Problems and Prospects of Women
Entrepreneurs: A Study in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
Abstract
Women in the fast dynamic society
have to assume a greater role in adopting and practicing the changes in the
social and cultural dimensions. The role of women is undergoing a radical
information especially in Kerala. There is
numerous business and industrial establishments owned by women successfully
which are most profitable and can be started without more technical knowledge
and less investment. Although the number of women entrepreneurs is increasing
slowly, many are giving it up after sometime. It is not because of their
inefficiency or incompetency but because of the hurdles they face which they
think cannot be overcome. In this study an attempt was made to make an analysis
about the problems and prospects of woman entrepreneurs in Thiruvananthapuram
Corporation. The study reveals that that woman, as individual suffers from the
general problems forced by all entrepreneurs such as raw material problems,
marketing problems, problem of finance, infrastructural problems, problem of
skilled manpower, delays in promotional
procedures etc. The specific problem
faced by the women entrepreneurs are lack of need achievement, economic
independence, absence of risk bearing capacity, male dominating society lack of
business information and experience, fleecily involved in family problem etc.
1.
Introduction
A cross-country
comparison bears evidence that the emergence and then development of
entrepreneurship largely depends upon the economic social cultural and
psychological environment. Now days women are taking a vital role in the socio
economic background .Women in Western world made their doubts cleared in the
late fifties or early sixties. But in
case of Indian Women, efforts were made in a systematic manner around 1970, by
government and private agencies of some states to promote self-employment among
women. India ranks in the bottom five of 30
countries surveyed for conditions that foster 'high potential' women
entrepreneurship. One
cannot divorce women from the society nor can isolate their problems from the
social existence. The change of the
world may appear to be slow but there are some potent forces to work for the
women. So now a days; a minority of
women have benefited by the new educational and job opportunities. The new social status equipped the female to
supplement the family income and even shoulder the whole financial
responsibility of family.
2.
Scope of the
Study
A research of
the scope and objectives is imperative, as it will bring to light the complex
and vital issues pertaining to women entrepreneurs. From the past to the
present, the Indian women have been contributing in one form or the other to
the development of the country.
Potentialities of women folk have remained under utilized and
initialized mainly due to the closed – approach of the society towards
women. Fast changes in the social
cultural, educational and behavioural perspectives of women world over warrant
that women and their multiple roles and their contribution to the economy
require immediate attention. The present
study makes a modest attempt to focus on the importance of women’s role and
aspirations too. An insight into the
various problems will enable policy makers, social and economic thinkers,
administrators and other to evolve comprehensive and progressive action plans
to safe guard the interests of women entrepreneurs. So the present study taken
up with a view to suggest some pragmatic solutions to the problems which are
throttling the development of women entrepreneurs.
3. Objectives
The
present study is undertaken with the following objectives.
i.
To make an over view on women entrepreneurship in
general.
ii.
To identify the problems faced by women entrepreneurs
in Thiruvananthapuram
Corporation
iii.
Top highlight the prospects of women entrepreneurs in
Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
iv.
To inquire
into the perception, attitudes and role conflict of women entrepreneurs.
v.
To make
suggestions based on the findings of the study.
4. Methodology
The Hundred
sample establishments from Thiruvananthapuram area. Corporation has been
categorised into Production and Service units. Of these, 60 are production
units and the rest are service units. Production units include. readymade garments,
food processing and soap manufacturing unit and service unit includes Computer centers’ and Beauty parlours.
The present study is based on primary data collected by using questionnaire. The
population of the study was women entrepreneur in Thiruvananthapuram
Corporation area. A sample of 100 women
entrepreneurs from Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was selected on random basis,
readymade garments, food processing, soap manufacturing, computer centre and beauty
parlour.
The primary data
have been interpreted with the help of simple statistical tools such as
percentages and the perceptions of the respondents on certain attributes like
status treatment of family members attitude of colleges etc. have been ranked
in order of importance.
5.
Major
Observations and Findings
In the study
conducted at Thiruvananthapuram Corporation the following problems are found to
be prevalent or respective of the strata of the entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs do not feel many of the
problems. But some of them are really
acting as barrier for growth and development.
Relevant issues are explained below.
5.1. Credit Related Problems
i.
Lack of
Knowledge about banking procedures
Except few, no
women entrepreneur under study was able to list out the various procedures to
be followed for availing bank finance.
