A STUDY ON CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN ERODE

Transcription

1 A STUDY ON CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN ERODE T. SRIVIDHYA Research Scholar, PRIMS, Periyar University, Salem. Dr. V.R. PALANIVELU Associate Professor, PRIMS, Periyar University, Salem. drvrpalanivelu@gmail.com ABSTRACT Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or a group of women who initiate, organize and operate a business enterprise. The Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as an enterprise owned and controlled by women having a minimum financial interest of 51 per cent of the capital and giving at least 51 per cent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women. In India women comprise 40% of the population. Yet they have secondary position in the society. Their role is confined within the four walls of the household activities. In the male dominated society discrimination against the fair sex is still being practiced in different forms. At this juncture can expect a woman can act as entrepreneurs with lot of challenges. The researcher has selected around 600 women entrepreneurs in Salem district of Tamil Nadu. The empirical data of this research was selected by using stratified random sampling, using quantitative research methodology. Percentage analysis has been used to test the demographic profile of the respondents. The level of satisfaction with respect to the demographic profile of women entrepreneurs was tested through adequate hypothesis; chi-square test was performed to test its relationship. KEYWORDS Women Entrepreneurs, Challenges, Opportunity, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneur, Rural India, Economic Activity, National Development, Business, Dual Role, Entrepreneurial Talents.

2 1. INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurship refers to setting a new business to take advantages from new opportunities. Entrepreneur is the key factor of entrepreneurship and now women are successful as they have desired qualities. Entrepreneurship is a suitable profession for women than regular employment. Women are taking interest in the Entrepreneurship in present years than past. The women have achieved immense development in their mind. With increasing dependency on services sectors, many opportunities are there for women. During last two decades, increasing numbers of Indian women in have entered the field of entrepreneurship and also they change the face of business. Women have been taking interest in recent year in self business. In the process of Entrepreneurship, women have to face various problems and these problems get doubled because of her dual role as earner and homemakers. In India most of the homemakers want to start their own business but there is so many problems faced by them. They feel frustrated in dual role. Government started several programme for the training of women entrepreneurship. Training program create the interest among women and helpful to increase the skills and also to build the social attitude, high confidence. In India women comprise 40% of the population. Yet they have secondary position in the society. Their role is confined within the four walls of the household activities. In the male dominated society discrimination against the fair sex is still being practiced in different forms. At this juncture can expect a woman can act as entrepreneurs. In yesteryears the life of Indian women was like a well defined predictable master plan. It began with a girl playing with dolls and built to the crescendo of marriage. However, in this modern age things have been changed a lot. Spread of education coupled with a revolutionary change in the field of information and technology brings a significant change of the status of women in the society. Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area and the seventh most populous state. It is the second largest state economy in India as of The state ranked 6th among states in India according to the Human Development Index as of Tamil Nadu is also the most urbanized state in India. The state has the highest number (10.56 per cent) of business enterprises and stands second in total employment (9.97 per cent) in India, compared to the population share of about 6 per cent. Tamil Nadu is subdivided into 32 districts, there are lakhs SSI units owned by women in India, 87.7% units are unregistered and only 12.93% are registered units. Small scale industrial units owned by women entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu are units 15.23% of total units in India and second in all over India. The percentage of registered units in itself speaks about the growth of women entrepreneurs in India. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Prabhakara (2014) found that the aim of this study is to discuss the issues regarding women entrepreneurship in Namex International Journal of Management Research 10 Vol. 3, Issue No. 2, July Dec ISSN

