Women Entrepreneurs- Definition

A women Entrepreneur is one who accepts challenging role to meet her personal
needs and become economically independent
Definition: An enterprise owned and controlled by women having a
minimum financial interest of 51% of capital and giving at least 51% of
employment generated in the enterprise to women. Women who think of a
business enterprise, initiate it, organize and combine the factors
of production, operate the enterprise and undertake risk and handle economic
uncertainty involved in running a business enterprise.
General concept: A woman or a group of women who initiate, organize and run
a business.
Based on innovation: Women who innovate, imitate or adopt a business activity are
called women entrepreneurs
An enterprise owned and controlled by one or more women having a minimum
financial holding of 51% or more, giving 51% or more employment to women
Some Facts:
Women Constitute not only half of the Worlds population but also way the
growth of the remaining half
They produce half of the worlds food supply
They account for 60% of the work force
Own less than 1% of the real estate
FUNCTIONS OF WOMENENTREPRENEURS: Functions for establishment
of an enterprise:
Idea generation and screening
Determination of objectives
Project preparation
Product analysis
Form of business
Raising funds
Procuring men, machine and materials.

Women entrepreneurship has been recognised as an important source of economic

growth. Women entrepreneurs create new jobs for themselves and others and also
provide society with different solutions to management, organisation and business
problems. However, they still represent a minority of all entrepreneurs. Women
entrepreneurs often face gender-based barriers to starting and growing their
businesses, like discriminatory property, matrimonial and inheritance laws and/or
cultural practices; lack of access to formal finance mechanisms; limited mobility
and
access
to
information
and
networks,
etc.
Womens entrepreneurship can make a particularly strong contribution to the
economic well-being of the family and communities, poverty reduction and
womens empowerment, thus contributing to the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). Thus, governments across the world as well as various developmental
organizations are actively undertaking promotion of women entrepreneurs through
various schemes, incentives and promotional measures.
Policies and Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs in India
In India, the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises development organisations,
various State Small Industries Development Corporations, the Nationalised
banks and even NGOs are conducting various programmes including
Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs) to cater to the needs of
potential women entrepreneurs, who may not have adequate educational
background and skills. The Office of DC (MSME) has also opened a Women
Cell to provide coordination and assistance to women entrepreneurs facing
specific
problems.
There are also several other schemes of the government at central and state
level, which provide assistance for setting up training-cum-income generating
activities for needy women to make them economically independent. Small
Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has also been implementing
special
schemes
for
women
entrepreneurs.
In addition to the special schemes for women entrepreneurs, various
government schemes for MSMEs also provide certain special incentives and
concessions for women entrepreneurs. For instance, under Prime Ministers

Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), preference is given to women beneficiaries. The

government has also made several relaxations for women to facilitate the
participation of women beneficiaries in this scheme. Similarly, under
the MSE Cluster Development Programme by Ministry of MSME, the
contribution from the Ministry of MSME varies between 30-80% of the total
project in case of hard intervention, but in the case of clusters owned and
managed by women entrepreneurs, contribution of the M/o MSME could be
upto 90% of the project cost. Similarly, under the Credit Guarantee Fund
Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, the guarantee cover is generally
available upto 75% of the loans extended; however the extent of guarantee
cover is 80% for MSEs operated and/ or owned by women.
Some of the special schemes for women entrepreneurs implemented by the
government bodies and allied institutions are provided below.

Schemes of Ministry of MSME

o

Trade related entrepreneurship assistance and development (TREAD)

scheme for women
Mahila Coir Yojana

To read more on activities of Ministry of MSMEs for women

development, click here.

Schemes of Ministry of Women and Child Development

o

Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP)

Swayam Siddha

Schemes of Kerala State Womens Development Corporation

o

Self employment loan programmes

Educational loan schemes

Single women benefit schemes

Job oriented training programmes

Marketing support for women entrepreneurs

Autorickshaw / school vans driver scheme

Kerala Governments Women Industries Programme

Delhi Governments Stree Shakti Project

Schemes of Delhi Commission for Women (Related to Skill development

and training)

Incentives to Women Entrepreneurs Scheme, 2008, Government of Goa

Magalir Udavi Scheme, Pudhucherry Government

Financing Schemes by Banks/ Financial Institution's

Women Entrepreneur Associations

The efforts of government and its different agencies are supplemented by NGOs
and associations that are playing an equally important role in facilitating women
empowerment. List of various women associations in India is provided in the table
below.
Details of Women Entrepreneur Associations in India
S.no
Association Name
Website
.
1

