the
character done away with in the serial to dispense with the actor.
Analysts felt that Ekta Kapoor was able to succeed because of
some of the shrewd business decisions she took. Firstly, she did
not depend on any one channel,
but catered to a wide range of channels. This reduced over
dependence on one channel. Secondly, BTL diversified risk by
distributing resources between
commissioned and sponsored serials.[6] This ensured a good
mix of risk and returns. Thirdly, the cost of production was kept
under control by shooting most of the serials in BTL's own
studios.
In 2001, Kapoor was selected by the Confederation of Indian
Industries, (CII) to head the committee on entertainment. She
also received a number of awards in the early 21st century.
Some of the awards are: One of “Asia's 50 most Powerful
Communicators,” from Asiaweek magazine in 2001; Ernst and
Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001; “Corporate
Excellence” from Bharat Petroleum in 2002; and “Rajiv Gandhi
Award” in 2002.
The entrepreneurial style of Ekta Kapoor may smack of
authoritarianism, but manalysts felt her refusal to compromise
on quality and her attention to detail
contributed greatly to her success. Her perfectionism seemed to
have helped make BTL one of the most powerful television
software companies of the 2000s.

3) DR. KIRAN MAZUMDAR – SHAW:

Entrepreneur Dr. Kiran Mazumdar- Shaw, Chairman &
Managing Director of Bioon Ltd., who became India's richest
woman in 2004 (an estimated Rs.2,100 crore (US$480 million)),
44
was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount
Carmel College in Bangalore. She founded Biocon India with a
capital of Rs.10,000 in her garage in 1978 - the initial operation
was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans
were turned down by banks then – on three counts -
biotechnology was then a new word, the company lacked assets,
and (most importantly) women entrepreneurs were still a rarity.
Today, her company is the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in the
country. In 2006, Shaw caused a few Page 3 ruffles after a much
hyped photograph showed her in an embraceand lip-lock with
senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje Scinidia.

4) SUNITA NARAIN:
Sunita Narain, an environmentalist and political activist as well
as a major proponent of the Green concept of sustainable
development, was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government
of India in 2005. Narain, who has been with the India-based
Centre for Science and Environment since 1982, is currently the
director of the Centre and the director of the Society for
Environmental Communications, and publisher of the
fortnightly magazine, 'Down to Earth'.

5) INDRA KRISHNAMURTHY NOOYI:

Indian born American businesswoman, Indra Krishnamurthy

Nooyi born October 28, 1955 is the Chairperson and Chief
45
Executive Officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, one of the world’s leading
food and beverage companies. On August 14, 2006, Nooyi was
named the successor to Steven Reinemund as chief executive
officer of the company effective October 1, 2006. On February
5, 2007, she was named Chairperson, effective May 2, 2007.
Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and
CFO in 2001. Nooyi has directed the company’s global strategy
for more than decade and led PepsiCo’s restructuring, including
the 1997 divestiture of its restaurants into Tricon, now known as
Yum! Brands. Nooyi also took the lead in the acquisition of
Tropicana in 1998, and merger with Quaker Oats Company,
which also brought Gatorade to PepsiCo. In 2007 she became
the fifth CEO in PepsiCo’s 44 year history. Nooyi’s key
contributions include promoting and supporting socially
responsible business practices, including taking on one of the
planet’s most pressing problems, climate change. Her
commitment to global citizenship is evidenced by her multi-year
growth strategy, Performance with Purpose. Nooyi was named
on Wall Street Journal’s list of 50 women to watch in 2007 and
2008, and was listed among Time’s 100 Most Influential People
in The World in 2007 and 2008. Nooyi has been named 2009
CEO of the Year by the Global

6)SULAJJA FIRODIA MOTWANI:

Sulajja Firodia Motwani is Joint Managing Director of Kinetic

Engineering Ltd, she is the in charge of the Company’s overall
business developmental activities. She is also very well
performing the role of the Director of Kinetic Motor Company
Limited and Kinetic Marketing Services Limited. She as made
an incredible contribution in making the firm reach heights of
success. Prior to joining Kinetic Company, Sulajja worked for a
46
period of four years with a well known investment analytics
company, BARRA International, based in California. She has
been an active participant in setting the operations of the
company in India. Throughout her studies, she has been a rank
holder. She has always cleared exams with merit. Her name
appeared in the toppers list in the SSC examinations and HSC
examinations. She graduated from the Pune University.
Thereafter, she went to the United States for pursuing further
studies. She is an MBA degree holder from the reputed Carnegie
Mellon University at Pittsburgh. She is an epitome of boldness
and courage. With her strong determination and courage, she has
been able to establish a niche for the firm in the business world.
The Company has witnessed tremendous expansion during her
tenure. From being a mere moped manufacturer, today, it has set
its foothold in the industry as a manufacturer offering a
complete range of two wheelers right from mopeds, scooters to
motorcycles.