3 rural India. He found that absence of definite agenda of life, absence of balance between family and career obligations of women, poor degree of financial freedom for women, absence of direct ownership of the property, the paradox of entrepreneurial skill & finance in economically rich and poor women, no awareness about capacities, low ability to bear risk, problems of work with male workers, negligence by financial institutions, lack of selfconfidence, lack of professional education, mobility constraints and lack of interaction with successful entrepreneurs are major problems of women entrepreneurship development in India. According to Rajani and Sarada (2008), entrepreneurship amongst women has been a recent development. The entrepreneur is a person who has enterprising quality, takes initiative and establishes an economic activity or enterprise. They found women need for effective enterprise management, a large quantity of co-operation and encouragement in the sphere of activity, at all levels home and in society and from governmental organizations. Ali and Mahamud (2013) conducted a study with 125 women entrepreneurs in Banadir region and found self recognition and economic necessities are the major factors that motivate Women entrepreneurs also this study revealed that the performance of Somali women owned business are somewhat low due to women perform their business in terms of independence and social recognition compared to men. Notices from a study conducted by Sharma and Sezhiyan (2013) that women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the National economy are quite perceptible in India. The number of women entrepreneurs has grown over a period of time, especially in the 1990s. Women entrepreneurs need to be lauded for their increased utilization of modern technology, investments, finding a suitable for place marketing their product, creating employment and setting up the trend for encouraging other women entrepreneurs. Although women entrepreneurs have established their potential, the fact remains that they are capable of contributing much more than what they already are. As compared to men, women are less motivated to start business. A study conducted by Bula (2012) in Kenya and he found family characteristics and responsibilities independently have no significant relationship to performance. Marital status of the women owners and managers of SSEs in Kenya are not significant to performance. 3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM According to World Bank, investing more in business of women rather in men leads to greater development of a nation. Empowering women in entrepreneurship leads to break the inequalities and reduces the poverty. Entrepreneurship plays an important role in developing society of a fast developing country like India. Nowadays it has been realized that enterprising women have cast entrepreneurial talents which could be harnessed so as to convert them from the position of Jobseekers to Job givers. The Namex International Journal of Management Research 11 Vol. 3, Issue No. 2, July Dec ISSN

4 government has realized the importance of women entrepreneurship. As a result, it offers a variety of programmes for women entrepreneurs. As compared to men, women are less motivated to start business units due to some unwanted fear, lack of motivation and type of activities. Thus, this research aims at undertaking the challenges of women entrepreneurs that highlights their motivational forces and relationship between socio-economic background of women entrepreneurs, motivational factors and their existing entrepreneurial traits. 4. OBJECTIVES OF THE SUDY To study the socio-economic conditions of the women entrepreneurs in Erode district. To identify the success level of the women entrepreneurs in their business. 5. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY There is no significant difference between selected independent factors and their level of success. 6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY First hand information pertaining to the women entrepreneur demographic profile, opinion of success level in their business and problems faced in their business were collected from 600 sample respondents by using stratified random sampling technique. For finding the result of the respondents opinion, statistical tools like percentage analysis, chi-square test and Henry Garrett Ranking technique were used. 7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Respondents opinion have been collected and discussed in the following tables. 7.1 Demographic Profile of Respondents Percentage Analysis The distribution of the sample respondents according to their age, working department, designation, educational qualification, monthly income, experience, family size, family type, working hours and distance to work is discussed in the following table. Table No. 1: Demographic Profile of the Respondents S. No Factors No. of Respondent Percentage Age level 1 Upto 30 years years Above 40 years Education Qualification 1 No formal Education Primary level Secondary level Higher Secondary Graduate Parental Occupation Namex International Journal of Management Research 12 Vol. 3, Issue No. 2, July Dec ISSN

5 S. No Factors No. of Respondent Percentage 1 Government employee Agriculturist Private Employee Industrialist Marital Status 1 Single Married Community 1 OC BC MBC SC/ST Monthly Income 1. Upto Rs Rs Above Rs Nature of firm 1 Manufacturing Retailing Service Form of the firm 1 Sole proprietorship Partnership Private Limited Company Public Limited Company Size of the firm 1 Small (Upto Rs.50000) Medium (Rs to Rs.1 lakh) Large (Above Rs.1 lakh) It is found from the analysis that majority of the respondents belongs to upto 30 years age group, educated with higher secondary level and their parents are government employees. Most of them are unmarried, BC category, earning upto Rs.5000 in a month, running retailing firm, sole proprietorship and having small size firm ie., they invested upto Rs Relationship between Demographic Profile of the women entrepreneurs and level of success in their business ANOVA Analysis In order to find the relationship between age, working department, designation, educational qualification, monthly income, experience, family size, family type, working hours and distance to work and level of satisfaction towards job is Namex International Journal of Management Research 13 Vol. 3, Issue No. 2, July Dec ISSN

