Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs

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MENTORSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR INDIAN

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs

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India has emerged as the best place for women entrepreneurs to start

business with high level of optimism on various factors that are important to

judge business growth, according to computer company, Dell.

Nearly 25 lakh of India’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are

presently managed by women. According to Ela Bhatt of SEWA, women at top

levels focus on jobs and not just turnover. Their emphasis is on productive

workforce and happier lives rather than on profits.

Women, in general, aspire and work for a ‘gentler and caring economy’. Also

assets are much safer in the hands of women, as compared to those of men.

A survey by Women’s Web found that 57 percent of all women entrepreneurs

started their businesses alone, while 35 percent had a co-founder and just

eight percent were part of teams that involved more than two co-founders.

The majority of women-owned businesses are micro-enterprises or

small/mid-sized businesses, with 73 percent reporting a revenue of under

INR 10 lakh in the 2011-12 financial year.

Women entrepreneurs in the four southern states (Kerala, TN, Karnataka, AP)

and Maharashtra account for over 50% of all women-led small-scale industrial

units in India. Women in India also prefer Bangalore over the National Capital

Region to do business from.

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WHAT HOLDS WOMEN BACK IN GROWING THEIR

BUSINESS?

The top hurdles women entrepreneurs face are :

Arrangement of finances

Shortage of raw materials

Lack of technical know-how and education

Family problems

Other issues include :

Need for harmony

Women are not encouraged to question the status quo, to think out of the box.

Entrepreneurship is disruptive, but women are encouraged to be submissive

and to maintain harmony.

Depending on their savings

Women across geographies struggle to get funding for their business, and few

women entrepreneurs in India seek big-ticket funding from financial

institutions. They depend instead on their savings, limiting the potential to

scale their businesses. Six out of 10 women entrepreneurs started their

business with a capital of under INR 1 lakh, a majority of which used personal

funds and savings were used to start the business.

Unwilling to relinquish control

They may also be reluctant to get seed funding from outside, where the

control moves out from your own hands to being answerable to someone else.

Lack of financial literacy

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Lack of financial literacy is a big problem for women entrepreneurs. They

need to acquire the ability to read cash flow and P&L (profit and loss)

statements, and to learn to speak the language of bankers and investors.

Lack of marketing skills

Learning how to create and promote your web presence online, how to

advertise online, generate leads, conduct sales conversations, convert visitors

– all these tasks need some amount of technical knowledge and expertise.

Women entrepreneurs should attend workshops on digital marketing, so that

even if they hire someone to do it eventually, the fundamentals are clear to

them.

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5 QUALITIES THAT WOMEN NEED TO SUCCEED

The unique challenges of women in leadership are not always easy to

overcome. Here are the 5 essential factors that women need to succeed as

leaders.

1. SELF-ESTEEM

This is simple enough to understand. In a world where women are

encouraged to follow feminine pursuits and treated as less capable than men,

lack of self-esteem is almost an epidemic in women.

“Women systematically underestimate their own abilities,” says Facebook

COO, Sheryl Sandberg in her TED Talk. “Men attribute their success to

themselves while women attribute it to other factors.”

Even high-achieving women lack self-esteem in one or more areas of their

lives. This belief about oneself causes us to self-sabotage at crucial points in

our lives, resulting in lost opportunities, abandoned plans and

underachievement.

2. SELF-WORTH

Self-worth is the belief that you deserve the best that life has to offer. Many

cultures teach women that it is virtuous to be self-sacrificing and give up our

own needs to support the needs of our spouses and children.

Our lack of self-worth shows up in many ways – in how we abuse our bodies,

allow our needs to be undermined and ultimately, in giving up the choice of

having the career or business of our dreams.

3. ASSERTIVENESS

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A woman’s lack of assertiveness comes from being brought up to be “nice” and

“non-argumentative.” We teach our daughters that it is inappropriate to speak

their minds or ask for what they need.

“Women do not negotiate for themselves in the workforce,” says Facebook

COO, Sheryl Sandberg. This makes it hard for women to ask for a raise or a

promotion when she starts a career, and makes her reluctant to ask for bigger

fees or charge higher prices in her business.

4. MENTORS

No one can grow in business or a career without having mentors or role

models. The “old boys club” ensures that men get the mentorship they need in

and out of the boardroom.

For women, however, the lack of strong female role models and women in

leadership positions makes it much harder for them to get the guidance,

coaching and mentorship they need within the organization.

5. SUPPORT

Although women are earning high salaries, many of them are still expected to

manage the roles of wife, mother, cook and maid when they get home. Few

spouses or families are supportive of their need to work long hours or travel

on business.

“Women do three times the amount of childcare than men. As a society, we

put more pressure on our boys to succeed than our girls,” says Facebook COO,

Sheryl Sandberg.

The lack of support at home results in many women giving up their

aspirations to grow in their careers, forcing them to underachieve.

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MENTORING PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS.

BANK OF AMERICA’S GLOBAL AMBASSADORS PROGRAM

Bank of America’s Global Ambassadors Program a Vital Voices and Bank of

America partnership, is designed to provide mentorship opportunities for

emerging women leaders.

Fellows join an online learning platform that connects them to a global

network of peers. Fellows receive technical trainings designed around their

needs on topics including personal leadership, strategic communications and

fundraising.