7) SIMONE N. TATA:

With her visions, she changed a small unknown cosmetics

company, one of the subsidiaries of Tata Oil Mills, into one of
the leading cosmetic companies of India. Lakme changed the
face of Indian fashion and cosmetics forever. For her
success, Simone N. Tata is also known as Cosmetic Czarina of
India. Simone joined Lakme in 1961 and became Chairperson in
1982. Eyeing growth in the retails sector, in 1996 Tata sold off
Lakmé to Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), and created Trent
from the money it made through the sale. All shareholders of
Lakmé were given, quivalent share in Trent. The Westside brand
and stores belongs to Trent.Simone Tata was the wife of late

47
Naval H. Tata and is stepmother to current Tata group chairman
Sri Ratan Naval Tata.

THEMES IN THE NEW

MILLENNIUM
Over the last few years there has been a significant increase in
the amount of research in the field. Theoretical developments,
unfortunately, seem to be slow to progress. A notable exception
proposing a gendered theoretical framework was Bird and
Brush, who posited a gendered perspective on organizational
creation. On the other hand, many studies of individual
characteristics or demographics have been conducted, including
research investigating personality, ethics, risk orientation,
expectancy theory approaches, goals, motivations, and

48
issues related to careers. A few studies have also examined the
effect of various measures of human capital. In addition to
attributes of the individual woman entrepreneur, her relationship
to others is also of interest. Entrepreneurial teams have been
explored, as well as entrepreneurial networks. The interest in
relationships is not limited solely to women entrepreneurs’
professional lives, but to the rest of their lives as well. This is
true particularly around issues of health, motherhood and
childcare. The body of research on women-owned businesses is
also growing. Reflecting an emerging trend in the field,
opportunity recognition has emerged as a topic 192 PEOPLE
along with increased study of strategies, particularly related to
growth of the business, constraints, and myths. It is also not
surprising that financing remains of concern with examinations
of need, access to debt capital, informal sources of funding, and
the impact of human and social capitals on obtaining finance.
The performance of women-owned businesses remains an
important topic, but the question of performance is also
becoming more finely tuned and includes increased
consideration of aspects, such as inputs, strategic capabilities,
risk, gender balance of the management team, and failure.
Importantly, the potential role of gender is also becoming an
important component of other academic conversations around
entrepreneurial behavior. For instance, questions in the family
business arena are being expanded to include combinations of
gender with issues, such as divorce and business demise, and are
one of the few areas to be approached with a proposed
theoretical framework. International studies have also expanded
rapidly during the past decade. While some studies are across
cross-country comparisons or examine types of economies, all
address questions related to the launch or growth of women-
owned businesses. This move toward identifying country
differences parallels research that considers subpopulations of
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women entrepreneurs and various work on the intersection of
gender with race and ethnicity is ongoing.

CONCLUSION
Women entreprenurer's have been making a significant impact
in all segments ofthe economy in Canada, Great Britain,
Germany Australia and US. The areas chosen by women are
retail trade, restaurants, hotels, education, cultural, cleaning
insurance and manufacturing. A Woman entrepreneur has also
to perform all the functions involved in establishing an
enterprise. These include idea generation, and screening,
determination of objectives, project preparation, product
analysis, determination of forms of business organization,
completion of formal activities, raising funds, procuring men
machine materials and operations of business. Women
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entrepreneurs face lots of challenges. This paper highlights
various strategies which can be adopted by a women
entrepreneur to the Power of the Internet, by learning new Ways
to Balance Work and Life, by getting Inspiration and Advice
From by Other Women Succeeding in Business.

Independence brought promise of equality of opportunity in all

sphere to the Indian women and laws guaranteeing for their
equal rights of participation in political process and equal
opportunities and rights in education and employment were
enacted. But unfortunately, the government sponsored
development activities have benefited only a small section of
women. The large majority of them are still unaffected by
change and development activities have benefited only a small
section of women i.e. the urban middle class women. The large
majority of them are still unaffected by change and development
and develop better schemes, developmental programmes and
opportunities to the women folk to enter into more
entrepreneurial ventures.

 Women today are more practical and rational than

earlier.
 Indian women have never been as expressive and
independent as she is today.
 Women today, consider themselves as the true
`ardhangini' of their husbands. She is more cognizant of
his world today and she understands his work pressures.
 Women-from being a care-taker/nurturer to a friend in
the role of a Mother.
 It is widely felt that earning power allows them to voice
their opinions on bigger decisions.
 Today’s women no more feel that a career would be at
the cost of neglecting the family and children.
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  The Indian woman is also spending a lot more money on
her personal appearance.

Civilization is a method of living and an attitude of equal

respect for all people. -Jane Addams

REFERENCES

For the successful completion of this project the references have been taken
from the following :-

 www.scribd.com
 www.google.com
 www.projectsparadise.com

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