Federation of Indian Women

http://www.fiwe.org/
Entrepreneurs (FIWE)

Consortium
of
Women
http://www.cwei.org/
Entrepreneurs(CWEI)

Association
Entrepreneurs
Pradesh

Association
of
Women
Entrepreneurs of Karnataka http://awakeindia.org.in/
(AWAKE)

Self-Employed
Women's
http://www.sewa.org/
Association (SEWA)

Women
Promotion
(WEPA)

The Marketing Organisation

of
Women
Enterprises Click here for Profile
(MOOWES)

Bihar
Mahila
SanghBihar Mahila
Sangh

Mahakaushal Association of
Woman
Entrepreneurs http://www.maweindia.com/
(MAWE)

10

SAARC Chamber Women

http://www.scwec.com/index.htm
Entrepreneurship Council

11

Women

of
of

Lady
Andhra http://www.aleap.org/index.html

Entrepreneurs
Association Click here for Profile

Udyog
http://www.biharmahilaudyogsangh.co
Udyog
m/

Entrepreneurs Click here for Profile

Association of Tamil Nadu

(WEAT)
12

TiE Stree Shakti (TSS)

http://www.tiestreeshakti.org/

13

Women
Corporation

http://www.wecindia.org

Empowerment

Success Stories of Women Entrepreneurs in India

Story of Dream Weavers which started with Rs 500 and now makes Rs 25
lakhs, click here to read the story.
Story of Patricia Narayan, Winner of Ficci Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
Award, click here to read the story.
Story of Sarala Bastian who set up a successful mushroom business with just
Rs 15000, click here to read the story.
Success story of Kiran Majumdar Shaw, the Biocon Queen, click here to
read the story.
Success story of Saloni Malhotra, founder of DesiCrew, click here to read
the story
Story of Revathi Krishna, the founder of Coffee, Books and More, click
here to read the story
Story of Lata Manohars boutique - Vishuddi, click here to read the story
Story of Radha Rajakrishnan, a successful entrepreneur in apparel
business, click here to read the story.
Tips for Women Entrepreneurs
Start a business that works for you and your personal life

 Research the product/ service

Assess the market
Start business with adequate funds
Do networking
Consult with professionals

Women, Minorities and Weaker Sections

The Central and the State Governments have introduced several schemes for
facilitating finance to the Women, Minorities and SC/ST/OBCs. Besides specific
schemes, the Government also provides special concessions to them under various
other schemes.
Schemes for Women
Various government schemes for MSMEs provide certain special incentives and
concessions for women entrepreneurs. For instance, under Prime Ministers
Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), preference is given to women beneficiaries. The
government has also made several relaxations for women to facilitate the
participation of women beneficiaries in this scheme. Similarly, under the MSE
Cluster Development Programme by Ministry of MSME, the contribution from
the Ministry of MSME varies between 30-80% of the total project in case of hard
intervention, but in the case of clusters owned and managed by women
entrepreneurs, contribution of the M/o MSME could be upto 90% of the project
cost. Similarly, under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small
Enterprises, the guarantee cover is generally available upto 75% of the loans
extended; however the extent of guarantee cover is 80% for MSEs operated and/ or
owned by women. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has
also been implementing special schemes for women entrepreneurs.
Some of the special schemes for women entrepreneurs are as below:

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh

The National Credit Fund for Women (NCFW) commonly known as
Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) was set up by Government of India in
1993 to meet the credit needs of the poor and asset needs of the women
in the informal sector. RMK extends micro credit through MFIs for
various activities including setting up of micro enterprises.

Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development Scheme

for Women (TREAD)
With a view to encourage women in setting up their own ventures,
government implements a Scheme, namely, Trade Related
Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD). The Scheme
envisages economic empowerment of women through the development
of their entrepreneurial skills in non-farm activities. There are three
major
components
of
the
scheme;

Govt. grant upto 30% of the total project cost to the Non-Government
Organizations (NGOs) for promoting entrepreneurship among women. The
remaining 70% of the project cost is financed by the lending agency as loan
for undertaking activities as envisaged in the project.
GoI grant to training institutions / NGOs for imparting training to the
women entrepreneurs, subject to these institutions / NGOs bring their share
to the extent of minimum 25% of GOI grant and 10% in case of NER.
Need-based GoI grants upto Rs. 5 lakh to National Entrepreneurship
Development Institutions and any other institutions of reputed for
undertaking field surveys, research studies, evaluation studies, designing of
training modules etc.

