CONCEPT OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Based on the general concept of entrepreneurship 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”. The government of India has defined women entrepreneurs based on women participation in equity and employment of a business enterprise. Accordingly, a women entrepreneur is defined as an “enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51 percent of the capital and giving at least 51 percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women”. However, this definition is subject to criticism mainly on the condition of employing more than 50 percent women workers in the enterprises owned and run by the women.

In nutshell, women entrepreneurs are those women who think of a business enterprise, initiate it, organize and combine the factors of production, operate the enterprise and undertake risks and handle economic uncertainty involved in running a business enterprise.

GROWTH OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Women entrepreneurs in India accounted for 9.01% of the total value 11.70 million entrepreneurs during 1988-89.

A cross country comparison reveals that emergence and development of entrepreneurship is largely caused by the availability of supporting conditions in a country. To quote, with improving supporting conditions, the share of women owned enterprises in the United States has risen from 7.1% in 1977 to 32% in 1990. It is likely to reach to 50% by the turn of the 20th century.

In India, women entry into business is a new phenomenon. Women entry into business, or say, entrepreneurship is traced out as an extension of their kitchen activities mainly to 3 Ps viz, pickles, powder and pappad. Women in India plugged into business for both pull and push factors. Pull factors imply the factors, which encourage women to start an occupation or venture with an urge to do something independently. Push factors refer to those factors, which compel to take up their own business to tide over their economic difficulties and responsibilities.

With growing awareness about business and spread of education among women over the period, women have started shifting from 3 Ps to engross to 3 modern E’s, viz. Engineering, Electronics and Energy. They have excelled in these activities. Women entrepreneurs manufacturing solar cookers in Gujarat, small foundries in Maharashtra and T.V. capacitors in Orissa have proved beyond doubt that given the opportunities, they can excel their male counterparts. Smt. Sumati Morarji (Shipping Corporation), Smt. Yumutai Kirloskar (Mahila Udyog Limited), Smt. Neena Malhotra (Exports) and Smt. Shahnaz Hussain (Beauty Clinic) are some exemplary names of successful and accomplished women entrepreneurs in our country.

In India, Kerela is a state with highest literacy (including women literacy) reflecting a congenial atmosphere for the emergence and development of women entrepreneurship in the state. According to a study, the number of women’s industrial units in Kerela was 358 in 1981, which rose to 782 in March 1984. These 782 units included 592 proprietary concerns, 43 partnership firms, 42 charitable institutions, 3 joint stock companies and 102 co- operative societies covering a wide range of activities. On the whole, proper education of women in Kerela resulted in high motivation among them to enter into business. The financial, marketing and training assistance provided by the state government also helped motivate women to assume entrepreneurial career. Women’s desire to work at the place of residence, difficulty of getting jobs in the public and private sectors and the desire for social recognition also motivated women in Kerela for self- employment. Like Kerela, an increasing number of women are entering the business in the state of Maharashtra also.