chapter 6 problems of women entrepreneurs -...

Chapter 6

Problems of women entrepreneurs

Women, who try to enter the field of industry in either managerial or

entrepreneurial role, are generally exposed to various constraints. This , not only

limits the scope of their contribution to the industrialization process, but also hinders

the productive utilization of an available human resource, that is in short supply in

our country. Though the entrepreneurial process is the same for men and women,

there are however, in practice, women have to confront many additional problems of

varying dimensions and magnitudes, which prevent them from realizing their full

potential as entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs experience multidimensional

constraints. Entrepreneurship by definition implies being in control of one‟s life and

activities. It is precisely this independence that societies in the region have denied

women. The fact cannot be denied that problems follow women like a shadow.

When a woman has overcome a problem, many more will crop up. The women

entrepreneur has to face initial problems i.e. starting problems. She is confronted

with more problems when the enterprise is in the running state. She, therefore, has to

look after the entire spectrum of problems despite the great limitations under which

she functions.

Women as a group, face many additional hurdles when compared with their

male counterparts. It is to be remembered that the very concept of entrepreneurship

will cease to exist unless there is the element of struggle. So women will have to

brave the odds and succeed. Many studies indicate that at the very point of starting a

small business, women are found to face more barriers than men. Research has

shown that women face a number of difficulties in establishing and maintaining

business. Although most of these difficulties are common to both genders, in many

cases they tend to be more significant for female entrepreneurs.

Chapter 6 Problems of women entrepreneurs

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT MEASURES

PROMOTED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN KERALA 234

The governments at the centre and the states have established a number of

specialized institutions to cater to the needs of women entrepreneurs but they still

face many problems. The plethora of institutions without any effective co-ordination

and subsequent snags/ lacunae at the implementation level has resulted in a wide gap

between the plans and their implementation. The problems of industries whether in

small, medium or large scale sector, are almost similar but their nature and scope

vary. This chapter deals with the problems and constraints faced by sample women

entrepreneurs in the course of starting and managing their respective enterprises.

Women entrepreneurs do, however, face many institutional and attitudinal barriers

in their quest for greater participation in the industrial development activities of the

country. Even though an atmosphere of investor friendly state was created, the

industrial growth in Kerala is much lower than the national average .Kerala has an

attractive climate for investment but it has failed to elicit the required response by

way of output and employment growth in the industrial sector of the state‟s

economy. The small scale sector also faces the crucial problems of sustenance and

survival. The opening up of world economy in the process of globalization and the

vanishing geographical boundaries has resulted in formidable challenges for the

small producers and manufacturers. Such small players are struggling not only to

withstand tough competition but also to create an identity for themselves in the

global commodity chain.

This chapter proposes to identify the major problems of women entrepreneurs

with the objective of analyzing the various problems faced by them and to suggest

some remedial measures, which will help set matters right and thereby accelerate the

process of the creation and promotion of women.

6.1. PROBLEMS FACED BY WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

The respondents were asked to list down the major problems and constraints

faced by them in the course of starting and managing their business. The problems

identified have been categorized, as depicted in table 6.1 , into six main heads , i.e.

Problems pertaining to finance, marketing, socio- personal, production, labor, and

technical problems.




TABLE 6.1

Problems Faced by Women Entrepreneurs

Problems Number Percentage

Financial 208 69.33

Marketing 197 65.66

Socio personal problems 183 61

Production 124 41.33

Labour problems 102 34

Technical 96 32

These problems are dealt with in detail below.

6.1.1. Financial problems

Typically, women entrepreneurs of small scale enterprises start well but

somewhere down the line in the day- to- day operations, they miss the route to

success. In more than half such cases the reasons identified can be attributed to

financial mismanagement. Financial support as well as financial viability, therefore,

is the most important consideration of any business proposition. The following table

shows in detail the main financial problems faced by women entrepreneurs.

TABLE 6.2

Financial problems of women entrepreneurs

Problems Number Per cent

Limited working capital 115 38.33

Sales on credit 65 21.66

Lack of collateral security and margin

Money to secure the money borrowed

60 20

Fear of taking more loan 44 14.66

Complicated lengthy procedures of loan sanctioning 40 13.33

Apprehensions of financial institutions for the

recovery of the loans

41 13.66

Reluctance of financial institutions to extend credit to

women

50 16.66

Unawareness about the source of borrowing 12 4

Some respondents have more than one problem




Finance is a most important aspect of any business. Access to finance is a key

issue for women. Accessing credit, particularly for starting an enterprise, is one of

the major constraints faced by women entrepreneurs. Limited working capital, sales

on credit, lack of collateral security and margin money to secure the money

borrowed, fear of taking more loan, complicated lengthy procedures of loan

sanctioning, reluctance of financial institutions to extend credit to women, lack of

awareness about the source of borrowing, were found to be the major financial

problems, faced by respondents according to the multiple responses, given by them.