6 discussed by using the following hypothesis. H 0 : There is no significant difference between age of the women entrepreneurs and success level in their business. H 1 : There is no significant difference between age of the women entrepreneurs and success level in their business. Table No. 2 : Success Level in Business S. No. Variables Mean Score SD F Value Result Age 1. Upto 30 years years Not Sig. 3. Above 40 years Educational Qualification 1 No formal Education Primary level Secondary level Not Sig. 4 Higher Secondary Graduate Parental Occupation 1 Government employee Agriculturist Private Employee Not Sig. 4 Industrialist Marital status 1 Single Married Not Sig. Community 1 OC BC MBC Sig. at 5% 4 SC/ST Monthly Income 1 Upto Rs Rs Not Sig. 3 Above Rs Nature of firm 1 Manufacturing Retailing Not Sig. 3 Service Form of the firm 1 Sole proprietorship Partnership Private Limited Company Not Sig. 4 Public Limited Company Size of the firm 1 Small (Upto Rs.50000) Medium (Rs to Rs.1 lakh) Not Sig. 3 Large (Above Rs.1 lakh) NS Not Significant Namex International Journal of Management Research 14 Vol. 3, Issue No. 2, July Dec ISSN

7 It is stated from the above table that maximum level of success in business among the women entrepreneurs who belongs to upto 30 years age group, maximum level of success in business among the selected women entrepreneurs who qualified the graduate level, maximum level of success in business among the women entrepreneurs whose parents are industrialist, maximum level of success among the women entrepreneurs perceived by the single respondents, maximum level of success in business among the women entrepreneurs who belong to MBC community, maximum level of success among the women entrepreneurs who earn Rs per month, maximum level of success among the women entrepreneurs who running manufacturing industry, maximum level of success among the women entrepreneurs who were having public limited company and maximum level of success in business among the women entrepreneurs who were having small size firm. It is noted from the F test analysis that the null hypothesis is accepted for age, educational qualification, parental occupation, marital status, monthly income, nature of firm, form of the firm and size of the firm. Hence, it is found that there is no significant difference between age, educational qualification, parental occupation, marital status, monthly income, nature of firm, form of the firm and size of the firm and their success level in business. On the other hand, the null hypothesis is rejected for monthly income and so there is a significant difference between monthly income level and success level in business of the selected sample respondents. 8. RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION Most of the women entrepreneurs are of the opinion that because of lack of training, they are not able to survive in the market. Hence, the government should conduct frequent training programmes with regard to new production techniques, sales techniques, etc, This training should be made compulsory for women entrepreneurs. Finance is the first major problem for women entrepreneurs. Hence, the government can provide interest free loans to encourage women entrepreneurs. To attract more women entrepreneurs, the subsidy for loans should be increased. Since the number of entrepreneurs from scheduled caste and most backward communities is very low, awareness is to be created those women, by providing special attention. Central and State governments should assist woman entrepreneurs to participate in international trade fair, exhibition and conferences. It should create more awareness about their business activities international level and encourage them in their business. Increased support should be provided by the Government to help women entrepreneurs in order to overcome the challenges faced by them. Women entrepreneurs also require support from their family and society. They should be provided easy financial help without putting unrealistic conditions by banks and financial institutions. Namex International Journal of Management Research 15 Vol. 3, Issue No. 2, July Dec ISSN

8 9. REFERENCES Ali, A., & Mahamud, H. (2013). Motivational factors and performance of women entrepreneurs in Somalia. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(17), Bhansali, S.G. (1987). Entrepreneurship Development, Delhi: Himalaya Publishing House. Carter, S. & Cannon, T. (1991). Women as Entrepreneurs: A Study of Female Business Owners: Their Motivations, Experiences and Strategies for Success, Academic Press. Coffee, R. & Scase, R. (1985). Women in Charge: The Experiences of Female Entrepreneurs, London: Allen and Unwin. Dhillon, P.K. (1993). Women Entrepreneurs: Problems and Prospects. New Delhi: Blaze Publishers & Distributors P.Ltd. Prabhakara, T (2014). Socio economic problems of women entrepreneurship in rural India. Indian Streams Research Journal, Vol.4 (1), 1-5. Rajani, N. & Sarada, D. (2008). Women entrepreneurship and support systems. Stud Home Comm Sci, 2(2), Sharma, B. & Sezhiyan, T.G. (2013). Performance of rural women entrepreneurs in Sikkim. The International Research Journal of Economics & Business Studies, 2(12), Namex International Journal of Management Research 16 Vol. 3, Issue No. 2, July Dec ISSN