Page 1 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 100
Challenges and Opportunities Faced By Women Entrepreneur
Kamna Chawla; Mandeep Singh
Assistant Professor, Department of Management, GJGI, Shambhu Kalan, Banur
Email-kamnachawla2407@gmail.com
Assistant Professor, Department of Management studies, BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib
Email - mandeepgill018@gmail.com
ABSTRACT- An entrepreneur is a person who has an
enterprising quality with an eye on
opportunities and an uncanny vision, a
person who is willing to take risks because
of the adventurous skill within, same holds
good for women also. In today’s world,
women entrepreneurs are playing very vital
role and they have become important part of
the global business environment and it’s
really important for the sustained economic
development and social progress. In India,
though women are playing key role in the
society, but still their entrepreneurial ability
has not been properly tapped due to the
lower status of women in the society. The
paper endeavors to study the concept of
women entrepreneur and challenges faced
by them. In this paper we also tried to find
out the opportunities for the better future for
women entrepreneurs.
Keywords: Women entrepreneurs,
challenges, Opportunities, economic
development
INTRODUCTION:
A DEFINITION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The word entrepreneur originates from the
French word “entrepreneur” which means “to
undertake”. In a business context, it means to
start a business. The Merriam Webster
dictionary presents the definition of an
entrepreneur as organizes, manages and assumes
the risk of a business or enterprise.
According to Peter Ducker, an “Entrepreneur is
one who always searches for change, responds
to it and exploits it as an opportunity”.
Entrepreneurs innovate and innovation is a
specific instrument of entrepreneurship. It
creates resources because there is no such thing
as a ‘resource’ until the human finds a use for
something and endorses it with economic value.
THE ROLE OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR
Women Entrepreneur has been recognized
during the last decade as an important untapped
source of economic growth. Women
Entrepreneurs create new jobs for themselves
and others and by being different also provide
society with different solutions to management,
organization and business problems as well as to
the exploitation of Women Entrepreneurial
opportunities. However, they still represent a
minority of all Women Entrepreneurs. Thus
there exists a market failure discriminating
against Women possibility to become Women
Entrepreneurs and their possibility to become
successful Women Entrepreneurs. This market
failure needs to be addressed by policy makers
so that the economic potential of this group can
be fully utilized. While without a doubt the
economic impact of women is substantial, we
still lack a reliable picture describing in detail
that specific impact.
Women Entrepreneurship has been largely
neglected both in society in general and in the
Page 2 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 101
social sciences. Not only have women lower
participation rates in Women Entrepreneurship
than men but they also generally choose to start
and manage firms in different industries than
men tend to do. The industries (primarily retail,
education and other service industries) chosen
by women are often perceived as being less
important to economic development and growth
than high-technology and manufacturing.
1.2 PUSH-PULL FACTORS OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
Women in business are a recent phenomenon in
India. By and large they had confide themselves
to petty business and tiny cottage industries.
Women entrepreneurs engaged in business due
to push and pull factors. Which encourage
women to have an independent occupation and
stands on their own legs. A sense towards
independent decision-making on their life and
career is the motivational factor behind this
urge. Saddled with household chores and
domestic responsibilities women want to get
independence. Under the influence of these
factors the women entrepreneurs choose a
profession as a challenge and as an urge to do
something new. Such situation is described as
pull factors. While in push factors women
engaged in business activities due to family
compulsion and the responsibility is thrust upon
them.
1.3 PROBLEMS OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
Women in India are faced many problems to get
ahead their life in business. A few problems can
be detailed as;-
1. The greatest deterrent to women
entrepreneurs is that they are women. A kind of
patriarchal – male dominant social order is the
building block to them in their way towards
business success. Male members think it a big
risk financing the ventures run by women.
2. The financial institutions are skeptical about
the entrepreneurial abilities of women. The
bankers consider women loonies as higher risk
than men loonies. The bankers put unrealistic
and unreasonable securities to get loan to
women entrepreneurs. According to a report by
the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO), "despite evidence that
woman’s loan repayment rates are higher than
men's, women still face more difficulties in
obtaining credit," often due to discriminatory
attitudes of banks and informal lending groups
(UNIDO, 1995b).
