INTRODUCTION:

Indian society is still characterized by its ancient societal norms and values but yet amongst it, the status and role of women have witnessed rapid changes in recent years. The thoroughly domesticated women who could not think beyond the welfare of their families have now awakened to action.

Many factors like urbanization, technical progress, women’s education, etc., have profoundly changed these traditional conditions even in a developing country like, India. Slowly starting with the metropolitan areas and going back, the women’s role at home has become more and more clearly that if they really want to contribute to the welfare of the family and society the most effective way is to go out of home and earn money. Women in India are beginning to follow the direction that the women of the western world took more than eighty years ago. Women are increasingly becoming conscious of their existence, their rights and their work situations.

The Indian women proved their footage in the male dominated business arena. For a nation where the only identity of a woman some time back used to be that of a homemaker, hogging the corporate limelight has been a journey to empowerment and strength.

The entry of women into business is a recent development in the orthodox, traditional socio-cultural environment of Indian society. The hidden entrepreneurial potential of women has gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in the society. Today, women entrepreneurs represent a group of women who have broken away from the beaten track and are exploring new areas for economic participation. Among the reasons for women to run organized enterprises are their skill and knowledge their talents, abilities and creativity in business and a compelling desire of wanting to do something positive.

The entrepreneurs, in the modern sense, are the self-starters and doers of a business, who have organized and built their own enterprise. In common practice, almost anyone who start’s an enterprise, industry, shop is called an ‘entrepreneur’. Entrepreneurship is a key to economic development of a country.

Women’s entrepreneurship is both about women’s position in society and the role of entrepreneurship in the same society. Women are faced with specific obstacles (such as family responsibilities) that have to be overcome in order to give them access to the same opportunities as men. Also, in some countries, women may experience obstacles with respect to holding property and entering contracts. Increased participation of women in the labour force is a prerequisite for improving the position of women in society and self-employed women.

Women entrepreneurship development is an essential part of human resource development. The development of women entrepreneurship is very low in India, especially in the rural areas. Entrepreneurship amongst women has been a recent concern. Women have become aware of their existence their rights and their work situation. However, women of middle class are not too eager to alter their role in fear of social backlash. The progress is more visible among upper class families in urban cities.

Concept of Entrepreneur:- The word ' entrepreneur' derives from the French word "Entreprendre" (to undertake) .in the early 16^th Century it was applied to persons engaged in military expeditions, and extend to cover construction and civil engineering activities in the 17^th century, but during the 18^th century , the word 'entrepreneur' was used to refer to economic activities. Many authors have defined 'entrepreneur' differently. Generally, an entrepreneur is a person who combines capital and labour for production. According to Cantillion "entrepreneur is the agent who buys means of production at certain prices, in order to sell at prices that are certain at the moment at which he commits himself to his cost". According to P.F Drucker " he is one who always (1) searches for change (2) responds to it (3) exploits it as an opportunity."

CATEGORIES OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN PRACTICE IN INDIA:

• First Category:

– Established in big cities

– Having higher level technical and professional qualifications

– Non traditional Items

– Sound financial positions

• Second Category:

– Established in cities and towns

– Having sufficient education

– Both traditional and non traditional items

– Undertaking women services-kindergarten, crèches, beauty parlors, health clinic etc

• Third Category:

– Illiterate women

– Financially week

– Involved in family business such as Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Fisheries, Agro Forestry, Handloom, Power loom etc.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

States	No of Units Registered	No. of Women Entrepreneurs	Percentage
Tamil Nadu	9618	2930	30.36
Uttar Pradesh	7980	3180	39.84
Kerala	5487	2135	38.91
Punjab	4791	1618	33.77
Maharastra	4339	1394	32.12
Gujrat	3872	1538	39.72
Karnatka	3822	1026	26.84
Madhya Pradesh	2967	842	28.38
Other States and UTS	14576	4185	28.71
Total	57,452	18,848	32.82

