Why women entrepreneurs should be empowered

Women can contribute significantly to the country's economy if they run businesses

India has always been a patriarchal society with low female economic engagement. However, women account for about half of the entire population, so it is critical to promote women's economic participation at all levels. Nonetheless, women in India have always had business aspirations.

According to a Bain and Company report, India will have the world's largest working-age population of over 1 billion people in the coming decade. When combined with an increasingly educated population, this demographic dividend has the potential to change India's economic and social advancement.

The private and government sectors combined have not been able to create enough jobs. Women's entrepreneurship is an important part of the whole answer. It will boost the economy by producing jobs and have far-reaching social and personal ramifications for women.

Also Read | The jobless & mass entrepreneurship

Women's entrepreneurial roles are no longer limited to large-scale sectors and technology-based firms. Even in small-scale sectors, women have a high rate of engagement.

While more people are establishing and growing businesses, their challenges remain the same. Empowering women to reach their full potential is one of the most significant and powerful strategies to keep our country's growth potential on track.

According to the report mentioned above, there are now 13.5–15.7 million women-owned businesses in India, accounting for 20 per cent of all businesses. While significant in absolute terms, these businesses are largely made up of one-person organizations that directly employ an estimated 22 to 27 million individuals. Furthermore, many enterprises reported as owned by women are not actually controlled or run by women.

To assess India's efforts to enhance total female entrepreneurship, benchmarks from high-performing countries and Indian states might be employed. Accelerating the number and quality of women-owned businesses toward such goals can produce over 30 million women-owned businesses, 40 per cent of which can be more than self-employment.

The government is assisting female entrepreneurs with various policy packages and programmes. Niti Aayog established the Women's Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) in 2018 as a gateway to provide education and support to female entrepreneurs.

Udyam Sakhi, a network for women entrepreneurs established by the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, claims to have 2,859 registrations for information about various programmes and compliances, among other things.

Government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society must collaborate to promote women's education and encourage lending institutions to accept and offer loans to women entrepreneurs.

All national solutions must prioritize women entrepreneurs—their inclusion, representation, and social and economic benefits.

(Dr. Sunil Shukla is the Director General, WeAct, a network working with the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) to support micro women entrepreneurs.)