Leaders may be engaged in this change through work in a variety of fields

including business, non-profit/non-governmental organization, public

office/government (elected or appointed), advocacy initiative or community-

based organization.

http://globalambassadors.vitalvoices.org/

GOLDMAN SACHS 10,000 WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS CERTIFICATE

PROGRAMME

Covers Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. Goldman Sachs and

the ISB provide world class education that helps the participants unleash their

full potential, think big, and grow their businesses.

http://10kwomen.isb.edu/

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TIE (THE INDUS ENTREPRENEURS) STREE-SHAKTI

TiE Stree Shakti (TSS), a movement that aims to connect and enable

enterprising women from different socio-economic strata through a series of

on-ground focus activities that are driven by TiE’s core philosophy of

mentoring, education,inspiration and networking.

The key initiatives undertaken to enable women entrepreneur are On-ground

focused activities for Women Entrepreneurs across various TiE Chapters viz.

‘Chat over Chai’ – a monthly chat with a Women leader/entrepreneur, ‘Can I

Dream Big’ –a series of workshops focused on scaling women enterprise,

‘Business Guidance Camps’ and ‘Group Mentoring Programs’ and ‘Business

Guidance Hotline’ to mentor women entrepreneurs.

http://www.tiestreeshakti.org/

FICCI LADIES ORGANISATION (FLO)

FLO is a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and

Industry (FICCI). It has chapters in Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hydrabad,

Jaipur, Guwahati and Kolkata with its head office in Delhi.

FLO runs a Business Consultancy Cell in Delhi for potential women and men

entrepreneurs to provide consultancy services and extend help in setting up

their units and also provide appropriate guidance during the running of their

units.

FLO also takes and receives delegations abroad to promote bilateral trade,

internationalism and fellowship among women.

http://www.ficciflo.com/

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GOOGLE’S WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ON THE WEB

Women Entrepreneurs on the Web (WeOW) is an initiative aimed at helping

women-owned businesses grow their online presence. As part of the program,

women entrepreneurs will to learn to build their online presence, collaborate

effectively, connect with their customers, promote their organization, and

track & optimize their efforts. Pilot programs have been launched in India,

Russia and Singapore.

http://www.womenentrepreneursontheweb.com/

CHERIE BLAIR FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN

Mentoring Women in Business Programme matches women in developing and

emerging countries with male and female mentors around the world. The

mentoring in this programme is done online using their specially-designed

platform, which allows for great flexibility and cross-border networking and

learning.

Mentees and mentors meet online at least two hours a month over the course

of the year and work one-on-one to achieve key business goals. Participants

build their business skills and digital literacy through their trainings.

http://www.cherieblairfoundation.org/mentoring/

BIZDIVAS

Founded and headquartered in Delhi NCR, Biz Divas has a growing presence

across the country in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Gurgaon.

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Biz Divas Mentoring Leadership Program connects talented, emerging women

leaders from all over India with members of Biz Divas’ Powerful Leaders for a

six month-long mentoring program. Biz Divas provide mentoring, training,

support networks & visibility via public forums.

http://bizdivas.in/

MONEYCHAT.IN

Pune-based mentoring services for women entrepreneurs. Helps with queries

about pricing, business plans, social media, funding, marketing, technology,

competition analysis.

http://www.moneychat.in/

WECONNECT INTERNATIONAL

The WEConnect Indian initiative aims to connect women owned enterprises

to corporations under their "Supplier Diversity and Inclusion" programs.

WEConnect is working with Ernst & Young on the development of a national

certification process.

Certification assures corporate buyers they are purchasing from a female

supplier. The Initiative leverages strategic relationships with leading India

organizations: NASSCOM, CII, SEWA, eMERG and MAWE.

Their partners help to promote the concept of inclusive sourcing in India and

they work together to encourage women-owned businesses to think big and

compete for larger contracts.

http://weconnectinternational.org/india

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ONE MILLION BY ONE MILLION

Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant Sramana Mitra founded

1M/1M to create a framework for Capitalism 2.0, which she envisions as

distributed, democratic capitalism. They offer a case-study-based online

educational program, video lectures, lean, capital-efficient methodology

guidance, online strategy consulting at public and private roundtables, as well

as introductions to customers, channel partners and investors (pre-seed, seed,

angel, VC, bank, alternative financing).

The public roundtable is a free program accessible from anywhere in the

world. The rest of the services are for our paying members only. Non-

refundable $1000 annual membership fee for unlimited usage. They focus on

business strategy and execution; capital is optional, and may or may not be

appropriate for your particular business. Less than 1% of businesses that seek

funding are actually fundable.

The core curriculum includes modules on Bootstrapping, Positioning,

Validation, Market Sizing, Customer Acquisition, Team Building, and

Financing. In addition, there are elective modules that address industry

specific topics. In addition, there will be private roundtables on a regular basis

where you will get to discuss your strategy with Sramana.

http://1mby1m.com

ASCENT

This Harsh Mariwala social initiative is a platform for entrepreneurs to learn,

share and collaborate through each other's experiences and knowledge. Form

non-competitive groups of select entrepreneurs, who will "self-guide"

themselves with active engagement from ASCENT Initiators and Trainers.

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Business should have an annual turnover beyond a minimum threshold of

products/manufacturing - Rs. 2.50 crs or above. Services - Rs. 50 lacs or

above.

http://www.ascentfoundation.in

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