WOMEN WORK PARTICIPATION

Country	Percentage
India (1970-1971)	14.2
India (1980-1981)	19.7
India (1990-1991)	22.3
India (2000-2001)	31.6
USA	45
UK	43
Indonesia	40
Sri Lanka	35
Brazil	35

SOME EXAMPLES

Mahila Grih Udyog: 7 ladies started in 1959: Lizzat Pappad

Lakme: Simon Tata

Shipping Corporation: Mrs. Sumati Morarji

Exports: Ms. Nina Mehrotra

Herbal Heritage: Ms. Shahnaz Hussain

Balaji films: Ekta Kapoor

Bio-technology: Kiran Mazumdar

PepsiCo: Indra Nooyi

Naina Lal Kidwai, Investment Banker

Fortune magazine listed her as one of the world's most powerful businesswomen in 2003. India Inc recognises her as one of its most powerful investment bankers. But Naina Lal Kidwai, HSBC's deputy CEO, can't be reduced to simple woman-banker equations; her professional vision transcends gender.

Shahnaz Husain, Herbal Beauty Queen

She's the "Estee Lauder of India", with even famous department stores like Galleries Lafayette in Paris, Harrods and Selfridges in London and Bloomingdales in New York stocking her cosmetics, creams and lotions.

Lalita Gupte, Banker

She's created a formidable global presence of what was once a native development finance institution. Account-holders can now bank at ICICI branches in UK, the Far East, West Asia and Canada. With ICICI since 1971, Gupte was the first woman to be inducted on the board in1984

Ekta Kapoor receives most Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur

THE ADDITIONAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES:

The additional business opportunities that are recently approaching for women entrepreneurs are:

• Eco-friendly technology

• Bio-technology

• IT enabled enterprises

• Event Management

• Tourism industry

• Telecommunication

• Plastic materials

• Vermiculture

• Mineral water

• Sericulture

• Floriculture

• Herbal and health care

• Food, fruits and vegetable processing

PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA:

Women in India are faced many problems to get ahead their life in business. A few problems can be detailed as;

1. The greatest deterrent to women entrepreneurs is that they are women. A kind of patriarchal – male dominant social order is the building block to them in their way towards business success. Male members think it a big risk financing the ventures run by women.

2. The financial institutions are skeptical about the entrepreneurial abilities of women. The bankers consider women loonies as higher risk than men loonies. The bankers put unrealistic and unreasonable securities to get loan to women entrepreneurs. According to a report by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), "despite evidence that women's loan repayment rates are higher than men's, women still face more difficulties in obtaining credit," often due to discriminatory attitudes of banks and informal lending groups (UNIDO, 1995b).

3. Entrepreneurs usually require financial assistance of some kind to launch their ventures - be it a formal bank loan or money from a savings account. Women in developing nations have little access to funds, due to the fact that they are concentrated in poor rural communities with few opportunities to borrow money (Starcher, 1996; UNIDO, 1995a). The women entrepreneurs are suffering from inadequate financial resources and working capital. women folk business aspirations.

The women entrepreneurs lack access to external funds due to their inability to provide tangible security. Very few women have the tangible property in hand.

4. Women's family obligations also bar them from becoming successful entrepreneurs in both developed and developing nations. "Having primary responsibility for children, home and older dependent family members, few women can devote all their time and energies to their business" (Starcher, 1996, p. 8).The financial institutions discourage women entrepreneurs on the belief that they can at any time leave their business and become housewives again. The result is that they are forced to rely on their own savings, and loan from relatives and family friends.

5. Indian women give more emphasis to family ties and relationships. Married women have to make a fine balance between business and home. More over the business success is depends on the support the family members extended to women in the business process and management. The interest of the family members is a determinant factor in the realization of 6. Another argument is that women entrepreneurs have low-level management skills. They have to depend on office staffs and intermediaries, to get things done, especially, the marketing and sales side of business. Here there is more probability for business fallacies like the intermediaries take major part of the surplus or profit. Marketing means mobility and confidence in dealing with the external world, both of which women have been discouraged from developing by social conditioning. Even when they are otherwise in control of an enterprise, they often depend on males of the family in this area.