Actually women entrepreneurs can run the business profitably and help
others by creating employment opportunities.
But they area not interested in making unnecessary financial communities.
Some entrepreneurs are given financial support by banks as part of poverty
reduction programmes. Even though they
are ready to avoid more finance, banks are not willing to extend unstinted
support. In short, the role of banks as
an organization committed for the development of people is not properly communicated to the entrepreneurial
community. As Margaret. S. Robinson
observed, “those who hold power do not understand the demand and those who
understand the demand do not hold power”.
ii. Interest rate-issue of Lack of Transparency
The
RBI circulars give freedom to the banks to fix their Prime
Lending Rate. The rates of
interest charged by the banks are varying between 9.5 to 15% per annum. Based on this it is not possible to conclude
that a bank is charging high rates for its loans. What is more relevant that is the RBI norms
regarding interest rates which stipulates that the rate of interest charged on
advanced should not exceed its PLRS up to a loan amount of Rs.2 lakhs. Therefore the question is whether the banks
are charging or have charged interest rates higher than its PLRS. In the case of entrepreneurs under study,
none of them have availed loans more than Rs.2 lakhs.
iii. Delay in sanctioning of Loans
Most of the
entrepreneurs whom I contacted for the study complained about the delay in
sanctioning of loans. Some entrepreneurs
are really critical about the banking procedures, which causes in ordinate
delay. Due to various reasons some
entrepreneurs are not interested to spend time with the bank for sanctioning of
credit. The RBI guidelines are very
clear and specific that loans than Rs.25000/- should be sanctioned with 2 weeks
and loans above Rs.25,000/- within 8-9 weeks some of the entrepreneurs have not
considered delayed sanctioning as a major problem
iv. Repayment Holiday
. Except few, all others are not aware
of sanctioning of grace period or moratorium.
Some entrepreneurs have closed their loans before the stipulated
period. Actually this has resulted in
depletion of resources, which of properly ploughed back to the business, would
have created more growth to the business than realized.
v. Lack of
collateral security
The lack of
security the main barrier in getting bank loans .The Scheme that offers
collateral-free loans to MSMEs in general is limited. Preference is given to
married women whose husbands can guarantee repayment
vi.
Installment finance
A major reason
for the excess installment amount is that most of the entrepreneurs are not
aware about their project and its proposed cash flow. In the early years of operation when the
business is operating at low capacities of production, the cash inflow will be
less in such cases the payment of excess installment or installment with high
amount would lead to severe cash crunch.
It was found that in 80% of cases the installment fixed was not
according to the projected cash flow. In
the case of antipoverty programmes, the installment fixed includes subsidy
repayment also.
vii. Under Financing or Inadequate Finance
In the absence of specific project
report showing the requirement of Block capital and working capital banks are
sanctioning loans according to their tailor made programmes. Most of the units
under study are found to be suffocating for want of additional capital for
expansion. One of the entrepreneurs
would have diversified her business if more capital is made available by the
banks. Actually she had applied for
Rs.40,000/- which was reduced to Rs.20,000/- by the bank.
Table 1: Credit Related Problems
|
Sl.No.
|
Credit Problems
|
Respondents
|
%
|
Rank
|
|
1.
|
Lack of knowledge about Banking
process.
|
30
|
30%
|
2
|
|
2.
|
Interest rate issue of lack of Transparency
|
3
|
3%
|
6
|
|
3.
|
Delay in sanctioning of loan
|
51
|
51%
|
1
|
|
4.
|
Repayment Holiday
|
7
|
7%
|
3
|
|
5.
|
Installment finance
|
4
|
4%
|
5
|
|
6.
|
Under financing
|
5
|
5%
|
4
|
|
|
Total
|
100
|
100
|
|
Source: Survey
5.2. Debit Equity Ratio
This ratio
indicates the relationship between the long-term funds provided by creditors
and those provided by the firm’s owners.
It is commonly used to measure the degree of financial leverage of the
firm. This is one of the most important
ratio to analyse the capital structure of any firm. The debt equity ratio measure the debt
financing has used in a business. The
ratio indicates the proportionate claims of owners an outside against the
firm’s assets. Debt means all debt and
liabilities to outsiders. Equity
consists of share capital and reserves and surplus.