Of the total 300 respondents 257 of them had received some kind of financial

assistance. The rest 43 respondents, 15 of them attempted to acquire loan, but it was

not successful. And the rest didn‟t need assistance. The Study shows further more

that 55 per cent of all businesses tried to obtain a bank loan at some stage of their

development and slightly less than 90 per cent succeeded eventually. This very high

success rate may be explained by several reasons. First of all, the unsuccessful

applicant may not start a business at all, and since only existing businesses are

surveyed, unsuccessful attempts, which prevented the start of the business, are not

captured. Secondly, self-selection may play a role, i.e. only people who think that

they are likely to receive a loan, apply for it. Thirdly, entrepreneurs are likely to

under-report unsuccessful attempts. The present Study also found that many

entrepreneurs made several attempts to acquire a loan, some of which were

successful but many were not. This means that eventually a high percentage

succeeded, although many requests were turned down. Hence, the eventual success

rate experienced by entrepreneurs is much higher than the success rate recorded by

lending institutions. Finally, and most importantly for the entrepreneurs, it appears

that persistence pays off.

6.1.2 Marketing problems

Stiff competition was the dominant problem faced by 41.66 per cent of the

respondents. Exploitation by middlemen ranked the second. More than one fourth of

the respondents faced the problems of lack of traveling mobility (18 per cent) and

high cost of advertising / sales promotion (19 per cent).Fluctuation in the demand of




product service ( 13.33per cent ) and fluctuation in the prices of products (17.33 per

cent ) are also faced by one fourth of the respondents. And 15 per cent of them faced

the problems of lack of adequate marketing orientation.

TABLE 6.3

Marketing Problems of Women Entrepreneurs


Stiff competition 125 41.66

Exploitation by middlemen 76 25.33

Lack of traveling mobility 54 18

High cost of sales promotion 57 19

Lack of adequate marketing orientation 45 15

Fluctuation in the demand of product/service 40 13.33

Fluctuation in the prices of products 52 17.33


Stiff competition in the market and lack of mobility of women make the

dependence of women entrepreneurs on middlemen indispensable. Many business

women find it difficult to capture the market and make their products popular. They

are not fully aware of the changing market conditions and hence depend on the

services of the media and the internet. 15 per cent of the respondents did not have

adequate marketing orientation. Many times their business does not take off because

they lack a standard trademark. Often people do not buy products which are not

branded, even though they are of good quality. Hence marketing skills are necessary

to sell the product. Women, often do not know how to market their products,

advertise it and sell it to people, and are struck with the products themselves. Given

the right opportunity and encouragement they will be very successful and eventually

overcome all the problems.

6.1.3 Socio-personal problems

One characteristic that clearly distinguishes most businesswomen from their

male counterparts is the added responsibility society often puts upon them in their

roles as mothers and wives. The time taken up and the emotional burden created by




these dual role responsibilities often interfere directly with the conduct of business

for women in ways that do not apply to the majority of men. The often prevailing

attitude that the women‟s place is at home and that her first priority is to look after

the home and family constrains keep away many married women from venturing

into entrepreneurship. Even for the women who are interested, the fact that marriage

often results in geographical displacement, makes entrepreneurship the last option.

Women‟s enterprises are taking a second place to home as one of the main

weaknesses of women entrepreneurs in India.

TABLE 6.4

Socio- personal problems of women entrepreneurs


Dual duties 145 48.33

Limited liberty to women 44 14.66

Resistance from husband /family at the time of

start 40 13.33

Negative attitude of the lab our force 50 16.66

Indifferent attitude of the society 45 15

Male dominance 38 12.66


48.33 per cent of the entrepreneurs were suffering because of dual duties.

Married women also have to make a fine balance between home and business. Thus,

despite modernization, tradition and family slow down women. Moreover,

“interfacing and interacting” with women as professionals is still an awkward

experience for many men due to the deep rooted traditional perception of male-

female relationship.

Unlike men, women mobility in India is highly limited due to various

reasons. A single woman asking for independent room is still looked upon with

suspicion. In most of the cases and in most of the places these entrepreneurs cannot

act and / or move freely and independently. 14.66 per cent of the respondents cited

the problem of this limited liberty to women. Cumbersome exercise involved in




starting an enterprise, coupled with the officials humiliating behavior and negative

attitude towards women entrepreneurs, often compel them to give up the idea of

starting an enterprise.

