Nurturing entrepreneurship beyond the gender bias

In the past few decades, women have gradually established their stance across industries and verticals, including in the entrepreneurial world. The winds of change in societal stereotypes have further helped fuel the impetus of this movement. However, while there still continues to be a gender bias in the workplace which is arduous to overlook, the Indian corporate and entrepreneurial ecosystem is also simultaneously undergoing a massive change, in response to the new dynamics.

Even as glass ceiling continue to shatter and new frontiers accomplished, for women in business, there are three key principals that have been effective in ensuring that women can move forward with confidence. These include:

Networking:

The decadent success endowed upon female leaders and professionals can be attributed to their natural efficacy in teamwork. Irrespective of the domain, the success of India’s cottage industry and handicrafts to female-based F&B businesses and start-ups, one key strength is the ability to work in perfect sync and harmony with fellow colleagues. Networking, in the modern times, is an entrepreneur’s vital need to ensure one finds support, guidance and opportunities to grow manifold. Cultivating this natural talent for women can be the first steps to business success.

 Manifestation:

Manifestation is often synonymous with a constant remembrance of one’s end goal and vision. Women business leaders, in addition to personal hurdles like office-related frustration, despair, hopelessness, may also face social challenges or an apparent lack of bandwidth when juggling with personal and professional responsibilities. Manifesting success and consistent growth is essentially what helps most women rise through the ranks and achieve their goals, despite the hardships.

Delivery/Execution:

The service quality, customer connect, and timeliness of delivery also aid in forming the foundational blocks of any successful business endeavor. Earnestness, sincerity, timeliness and an empathetic approach to serving client requirements are some attributes that characterize women professionals. These USPs, when leveraged effectively along with a shrewd business sense and focused approach, aid client loyalty and strong brand valuation.

Some key pillars of the evolving business ecosystem for women:

Fortuitously, there’s a wide sphere of prestige on the path of the women that trod as entrepreneurs:

Government Aid:

Multiple government-initiated schemes that line a female entrepreneur’s path in the enterprising world have been initiated to highlight and give importance to women empowerment. Examples of such initiatives include the Udyogini Scheme and the Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme that provide financial grants to propel a woman’s entrepreneurial venture.

Banking Grants:

The Bhartiya Mahila Bank, in collaboration with the State Bank of India, has devised certain schemes that allow women to avail loans of up to Rs 20 Lakhs. The Cent Kalyani scheme from the Central Bank of India also offers a specialized interest rate of 8.75 per cent minimum for those seeking to acquire loans for their enterprise and there are many such similar monetary endowments.

Corporate Indulgence:

Conglomerates like Amazon are also rendering specialized platforms for women entrepreneurs with opportunities like the Saheli store, a dedicated storefront on the site to properly display the creations of female entrepreneurs to encourage higher participation.

Regardless of the plethora of problems that women face every day, they continue to grow in the entrepreneurial sector and shatter the ever-imposing glass ceiling. Gender bias continues to exist since the dawn of time. However, the continual development in various domains has begun to witness the blurred lines that exist in the enterprise, which makes all the difference.

By Agnelorajesh Athaide, Serial & Social Entrepreneur, Co-founder and chief mentor of The Business opportunities club (BOC), Real Estate Developer, Educationist, Angel Investor & Motivational Speaker