Debt Equity Ratio = External
Equities
Table 2: Debt Equity
Ratio
|
Nature of Business
|
External Equities
|
Internal Equities
|
Ratio
|
|
Readymade Garments
|
2,00,000
|
3,50,000
|
0.57
|
|
Food processing units
|
2,50,000
|
1,02,000
|
2.45
|
|
Soap manufacture units
|
1,25,000
|
50,000
|
2.05
|
|
Computer centre
|
3,00,000
|
1,45,000
|
2.07
|
|
Beauty parlour
|
1,50,000
|
1,00,000
|
1.05
|
Source:
Survey(100 samples – Average is taken for the purpose of finding ratio.)
Table 2 shows that the ratio is fluctuating between
0.57 to 2.45. The highest ratio shown in
the Food Processing units and the lowest ratio is in the Ready Made Garments
units.
5.3.Other Problems
Women entrepreneurs encounter various types of problems
in selling up and developing their enterprises some of the major issues
are discussed above. Some other problems are:-
i.
Problem of
Raw Materials
A
major problem that the women entrepreneurs have to contend with is the
procurement of raw material is the procurement of raw material. The problem of raw material has assumed the
shape of an absolute scarcity, poor quality of raw material and high cost. In
Beauty parlours provide importance to use quality materials otherwise it affect
the reputation of the firm. Like in
other industries such as soap manufacturing concern food products manufacture
concern, etc require quality raw materials at reasonable price. Keeping in view
the raw material problem of small scale industries, the government makes
provision for making raw materials available to these enterprises.
ii.
Poor Project
Planning
In
the absence of education and experience, women entrepreneurs often depend upon
consultants. They do not fully
understand project details. Due to poor
planning of projects cost and time over runs arises.
iii.
Lack of
Training
Enterprises
could not be run without sufficient training.
The experience gained by the second generation entrepreneurs was helpful
for obtaining better success. In the
case of new generation entrepreneurs the need for continued training is very
high.
Activities take computer catering beauty parlour
need in pensive training. The high level
of educational background of the entrepreneurs was one of the reasons that
attributed success or avoided failures.
It was noted that except in the case of group enterprises supported by
Kudumbashree, organized training programmes are lacking a brief sketch on the
work of the units.EDP training for the women are very useful to start
and initiative to be an entrepreneur. It
is basically help to access entrepreneurs on the area of technology through
identification of project, commercial, finance venture capital and market
training dissemination information research and development and infrastructure
facilities. The above points are
important for an entrepreneur to gain appropriate knowledge of world market
technology design and development and quality control for international
competitive. Women entrepreneur in small
scale industries have given enough indication towards adoption of new ideas in
diverse section like, Electrical food engineering, chemicals pharmaceuticals
textile, hosiery gems and jewellery leather, handicraft agro based industries
floriculture agriculture, bio electronics and software development.
Revolutionary
changes in ICT have been reinforcing economic and social changes, which in turn
have been transforming the business and society. The economic empowerment of women via KT
enable them to challenge discrimination and overcome gender barriers
information technology can offer signification can opportunities for virtually
all girls and women in developing countries, including poor women in rural
areas. However, their ability to take
advantage of these opportunities is contingent upon conducive policies, and
enabling environment in our countries to extend increased educational level,
financial support and infrastructural support.
iv.
Male
Dominating Society
A
woman can enter into business only with the consent of male family members.It has also been seen that around 70%
of women entrepreneurs are depending upon the male help for day to day
activities where as the rests are not. A
woman entrepreneur will get different type of help from a male such as moral
and general administration help by her husband, Sales and marketing, technical and
accounting
v.
Role Conflict
Conflict is one of the most important problems
that the women entrepreneur face in discharging their duties. Life is not a grand harmony; conflict
exists. The role conflict arises since
they have to perform various functions at least, in three capacities.
as an
entrepreneur as a mother and as a wife Besides discharging regular duties as an
entrepreneur in an organization, women have to all end to the household
responsibilities in particular, towards husband, children and at times parent
married women have to play a more responsive role as they have to manage the
time in such a way that they can make every one of there parties comfortable
and satisfied. If they are not regular
in organizational actives, it will affect the business in adverse manner.
vi.
Safety
Security and safety to women in our society is
another problem. An alarming rise of harassments and crimes against women makes
them set aside long journeys, late working hours, interaction with stake
holders which are unavoidable reasons to a successful business.