Efficient management of human resources is an important factor in

determining the growth and prosperity of a business enterprise. This is particularly

true in case of small-scale industry, where the owners have to forge a close and more

personal association with their employees. The women entrepreneur also expressed

their inability to change the negative attitude of the labour force (16.66 per cent)

while some of them even complained of „the unionism‟ amongst them. Moreover,

the women entrepreneurs admitted the lack of experience and self confidence on

their part to deal with the personnel management in their organizations.

6.1.5 Production Problems

Production in a manufacturing enterprise involves co - ordination of a

number of activities while some of these activities are in the control of entrepreneur,

there are others over which she has little control. Improper coordination or

unintended delay in execution of any activity is going to cause production problems

in the industry.

TABLE 6.5

Production problems of women entrepreneurs

Production Problems Number Percentage

Inability to keep pace with recent advances in

technology 95 31.66

In adequate availability of proper working area 70 23.33

Problem of raw material 39 13


A major problem faced by prospective women entrepreneurs is their inability

to get allocation for themselves of an adequate and appropriate place for their units

to be located (23.33 per cent). Inability of women entrepreneurs to keep pace with




latest advances in technology and lack of technical knowhow (31.66 per cent) result

in high cost of technology acquisition and machinery utilization. These problems

result in increasing the cost of production and adversely affect the profitability of the

unit. The government‟s attitude although very helpful at the macro level, does not

translate into effective action so far as allotments for sheds and plots are concerned.

If reservations for women are made, care should be taken to see that women who are

dummy directors or namesake directors, planted for tax evasion purposes, should not

get the benefits which are meant for women who are themselves in the thick of

industry. Production problems faced by maximum respondents (13 per cent) were

the non-availability of raw material

6.1.6 Labour problems

The small industrialist cannot afford to employ workers and supervisors

having a sound educational background and the requisite experience in production

and in trade. Any training programme should provide not only proper

entrepreneurial motivation and skill but should also ensure that entrepreneurs are

capable of developing their enterprises well by scientific-managerial techniques and

contents in various fields of management- financial management, marketing

management, production management and inventory control. Even though labor is

available, availability of skilled laborers had been a problem, which leads to

substantial wastage of material and time in educating them.

TABLE 6.6

Labour problems

Labor problems Number Percentage

Non availability of skilled and experienced personal 125 41.66

Absenteeism 81 27

General insufficiency of the personal 69 23

High salary /wages/ bonus demand 45 15

High turnover of the staff /workers 42 14

Strained labour relations 20 6.66




Small scale industries suffer from various handicaps. One of the most

important among these is the non availability of technical and managerial personnel

of the required caliber. 41.66 per cent of the respondents are vexed of this problem.

They found recruitment of trained and skilled people itself a problem and even if

they somehow got some personnel with acceptable skill, it was difficult to train

them. Training personnel took a lot of time and effort and other things like quality

and cost had to be sacrificed to a certain extent. What is worse is that many persons

quit soon after having received the training and the problem was repeated again.

Hence training personnel became a continuous problem.

6.1.7 Technical problems

Developing managerial capability and putting it to optimum use is a problem

faced by a majority of women entrepreneurs. If an effort is made to identify the

input most required for rapid economic development, it is likely that the major

scarce input would be identified as skill, and more particularly managerial skills,

both within male and female populations.

TABLE 6.7

Technical problems

Technical Problems Number Percentage

Difficulty in repairs & maintenance of machinery

involved

47 15.66

Lack of technical know how involved 38 12.66

Non availability of modern technology 34 11.33

Lack of specialized skills to work to a specific

project

28 9.33

About 15.66 per cent of the entrepreneurs face problems in repairs and

maintenance of machinery. For 11.33 per cent of the respondents the problem is non

availability of modern technology. Women must be educated and trained constantly

to acquire the skills and knowledge in all the functional areas of business




management. This can facilitate women to excel in decision making process and

develop a good business network. As the majority of the players belong to small

scale industry and have limited amount of capital, they are not in a position to

upgrade the technology. The technology up gradation will require huge amount of

investment. As a result the quality of the product is substandard.

6.2. NATURE OF PROBLEM SOLVING

TABLE 6.8

Nature of problem solving

Nature of problem solving Number Percentage

Independently 102 34

Jointly with husband 125 41.66

With family members 34 11.33

With employees 12 4

With experts 15 5

With partners 12 4

The table above shows the nature of problem solving of the sample

respondents. It is seen that majority of the women entrepreneurs i.e. 41.66 percent of

them solves the problems of their business jointly with the husbands. 34 per cent of

them take the decisions independently. 11.33 per cent takes the advice of family

members in solving various problems associated with their enterprise. Only a

minority of 5 and 4 per cent of the entrepreneurs takes decisions after consulting the

experts in the field and with partners.

