Women Entrepreneurs in Micro Enterprises in India: Issues and Interventions of Women Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Women entrepreneurs can play powerful role in confidence building and creating awareness in other women to promote self-reliance. On the other hand, women entrepreneurs have to face more problems than men entrepreneurs. Their risk taking ability is less. They have to devote more time to the family and maintain a balance between their family responsibility and business. Other obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs include being accepted as a woman in business, lack of a role model, lack of professional interaction, difficulties in gaining the confidence of their clients and suppliers, lack of adequate training, and lack of related experience. This paper focuses on 50 women entrepreneurs of micro enterprises belonging to Tamil Nadu. These women are involved in a variety of micro enterprises thus creating employment and income in the region. The study examines the issues and interventions of entrepreneurship and thereby offers suggestions for development and motivation. It is based on qualitative research and the secondary data was collected from literature and government publications. The primary data was collected by survey method of administering questionnaires to a sample of 50 women entrepreneurs from micro enterprises . The survey was followed by visits to the stores/production units in order to gain a better understanding of their operations. Data collected thus was analysed by using simple percentage method. It was found that unlike the urban women entrepreneurs, women in rural areas lack literacy, infrastructure, basic amenities, .market and marketing intelligence, financial and marketing assistance and most predominantly the motivation required for entrepreneurship.