7. The male - female competition is another factor, which develop hurdles to women entrepreneurs in the business management process. Despite the fact that women entrepreneurs are good in keeping their service prompt and delivery in time, due to lack of organizational skills compared to male entrepreneurs women have to face constraints from competition. The confidence to travel across day and night and even different regions and states are less found in women compared to male entrepreneurs. This shows the low level freedom of expression and freedom of mobility of the women entrepreneurs.

8. Knowledge of alternative source of raw materials availability and high negotiation skills are the basic requirement to run a business. Getting the raw materials from different souse with discount prices is the factor that determines the profit margin. Lack of knowledge of availability of the raw materials and low-level negotiation and bargaining skills are the factors, which affect women entrepreneur's business adventures.

9. Knowledge of latest technological changes, know how, and education level of the person are significant factor that affect business. The literacy rate of women in India is found at low level compared to male population. Many women in developing nations lack the education needed to spur successful entrepreneurship. They are ignorant of new technologies or unskilled in their use, and often unable to do research and gain the necessary training (UNIDO, 1995b, p.1). Although great advances are being made in technology, many women's illiteracy, structural difficulties, and lack of access to technical training prevent the technology from being beneficial or even available to females ("Women Entrepreneurs in Poorest Countries," 2001). According to The Economist, this lack of knowledge and the continuing treatment of women as second-class citizens keeps them in a pervasive cycle of poverty ("The Female Poverty Trap," 2001). The studies indicates that uneducated women do not have the knowledge of measurement and basic accounting.

10. Low-level risk taking attitude is another factor affecting women folk decision to get into business. Low-level education provides low-level self-confidence and self-reliance to the women folk to engage in business, which is continuous risk taking and strategic cession making profession. Investing money, maintaining the operations and ploughing back money for surplus generation requires high risk taking attitude, courage and confidence. Though the risk tolerance ability of the women folk in day-to-day life is high compared to male members, while in business it is found opposite to that.

11. Achievement motivation of the women folk found less compared to male members. The low level of education and confidence leads to low level achievement and advancement motivation among women folk to engage in business operations and running a business concern.

12. Finally high production cost of some business operations adversely affects the development of women entrepreneurs. The installation of new machineries during expansion of the productive capacity and like similar factors dissuades the women entrepreneurs from venturing into new areas.

CONCLUSION:

Empowering women entrepreneurs is essential for achieving the goals of sustainable development and the bottlenecks hindering their growth must be eradicated to entitle full participation in the business. Apart from training programs, Newsletters, mentoring, trade fairs and exhibitions also can be a source for entrepreneurial development. As a result, the desired outcomes of the business are quickly achieved and more of remunerative business opportunities are found. Henceforth, promoting entrepreneurship among women is certainly a short-cut to rapid economic growth and development. Let us try to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and thus allow ‘women’ to be an entrepreneur at par with men.

REFERENCES:

1. Dhameja S K (2002) , Women Entrepreneurs : Oppertunities, performance, problems, Deep publications (p) LtD, New Delhi, p 11

2. Rajendran N (2003) , "Problems and prospects of women Entrepreneurs" SEDME, Vol. 30 no.4 Dec.

3. Rao Padala Shanmukha (2007) "Enterpreneurship Development among Women : A case study of self help Groups in Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh" The Icfai Journal of Enterpreneurship Development Vol.1V No. 1

4. Sharma Sheetal (2006) " Educated Women , powered, women" Yojana Vol.50, No.12

5. Shiralashetti A S and Hugar S S " Problem and Prospects of Women Entrepreneurs In North Karnataka District: A case study" The Icfai Journal of Entrepreneurship Development Vol.1v No. 2

Received on 02.05.2010 Accepted on 20.05.2010

Asian J. Management 1(1): Jan. – Mar. 2010 page 33-36