Entrepreneurship refers to the act of setting up a new business or reviving an existing business so as to take advantages from new opportunities. Thus, entrepreneurs shape the economy by creating new wealth and new jobs and by inventing new products and services. However, an insight study reveals that it is not about making money, having the greatest ideas, knowing the best sales pitch, applying the best marketing strategy. It is in reality an attitude to create something new and an activity which creates value in the entire social eco-system. It is the psyche makeup of a person. It is a state of mind, which develops naturally, based on his/ her surrounding and experiences, which makes him/ her think about life and career in a given way. (1)

The women have achieved immense development in their state of mind. With increase in dependency on service sector, many entrepreneurial opportunities especially for women have been created where they can excel their skills with maintaining balance in their life. Accordingly, during the last two decades, increasing numbers of Indian women have entered the field of entrepreneurship and also they are gradually changing the face of business of today, both literally and figuratively. But still they have not capitalized their potential in India the way it should be.

Reasons for Boosting Women Entrepreneurship

The role of women entrepreneurs in the process of economic development has been recognized form nineties in various parts of the world. Today, in the world of business, women entrepreneurship has become an essential movement in many countries and has been accepted in all areas of working. The United

Nations report has also concluded that economic development is closely related to the advancement of women. In nations where women have advanced, economic growth has usually been steady. By contrast, in countries where women have been restricted, the economy has been stagnant. The data on correlation between Gender related development index and GDP per capital reinforces the above fact.

TABLE NO. 1: Gender Related Development Index and Its Component (1)

Rank	Country	Gender related development index	As a per % of HDI	GDP per Capital (US$)
1	Australia	0.966	98.9	34923
2	Norway	0.961	99.6	53433
3	Iceland	0.959	99.0	44613
4	Canada	0.959	99.2	35812
5	Sweden	0.956	99.3	36712
6	France	0.956	99.4	33674
7	Netherland	0.954	98.9	38694
8	Finland	0.954	99.5	34526
9	Spain	0.949	99.4	31560
10	Ireland	0.948	98.2	44613
114	India	0.594	97.1	4102

As shown in the above table, Gender related development index is significantly correlated with GDP per capita. The value of correlation coefficient comes 0.857371. Therefore, It can be treated as one of the parameter to show the economic condition and growth of the country.

The main objective of this research study is to understand concept of women entrepreneurs as:-

· Explain the concept of women entrepreneur.

· Explain and identify the factors affecting their growth as an entrepreneur.

· To analyze the causes of their success and failure.

· Describe the recent trends obtaining in women entrepreneurship.

METHODOLOGY:

The study is based on the empirical research which depends on secondary data and analysis, some surveys and observation. The secondary data is collected from review of past researches and other reports. The factors have been identified then classified into three categories factors responsible for hindrance, reasons for starting the business and reasons for success in women entrepreneurship.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND WOMEN

Entrepreneurial development is a complex phenomenon. It is a function of creating something new, to organize, coordinate, undertake risks and handle economic uncertainties.

The performance of an entrepreneur is influence by three factors:-

· His own attitude towards occupation.

· The role expectation held by sanctioning groups.

· The operational requirements of job.

In the light of these factors it is worthwhile here to analyze the factors influencing entrepreneurship among women which is recent phenomenon.

For the study women entrepreneurs are divided among fifteen types of industries like Engineering, electronics, fabrics, eatables, readymade garments, poultry , handicrafts, nursery, toy making, soap making, plastics, drugs, painting and miscellaneous.

Today women entrepreneurs are no more confirmed to three P’s like papad, pickle and powder but are venturing in to modern technological fields of three E’s like electronics engineering and energy which is very heartening to see the bright future. So my main observations of women entrepreneurs are:-

· Women entrepreneurs in producer goods sector come from business families approximately 83%.

· Sole proprietors of enterprises approximately 30%.

· Partnership with near relations approximately 30%

· In producer goods sector 56% of the respondents entered business at an early age of 30 or less. The corresponding proportion for the consumer goods sector is 39%.

· The respondents depended largely upon themselves in doing project preparation work about 80%.

· Quite a large number of the respondents also took the help of their husbands in the matter but not many turned to specialized agencies such as consultants, etc.

· In case of motivation we have identified some factors as pull factors i.e., challenges and adventures, to do something new, liking for business, having an independent occupation.

Table 2: Women Entrepreneurship Development in Select Leading States in India (4)

States	No. of Units Registered	No. of Women Entrepreneurs	Percentage
Tamil Nadu	9618	2930	30.36
UP	7980	3180	39.84
Kerala	5487	2135	38.91
Punjab	4791	1618	33.77
Maharashtra	4339	1394	32.12
Gujarat	3872	1538	39.72
Karnataka	3822	1026	26.84
MP	2967	842	28.38
Others States and UTS	21920	5308	24.22
Total	64796	19971	32.82

PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Women entrepreneurs encounter two sets of problems, viz, general problems of entrepreneurs and problems specific to women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs suffer from shortage of finance on two counts. Firstly, women do not generally have property on their names to use them as collateral for obtaining funds from external sources. Secondly, the banks also consider women less credit-worthy and discourage women borrowers on the belief that they can at any time leave their business.