3. Entrepreneurs usually require financial
assistance of some kind to launch their ventures
- be it a formal bank loan or money from a
savings account. Women in developing nations
have little access to funds, due to the fact that
they are concentrated in poor rural communities
with few opportunities to borrow money
(Starcher, 1996; UNIDO, 1995a). The women
entrepreneurs are suffering from inadequate
financial resources and working capital. The
women entrepreneurs lack access to external
funds due to their inability to provide tangible
security. Very few women have the tangible
property in hand.
4. Women's family obligations also bar them
from becoming successful entrepreneurs in both
developed and developing nations. "Having
primary responsibility for children, home and
older dependent family members, few women
can devote all their time and energies to their
business" (Starcher, 1996, p. 8).The financial
institutions discourage women entrepreneurs on
the belief that they can at any time leave their
business and become housewives again. The
result is that they are forced to rely on their own
savings, and loan from relatives and family
friends.
5. Indian women give more emphasis to family
ties and relationships. Married women have to
make a fine balance between business and home.
More over the business success is depends on
the support the family members extended to
women in the business process and management.
Page 3 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 102
6. Another argument is that women
entrepreneurs have low-level management skills.
They have to depend on office staffs and
intermediaries, to get things done, especially, the
marketing and sales side of business. Here there
is more probability for business fallacies like the
intermediaries take major part of the surplus or
profit. Marketing means mobility and
confidence in dealing with the external world,
both of which women have been discouraged
from developing by social conditioning. Even
when they are otherwise in control of an
enterprise, they often depend on males of the
family in this area.
7. The male - female competition is another
factor, which develop hurdles to women
entrepreneurs in the business management
process. Despite the fact that women
entrepreneurs are good in keeping their service
prompt and delivery in time, due to lack of
organisational skills compared to male
entrepreneurs women have to face constraints
from competition. The confidence to travel
across day and night and even different regions
and states are less found in women compared to
male entrepreneurs. This shows the low level
freedom of expression.
8. Knowledge of alternative source of raw
materials availability and high negotiation skills
are the basic requirement to run a
business. Getting the raw materials from
different souse with discount prices is the factor
that determines the profit margin. Lack of
knowledge of availability of the raw materials
and low-level negotiation and bargaining skills
are the factors, which affect women
entrepreneur's business adventures.
9. Knowledge of latest technological changes,
know how, and education level of the person are
significant factor that affect business. The
literacy rate of women in India is found at low
level compared to male population. Many
women in developing nations lack the education
needed to spur successful entrepreneurship.
They are ignorant of new technologies or
unskilled in their use, and often unable to do
research and gain the necessary training.
Although great advances are being made in
technology, many women's illiteracy, structural
difficulties, and lack of access to technical
training prevent the technology from being
beneficial or even available to females ("Women
Entrepreneurs in Poorest Countries," 2001).
According to The Economist, this lack of
knowledge and the continuing treatment of
women as second-class citizens keep them in a
pervasive cycle of poverty ("The Female
Poverty Trap," 2001). The studies indicate that
uneducated women do not have the knowledge
of measurement and basic accounting.
10. Low-level risk taking attitude is another
factor affecting women folk decision to get into
business. Low-level education provides low- level self-confidence and self-reliance to the
women folk to engage in business, which is
continuous risk taking and strategic cession
making profession. Investing money,
maintaining the operations and ploughing back
money for surplus generation requires high risk
taking attitude, courage and confidence. Though
the risk tolerance ability of the women folk in
day-to-day life is high compared to male
members, while in business it is found opposite
to that.
11. Achievement motivation of the women folk
found less compared to male members. The low
level of education and confidence leads to low
level achievement and advancement motivation
among women folk to engage in business
operations and running a business concern.
12. Finally high production cost of some
business operations adversely affects the
development of women entrepreneurs. The
installation of new machineries during
expansion of the productive capacity and like
similar factors dissuades the women
entrepreneurs from venturing into new areas.
DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
Right efforts on from all areas are required in the
development of women entrepreneurs and their