6.3. OPINION REGARDING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Opinion of the women entrepreneurs regarding women entrepreneurship was

sought. Ten statements were given about women entrepreneurship and they were

asked give their opinion.




TABLE 6.9

Opinion regarding women entrepreneurship related issues

Opinion SA A D SD

Right place for women is at home 15 (5)

9 (3)

160 (53.33)

116 (38.67)

Acquiring of technical knowhow is a problem

for women 14

(4.67) 143

(47.67) 125

(41.67) 18 (6)

Management training is must for women

entrepreneurs 145

(48.33) 129 (43)

18 (6)

8 (2.67)

Women entrepreneurs cannot survive without

the help of husband /family members 24 (8)

109

(36.33) 129 (43)

38

(12.67)

Women become entrepreneurs due to

economic compulsion 13

(4.33) 94

(31.33) 153 (51)

40

(13.33)

Ideal stage for women to take up

entrepreneurial career is before marriage 11

(3.67) 28

(9.33) 223

(74.33) 38

(12.67)

Availing financial assistance from support

system is a problem for women entrepreneurs 59

( 19.67) 180 (60)

40 (13.33)

21 (7)

Women entrepreneurial career results in

neglecting children , family and home 28

(9.33) 41

(13.67) 186 (62)

45 (15)

There should be Separate Support Agencies

For women entrepreneurs 42

(14) 189 (63)

37 (12.33)

32

(10.67)

Supervision and control of labour is easy for

women entrepreneur 7

(2.33) 118

(39.33) 162 (54)

13 (4.33)

Right place for women is at home; Majority of the women entrepreneurs were

against the statement that right place for women is at home. 38.67 per cent of the

respondents strongly disagree with this statement. 53.33 per cent of them disagree

with this statement. Only 8 per cent of them agree with the statement.

Acquiring technical Know-how is a Problem for women; 47.67 per cent of the

respondents agree with this statement. 41.67 per cent of them disagree with this.

Only 4.67 strongly agree with this statement. And 6 per cent of them strongly

disagree with this statement.




Management Training is must for Women Entrepreneurs; 48.33 per cent of the

respondents strongly agree with this statement.43 per cent agree. 8.67 per cent of the

respondents are not agreeing with this statement.

Women Entrepreneurs cannot survive Without the Support of Family; 43 per

cent of the respondents disagree with this statement. Those who strongly disagree

with the statement are 12.67 per cent. 36.33 per cent of them agree with the

statement and 8 per cent of them strongly agree with this statement.

Women become entrepreneurs due to economic compulsion; Regarding this

statement majority of the respondent‟s .i.e. 51 per cent of them disagree and 13.33

per cent of the respondents strongly disagree. Those who agree with the statement

are 35.66 per cent.

Ideal stage for women to take up entrepreneurial career is before marriage;

Majority of the respondents (74.33 per cent) disagrees with this statement and 12.67

per cent of them strongly disagree. 9.33 per cent of them agree with this and 3.67 per

cent of them strongly agree.

Availing financial assistance from support system is a problem for women

entrepreneurs;

Most of the respondents .i.e. 60 per cent of them agree and 19.67 per cent of them

strongly agree with this statement. And 20.33 per cent of the respondents disagree

with this statement.

Women entrepreneurial career results in neglecting children, family and home;

62 per cent of the respondents disagree with this statement and 15 per cent of them

strongly disagree. Those who agree with this are 23 per cent of them agree with this

statement.

There should be separate support agencies for women entrepreneurs; 77per

cent of the respondents are of the opinion that there should be separate support

agencies for women entrepreneurs. 12.33 per cent of them disagree with the

statement and 10.67 per cent of them strongly disagree with this statement.




Supervision and control of labour is easy for women entrepreneur; The per cent

of respondents who agree with this statement are 41.66. And the respondents who

disagree with the statement are 58 per cent.

The major factors hindering the success of Women Entrepreneurs were

studied and presented in this chapter. These problems are mainly due to the present

trend of entrepreneurial promotions and training programmes imparted to the

Women Entrepreneurs. It is a fact that the Human resource development efforts of

the entrepreneurship development programmes mainly remain confined to certain

limited areas or topics that too done irrationally. This has led to the mushrooms of

similar enterprises thereby increasing competition in the market. This emphasis the

need of entrepreneurial counseling and promotion with well planned market surveys.

This requires much insight on the part of the officials to assess the local resources

and employment potential, identify areas and plan training strategies accordingly.

chapter 6 problems of women entrepreneurs -...

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