The survey brings out that two more major problems faced by women entrepreneurs are stiff competition and high prices of raw materials. Among the technical problems the two major ones are power cut and shortage of raw materials.

There are some more difficulties of women entrepreneurs such as marketing, maintaining public relations, entertaining purchase officers, travelling alone, lack of chain of good hotels where she will be ensured security.

We also observed that deep foundation of inequality of sexes is built in the minds of men and women through the socialization process which continues to be extremely powerful. There is a sort of social resistance and working women experience role conflict which creates difficulties regarding family obligations v/s business obligations. It is necessary to understand the problem of transition in which traditional influences and modernization are pulling in opposite direction, creating stress and strain for women folk. Due to lack of education and that too qualitative education women are not aware of business, technology and market knowledge. Also lack of education causes low achievement motivation among women. Thus lack of education creates problems for women in the setting up and running of business enterprises. (2)

SUGGESTIONS:

The elimination of obstacles for women entrepreneurship requires a major change in traditional attitudes and mindsets of people in society rather than being limited to only creation of opportunities for women. Hence, it is imperative to design programmes that will address to attitudinal changes, training, supportive services. The basic requirement in development of women entrepreneurship is to make aware the women regarding her existence, her unique identity and her contribution towards the economic growth and development of country.

The basic instinct of entrepreneurship should be tried to be reaped into the minds of the women from their childhood. This could be achieved by carefully designing the curriculum that will impart the basic knowledge along with its practical implication regarding management (financial, legal etc.) of an enterprise.

Adopting a structured skill training package can pave the way for development of women entrepreneurship. Such programmes can train, motivate and assist the upcoming women entrepreneurship in achieving their ultimate goals. Various schemes like the World Bank sponsored programmes can be undertaken for such purposes. The course design should focus on imparting input on profitability, marketability and practical management lessons. Besides, there should be consideration in helping the women entrepreneurs in balancing their family life and work life. As a special concern, computer illiterate women can be trained on Information Technology to take the advantage of new technology and automation.

The established and successful women entrepreneurs can act as advisors for the upcoming women entrepreneurs. The initiatives taken from these well established entrepreneurs for having interaction with such upcoming women entrepreneurs can be proved to be beneficial in terms of boosting their morale and confidence. It may result in more active involvement of women entrepreneurs in their enterprises.

Infrastructure set up plays a vital role for any enterprise. Government can set some priorities for women entrepreneurs for allocation of industrial plots, sheds and other amenities. However, precautionary measures should be undertaken to avoid the misuse of such facility by the men in the name of the women.

Even in today’s era of modernization the women entrepreneurs depend on males of their family for marketing activities. This is simply because they lack the skill and confidence for undertaking such activities. Women development corporations should come forward to help the women entrepreneurs in arranging frequent exhibitions and setting up marketing outlets to provide space for the display of products or advertisement about services made by women.

· To treat women as specific target groups in all development programs.

· To device and diversity vocational training facilities for women to suit their varied needs and skills.

· To promote appropriate technologies to improve their efficiency and productivity.

· To provide assistance for marketing their products.

· To involve women in decision making.

· Limitations of family size are important from the point of view of economic development as well as loosening of constraints on working women.

· Rural women should be carefully educated in taking up new responsibilities in agriculture rural crafts and cottage industries.

CONCLUSION:

In a sense, the problem of entrepreneurship among women has narrow as well as broad aspect. In its narrow aspect it is a question of opportunities, difficulties, facilities and adequacy of training women entrepreneurs. But in its broad aspect the problem is the problem of working women as such. It is a question of society’s outlook on the appropriate role for women and the consequent self estimation by women. In that sense it touches the problem of social regeneration.

REFERENCES:

1. http://www.chimc.in/Volume2.1/Volume2Issue1/GurendraNathBhardwaj.pdf

2. http://psrcentre.org/images/extraimages/1312607.pdf

3. http://www.msm.nl/getattachment/e94b7b38-e17b-4c5d-b497-c4135be7ec86

4. http://www.emrj.net/C.%20P.%20Kothawale.pdf

5. http://www.abhinavjournal.com/images/Arts_and_Education/Mar12/1.pdf

6. http://www.womensweb.in/articles/growth-of-women-entrepreneurs

7. Women entrepreneurship in India- S. S. Khanka, page no. 294, 211-213, 562.

8. Entrepreneurial organizations as a factor in economic development. – Fredrick Harbison, page no. 331

9. Entrepreneurship and small Business Management- C. B. Gupta, S. S. Khanka, page no. 465, 667

10. Dynamics of entrepreneurial development and management- Vasant Desai, Vol. 1, page no. 445, 328.

Received on 23.01.2014 Modified on 31.01.2014

Asian J. Management 5(2): April-June, 2014 page 170-172