This is How Indian Women Entrepreneurs are Making it Big in the Start-up Ecosystem The top sectors where women have shown business excellence are- Professional services, IT, Apparel and Accessories, Food and Beverages and Manufacturing sector
By Naval Goel
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Women have come a long way fighting, surviving, taking charge and making their mark in this country. There has been a surge of changes this country has witnessed over the past few years and one of them is rise and empowerment of women. Women entrepreneurship has seen a new light of upsurge with women taking charge and making it on their own in almost every field of work. From becoming cab drivers to becoming CEO's of multinational companies, women have nailed it. Be it selling tea abroad or taking a seat in parliament as a speaker, there is no stone left untouched.
Girl Rising
There are many factors which have led to this upsurge like social acceptance of women entrepreneurship worldwide, better access to education, raising awareness and political campaigns around saving the girl child and promoting girl education. There was a time when this country thought of a girl child as a taboo and suppressed them let alone their education. This country has seen political parties come and go but every government formed has given utmost importance to the girl child and their education. Women have faced it all from fighting for their rights to making it on their own in every aspect of life. Today, we witness women walking and doing their bit in every field and every industry.
As Jack Ma (Founder of Alibaba) recently quoted, "If you want your company to be successful; if you want your company to operate with wisdom and with care, then women are the best. 37% of senior management in Alibaba is women. Part of the 'secret sauce' of our success is because we have so many women colleagues." This highlights the importance of women's role in the industrial sector. While this emphatic stride has been a pleasant change in the economic wave but it had its own share of struggles and challenges like lack of pro-gender policies at the micro level, competition from the male-dominated organized sector, family ties, and homemaking responsibilities etc.
But there are certain facts which have highlighted the growth of women entrepreneurship in this country:
- 25% started their business before turning 25 and 58% of women entrepreneurs in India started their business between the age of 20 and 30.
- About 73% women entrepreneurs reported business revenue of 10 lakh or 1 million.
- About 57% of women entrepreneurs started their business alone.
- 35% of women entrepreneurs had a co-founder.
Sectors That Women are Favouring
The top sectors where women have shown business excellence are- Professional services, IT, Apparel and Accessories, Food and Beverages and Manufacturing sector. The cities with the highest number of women entrepreneurs are Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
It was never about taking control and wanting more. This planet inhabits many species and among them, women are one. It was always about equality and women all around the world have proven it time and again and one such example we see everyday is that millions of women are marching and taking charge of their jobs. They have an important and integral role in bringing this country forward and making it stronger day by day.