Prime Ministers Employment Generation Programme for Women

The Government of India is implementing a nationwide employment

generation programme, under which relaxation is provided to women in
the
following
ways:

For urban women beneficiaries, margin money subsidy is provided at the

rate of 25 per cent (for general category, it is 15 per cent) of the project cost
while it is 35 per cent for women in rural areas (25 per cent for general
category).
In case of women entrepreneurs, beneficiarys contribution is 5 per cent of
the project cost while in the case of beneficiaries belonging to general
category; it is 10 per cent of the project cost.
Bank finance in the form of loan is 95 per cent of the project cost in case of
women and other weaker section borrowers and 90 per cent of the project
cost in case of those belonging to general category.

Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises

(CGTMSE)
Promoted by Government of India alongwith SIDBI, provides credit
guarantee for collateral free loans upto Rs. 100 lakh for MSEs under its
Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) with special concession to loans
extended to women entrepreneurs i.e. the guarantee coverage is
provided upto 80%. As on August 31, 2010, CGTMSE has covered
78,400 guarantees of Rs. 2,571 crore run by women entrepreneurs,
which
constitutes
around
20%
of
total
guarantees.

Promotional & Developmental Assistance

The Indian Government is fully committed to promote the great spirit of
women entrepreneurship through various promotional and

developmental

support.

The Ministry of MSME, Government of India, accords considerable

emphasis on promotion of women entrepreneurship, particularly among first
generation women, through various training and support services. Similar
entrepreneurship development programmes, especially for women, are also
regularly conducted by various state level developmental institutions,
banks/FIs and NGOs. These women-centric programmes are tailor-made to
train the potential women entrepreneurs in improving their
technical/managerial knowledge and skill with a view to facilitating them to
start MSEs in various fields. These programmes are often called Out-reach
Programmes as they are conducted in rural / less developed areas. 22.5% of
total target of ESDPs/EDPs are conducted exclusively for SC, ST, Women
and Physically Challenged persons. No fee is charged from SC/ST, women
and physically handicapped.
SIDBI also supports various institutions for conducting EDPs. It was found
that EDPs assisted by SIDBI have helped in grounding many women micro
enterprises at the grass root level
Marketing Assistance - Ministry of MSME has formulated a scheme for
women entrepreneurs to encourage Small & Micro manufacturing units
owned by women in their efforts at tapping and developing enterprises under
MSME stall at International Trade Fairs / Exhibitions, to enhance export
from such units. Under this scheme,
o provide rent free space (6/( Sq. Mts.) in the exhibitions
o reimburse 100% economy class air fare for one representative, the
overall ceiling shall however be Rs. 1.25 lakh.

To access women specific financing schemes offered by various commercial banks

in
India, click
here.

Schemes for Minorities

To provide additional financing agency for minorities, National Minorities
Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) was set up by the
Government in 1994. The Corporation promotes the development of
backward sections amongst the Minorities through various schemes. Some of
the financial assistance schemes of NMDFC include:
Term loan
Margin Money Loan scheme
Educational Loan Scheme
Scheme of Micro Credit
Scheme of Interest Free Loan to NGO
Mahila Samridhi Yojana.
Schemes for Schedule Castes and Tribes (SC/ST)
National SC Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) is the apex
institution for financing, facilitating and mobilising funds from other sources
and promoting the economic development activities of the persons belonging
to the Scheduled Castes living below double the poverty line. NSFDC runs
various financing programmes for the benefit of the Schedule Castes. Some
of the financing schemes of the corporation are as below:
Term Loan
Micro Credit Finance
Shilpi Samriddhi Yojana
Mahila Samriddhi Yojana

 Mahila Kisan Yojana

Schemes for Other Backward Castes (OBCs)
National Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation
(NBCFDC), a government undertaking, provides financial assistance through
State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) and Micro Financing through SCAs/
Self Help Groups (SHGs) to assist a wide range of income generating
activities to assist the poorer section of these classes in skill development and
self-employment ventures under sectors like Agriculture and Allied Activities,
Small Business, Artisan and Traditional Occupation, Technical and
Professional Trades/Courses, and Transport and Service Sector etc.
The various financing schemes offered by the corporation are as below:
Term Loans/ margin Money Loans
o New Swarnima Special Scheme for Women
o Educational Loan Scheme New Akanksha
o Swayam Saksham

Micro Finance Schemes

o Mahila Samriddhi Yojana