6. Other Observations.
i.
50% of respondents are fond to be in between the age of
31-40. Age has an influence on one’s
life. As the age advances the maturity
also increases. This age enables women
to with stand to stress and strain.
ii.
It is noticed that the married women accounted for
highest proportion in almost all the categories of respondents under study.
iii.
One of the striking features is that the traditional
joint family system is weakening and in its place nuclear family system is
emerging in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation area. Evidently, more than half of the respondent
families consist of 4 to 5 persons.
iv.
Education plays an important role in determining one’s
socio-economic status in the society.
Most of the women entrepreneur are graduates and post graduate.
v.
The respondents’ educational and occupational status is
influenced by the level of education of parents and husbands. It is revealed that 100 % of the
parents/spouses of the women entrepreneurs are educated.
vi.
With respect to the perception of the respondents about
the women entrepreneurs status in the society, many of them considered that
they command good respect. However,
there has been reinforcement in the minds of people that women are not equal to
men both physically and mentally. Total change
in the outlook of society is required so that women could be respected well and
assures them with a good amount of protection in the make dominant society.
vii. The
respondents are of the opinion that they have to accept challenges in social
and economic spheres and they have to play a prominent role in shaping the
society. However, it is to be noted that
they have to accept that they must aware of their problems in the society.
viii.It is evident from the study that
most of the respondents are in need of supplementing the earnings of their
families. The encouragement received
from the husband is evidently higher than that of the parents.
ix.
The study reveals that the attitude of employees
towards the respondents is favourable.
It is appreciable that 54% of their employees are satisfied with the
present working conditions in the organization.
x.
The respondents multiple roles – as an entrepreneur,
mother, daughter and wife their conflicts are studied. A majority of the women entrepreneurs feel
that they could not pay much attention towards the spouses and parents due to
their job. The study identified that the
respondents adopted several techniques to resolve the role conflict.
xi.
Lack of availability of guidelines for issuing loans
and availing credit is a major problem.
xii. Need
for training is high. It was found in
all the cases that absence of training was one of the major reasons for
deviation in performance.
xiii.Quality of raw materials used
should be improved keeping in view the raw material problem of small enterprise
the government makes provision for making
raw materials available to small units.
They provide quality materials at reasonable price.
7. Suggestions
i.
The Group Women Entrepreneurship approach should be
made an integral part of the National women’s welfare programmes as it shall
encourage and promote women entrepreneurs to participate actively in the work
of socio-economic development. Due
recognition should be given to the integrity of women’s knowledge in its own
right or of the value of this knowledge in contributing to women
entrepreneurship.
ii.
Women should be made aware about facilities, programmes/
schemes and support of associations available for promotion of women
entrepreneurship.
iii.
Emphasis should be made to develop and disseminate
appropriate technologies and labour reducing devices for various household
works for relieving the double burden on women entrepreneurs.
iv.
Government and Non-Government organizations should be
launch nation-wide efforts for the provision of crèches, nurseries and child
care facilities with locations and time tables convenient to the schedules of
women entrepreneurs both in urban and rural environment, involving women in the
planning, implementation and operation of
enterprise, keeping double burden priorities which need to be lightened
or removed from either domain, wherever necessary organize women’s association
and common facility centres for GWE or individual women entrepreneurs.
v. Last but not the least, promote technical and
managerial training, appropriate to meet the needs of the enterprise of women
at all levels.
8. Conclusion
Women
play a vital role in the society by adopting and practicing the changes in the
social and economic fields. The study is
based on the survey conducted to explore the problems of women
entrepreneurs. Good environment for
women entrepreneurship growth can be evolved.
It can be done by removing the problems of the culture of developing
countries. Though this study finds out certain good results about importance of
different contributory factors, but we have come across the lower awareness of
women about real problems associated with the entrepreneurship. This is inferred by seeing the results of
different factors such as risk taking behaviour, project planning etc.
Ultimately,
however, woman entrepreneurship must be recognized for what it is. Nationally, it has great importance for
future economic prosperity.
Individually, business ownership provides woman with independence they
crave for and with economic and social satisfaction.
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Tulus, (2009), Women entrepreneurship in Asian developing countries: Their development and main constraints,
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5. G.S. Batra , & R.C. Dangwal (2002), Entrepreneurship
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