Who says women can’t run a business? Many examples are around us who broke the barriers and overcome the Problems Faced By Female Entrepreneurs and set a benchmark for male entrepreneurs as well. Many women entrepreneurs are running successful billion or trillion businesses and giving competition to male businesses. However, still, many people are living with orthodox minds and discouraging women who want to set up their businesses. Apart from the conservative mindset of orthodox people, there are other problems that female entrepreneurs commonly face.
The list is quite long but with determination, hard work and zeal to make a difference in the entrepreneurial world, one needs to overcome the obstacles that come in the way. Only then, one can run a successful business whether it is a man or woman. However, we can’t deny the fact that female entrepreneurs face more problems and struggles as compared to male entrepreneurs. In this context, we are present here to talk about a few common yet problematic situations faced by female entrepreneurs. The main subject of this writing is focused on drawing the attention of readers towards the Problems Faced By Female Entrepreneurs.
Through this article, we will not only talk about what are the problems faced by women entrepreneurs but also look for a solution to them. So, any young female entrepreneur who is planning to establish her business and wants to know what kind of problems they will face in the initial stage and how they will tackle them needs to not go anywhere. Before talking about their problems and their solutions, firstly we want to draw the attention of people towards the term female entrepreneurs. We believe that we should stop using the word male or female when we are talking about entrepreneurs.
According to several people, the word male or female is not suitable with the word business as who cares who is running a business. What matters is how it is bringing impactful differences and how it is contributing to the nation’s economy. Well, it is a whole different topic, which we will surely address in a separate article, now let’s back to the main subject Problems Faced By Female Entrepreneurs and Solutions To Problems Faced By Female Entrepreneurs.
What Are The Problems Faced By Women Entrepreneurs?
It is an undeniable fact that women face several challenges while setting up a business as well as expanding it. Despite having all the qualities that are required in an entrepreneur, females are always judged by society. Their qualifications, best efforts and expertise are always questionable in society but female entrepreneurs are overcoming it and due to that around 20% of women own and run a smooth and successful business. It is worth noting that India has 63 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and out of this 20% of female entrepreneurs give employment to 22 to 27 million people.
As per the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs12 (MIWE, 2021), India is standing in 75th position among 65 countries. Now, it is time to have a look at the most common problems faced by female entrepreneurs and who knows with the solution of it, female entrepreneurs can surpass their position at MIWE.
Some of the Common Problems Faced by Female Entrepreneurs:
1. Gender Barriers-
It is one of the most common yet challenging problems faced by women entrepreneurs. Despite living in the 21st century, the orthodox mindset of some conservative people is working as a barrier. It is not like the government and people are not doing anything about it, many schemes and funds programmes have been established by them to encourage women’s empowerment and leadership. But still, it is challenging for females to prove their leadership and entrepreneurship. To tackle this situation, it is important to encourage diversity and inclusion.
2. Limited Sectors For Women Entrepreneurship-
It is quite shameful that despite making many measures and policies to encourage gender equality, men still dominate the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The reports state that most female entrepreneurs in the nation are running low-revenue sectors in comparison to men who are controlling more profitable businesses in almost every sector. Even female entrepreneurs avoid working in male-centric industries and are mostly involved in women-centric industries such as skin and beauty care, education, food and apparel.
3. Access To Capital Investment-
It is tough to get investment for a business if one does not have a strong financial background. And when it comes to a female entrepreneur, then it’s a more difficult situation. Female entrepreneurs have limited access to capital investment especially when they are trying to set up a new venture. Even the private and commercial sector banks do not consider businesswomen to have a high sense of creditworthiness.
4. Difficulties For Getting Raw Materials-
It is another common problem faced by female entrepreneurs. Many female entrepreneurs have accepted the fact that they faced issues while procuring raw materials from the side of suppliers. Most of the suppliers discriminate against female entrepreneurs when they demand raw materials. However, time has evolved and many suppliers are genuinely working as supplier agents of raw materials but still, some suppliers are living with the same mindset.
5. Minimal knowledge of Business-
Despite having a good qualification, several women lack knowledge of business. Many female entrepreneurs accept the fact that they are unable to get adequate education and minimal knowledge of setting up a business. Those female entrepreneurs who started their businesses have faced such a situation and as per them they always advise to play it safe which directly or indirectly draws a thin line in their ability to take risks. The easy solution to this problem is to educate female entrepreneurs and training programmes.
6. Lack of knowledge of government initiatives-
Many female entrepreneurs are unaware of the fact that to encourage female entrepreneurship, many initiatives have been taken by the government. Due to these programmes and initiatives, the difference in the rising number of women entrepreneurs has grown. To tackle the problems faced by female entrepreneurs, the central and state governments have launched many support programmes to guide women entrepreneurs in overcoming these difficulties. Some of the programmes are CGTMSE, Mudra Loan, Udyam Shakti Portal, Stand-up India Scheme, TREAD, and Mahila Coir Yojana.
The list of problems Faced By female entrepreneurs is quite long but through this article, we have tried to cover most of the common problems faced by them. We even tried to provide solutions to problems faced by female entrepreneurs and share some most asked questions.
FAQ:-
Q1: What Are The Problems Faced By Women Entrepreneurs?
Ans: A) Gender Barriers
B) Limited Sectors For Women Entrepreneurship
C) Access To Capital Investment
D) Difficulties In Getting Raw Materials
E) Minimal knowledge of Business
F) Lack of knowledge of government initiatives
Q 2: Is the Government running fund schemes for female entrepreneurs?
Ans: Yes, the government is running many programmes and schemes to encourage female entrepreneurship such as the Mudra Loan, Mahila Coir Yojana and so on.
Also Read: How To Get Funding For Startup In India : A Comprehensive Guide