2. MEANING
• ‘Women Entrepreneur’ is a person who accepts challenging
role to meet her personal needs and become economically
independent. •A strong desire to do something positive is an
inbuilt quality of entrepreneurial women, who is capable of
contributing values in both family and social life. •With the
advent of media, women are aware of their own traits, rights
and also the work situations.
3. SOME MAJOR CONSTRAINTS
a) Lack of confidence – In general, women lack confidence in
their strength and competence. The family members and the
society are reluctant to stand beside their entrepreneurial
growth. To a certain extent, this situation is changing among
Indian women and yet to face a tremendous change to
increase the rate of growth in entrepreneurship.
b) Socio-cultural barriers – Women’s family and personal
obligations are sometimes a great barrier for succeeding in
business career. Only few women are able to manage both
home and business efficiently, devoting enough time to
perform all their responsibilities in priority.
4. c) Market-oriented risks – Stiff competition in the market and
lack of mobility of women make the dependence of women
entrepreneurs on middleman indispensable. Many business
women find it difficult to capture the market and make their
products popular. They are not fully aware of the changing
market conditions and hence can effectively utilize the services
of media and internet.
d) Motivational factors – Self motivation can be realized
through a mind set for a successful business, attitude to take
up risk and behavior towards the business society by
shouldering the social responsibilities. Other factors are family
support, Government policies, financial assistance from public
and private institutions and also the environment suitable for
women to establish business units.
5. e) Knowledge in Business Administration – Women must be
educated and trained constantly to acquire the skills and
knowledge in all the functional areas of business management.
This can facilitate women to excel in decision making process
and develop a good business network.
f) Awareness about the financial assistance – Various
institutions in the financial sector extend their maximum
support in the form of incentives, loans, schemes etc. Even
then every woman entrepreneur may not be aware of all the
assistance provided by the institutions.
6. g)Exposed to the training programs – Training programs and
workshops for every type of entrepreneur is available through
the social and welfare associations, based on duration, skill
and the purpose of the training program. Such programs are
really useful to new, rural and young entrepreneurs who want
to set up a small and medium scale unit on their own.
h) Identifying the available resources – Women are hesitant to
find out the access to cater their needs in the financial and
marketing areas. In spite of the mushrooming growth of
associations, institutions, and the schemes from the
government side, women are not enterprising and dynamic to
optimize the resources in the form of reserves, assets mankind
or business volunteers.
7. CHALLENGES FACED BY
THE WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR
Cash flow management-Cash flow is essential to small
business survival, yet many entrepreneurs struggle to pay the
bills. Proper budgeting and planning are critical to maintaining
cash flow, best way to solve is by require a down payment for
your products and services.
8. • Hiring Employees: The hiring process can take several days
of your time: reviewing resumes, sitting through interviews,
sifting through so many unqualified candidates to find the
diamonds in the rough. what qualifications candidates must
have, what the job duties are, what days and hours will be
worked, and what wages and benefits will be paid. You can
save yourself a ton of time by pre-qualifying candidates
through exclusive help wanted ads that are ultra-specific in
what it takes to be hired at your firm, as well as what the day-
to-day work entails.
9. Time Management:
Time management might be the biggest problem faced
by entrepreneurs,
• Create goal lists: You should have a list of lifetime
goals, broken down into annual goals, broken down
into monthly goals, then broken down into weekly
goals. Your weekly goals, then will be broken down
into specific tasks by day.
• If any tasks do not mesh with your goals, eliminate it
or delegate them
• Consistently ask yourself: “Is what I’m doing right
now the absolute best use of my time?”
10. • Delegating the task: you need to delegate or
outsource tasks, but it seems every time you do
something gets messed up and you have to redo
it anyway. Find good employees (see above) and
good outsourced contract help, for starters. You
might have to pay a little more for it, but the
savings in time (and the resulting earning
potential) more than make up for it.
11. • Choosing what to sell: you could make a mint
if you just knew what products and services to
sell. Admit that you’re weak in identifying
prosperous niches, and delegate the task to
someone who is strong in this area. You don’t
have to hire a huge, expensive marketing firm;
rather, recruit a freelance researcher who has
experience in whatever type of field you’re
considering entering
12. STRATEGIES TO BE ADOPTED
1. Establish a value proposition.
For your business to sustain long-term growth, you must
understand what sets it apart from the competition. Identify
why customers come to you for a product or service. What
makes you relevant, differentiated and credible? Use your
answer to explain to other consumers why they should do
business with you.
13. 2. Identify your ideal customer.
You got into business to solve a problem for a certain
audience. Who is that audience? Is that audience your ideal
customer? If not, who are you serving? Nail down your ideal
customer, and revert back to this audience as you adjust
business to stimulate growth.
14. 3. Define your key indicators.
Changes must be measurable. If you’re unable to measure a
change, you have no way of knowing whether it’s effective.
Identify which key indicators affect the growth of your
business, then dedicate time and money to those areas.
15. 4. Verify your revenue streams.
What are your current revenue streams? What revenue
streams could you add to make your business more
profitable? Once you identify the potential for new revenue
streams, ask yourself if they’re sustainable in the long run.
16. 5. Look to your competition.
No matter your industry, your competition is likely excelling at
something that your company is struggling with. Look toward
similar businesses that are growing in new, unique ways to
inform your growth strategy. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice.
Ask yourself why your competitors have made alternate
choices.
17. 6. Focus on your strengths.
Sometimes, focusing on your strengths -- rather than trying to
improve your weaknesses -- can help you establish growth
strategies. Reorient the playing field to suit your strengths,
and build upon them to grow your business.
18. 7. Invest in talent.
Your employees have direct contact with your customers, so
you need to hire people who are motivated and inspired by
your company’s value proposition. Be cheap with office
furniture, marketing budgets and holiday parties. Hire few
employees, but pay them a ton. The best ones will usually
stick around if you need to cut back their compensation during
a slow period.
19. EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
1. Do not be afraid to fail.
You have to move outside of your comfort zone. Resumes that
include failures are great proof that you have taken the
necessary risks in your journey.
2. Get feedback.
Feedback is critical to validate your business. Competitive
research can also help you understand what customers want.
You will need to go beyond researching on your competitor's
websites.
20. 3. Keep learning.
The key to growth, innovation and success is knowledge.
4. Become an expert.
The marketplace has shifted, but people still value authenticity
and expertise. You can showcase your knowledge through
speaking, public relations and/or even blogging.
21. 5. Ask for what you need.
As you navigate through your business, you will come across
resources that you need ranging from capital to knowledge.
6. Minimize negative people.
You will meet a lot of doubters and people who do not get or
understand your vision.
22. 7. Network. Network. Network.
If you want to build a large and successful business, you
cannot do it alone. You need to get over your fear of rejection
and network like it's your job.
8. Have BIG plans.
Women often underestimate their own potential and fail to
dream big enough. It is important to tap into the inner reason
behind your business and really think about the legacy you
want to leave behind.
23. 9. Support #Don't Do It Alone.
Female entrepreneurs can shorten the path to success by
learning from the success and failures of others. It is important
to have both mentorship and accountability to make sure you
do not get stuck in your own head or the overwhelming amount
of information on the web.
10. Be confident.
Believe you can do it and you are most of the way there.