Charting new territories: Challenges Entrepreneur Women face in India
Ms.Jyothirmayee Founder, HiveMinds technology( leading digital marketing agency) said: “Mentorship is the largest challenge. Men tend to network better, mingle faster – whether it is at an event or an investor meeting, seek help and information more freely. Women need to continue to improve the support system. WeConnect, GHC, HerStory, Sheroes and many other organisations are helping on this front.
There are other challenges which women entrepreneurs can overcome on their own. It could be family support, child-care, inhibitions towards travel, networking & other.The most discussed challenge is the gender bias at critical junctures in entrepreneurship journey – co-founders, putting up a team, raising funds. It is essential for women to make it explicit as there are assumptions being made – we need to strongly communicate how we are equally invested & well prepared for the arduous journey as an entrepreneur”.
Ms.Jyothirmayee JT
Challenges by Women Entrepreneurs by Ms. Sunita Sapra – Chief Operating Officer- KARAM Industries
I’ve never faced bias during my career. I am one of the co-owners of KARAM and have never had anyone treat me with bias. At KARAM there is a healthy balance of men and women employees. A number of women at KARAM are in senior leadership roles. Of course, I speak from personal experience, some women entrepreneurs may face bias, but I don’t believe anyone has been biased towards me because I’m a woman.
Ms. Sonica Aron, Founder and Managing Partner, Marching Sheep
I think entrepreneurship is a challenging and exciting space to be in. On one side it allows for greater creativity and a blank canvass to paint your success, at the same time, it comes with challenges like funding, networking, Marketing, building visibility, societal norms on mobility and family ties. As a working woman and an HR professional, I have found women to hesitate in networking and image building. There are several factors behind that choice, but being an entrepreneur these are a must.
An interesting anecdote shared by a close friend and an entrepreneur, she said, “I deliberately take an older gentleman with me for all initial business development meetings, as the presence of an elderly gentleman lends credibility to my enterprise. As if youth and my gender are a negative! Interestingly, after a couple of meetings they don’t even notice his absence!”And then there are those who think female entrepreneurs are glorified name for “work from home” or “freelancing” or “working fewer hours at your own pace”!
Ms Srishti Baweja, Director E2E Networks: Tech Remains Gender Endangered
While women are blazing almost every field, they still remain a minority. Tech is a classic example to support this statement. She, too shares similar thoughts, “There are a number of theories why in the world of computing women are still in the minority. For example, in Silicon Valley, where three-quarters of the workforce is male, women say they are discouraged from pursuing jobs in technology.”she further adds that there are signs of change. “Female role models are leading technology companies around the world, like Marissa Mayer, the CEO at Yahoo!”
Ms. Kiran Dham, CEO, Globus Infocom.
Challenges women entrepreneurs face in India .Though the situation of women entrepreneurship has certainly changed in India, However even now when compared with the male business owner’s ratio, the ratio of women entrepreneurs is not sustainable. There are still some challenges which needs to be taken care of to change this scenario.Lack of enough financial resources, overwhelming responsibilities of home & work, limited mobility & the social attitude & stigmas towards a woman trying to make something on her own are the usual challenges women face with the idea of entrepreneurship. Though now government has launched many plans & schemes to make the process easier for the genre.
