International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology

Vol. 28, No. 19, (2019), pp. 577-584

Factors Influencing Women’s Entrepreneurial Journey: A Study in Chennai

Nivedha.R
Full Time Research Scholar
Dr. A. IrinSutha
Assistant Professor and Research Supervisor
Department of Corporate Secretaryship & Accounting and Finance
Faculty of Science and Humanities SRM Institute of Science and Technology

Abstract
Women's entrepreneurial development is one of the important areas and majority of the countries have
been focusing upon this as a part of over all Human Resource Development. It is well ascertained by policy
makers across the countriesthat strategic development of an economy requires equal participation and
equal opportunities for both genders in all sectors. Therefore, entrepreneurial development is one of the
significant factors for sustainable socio-economic development. Women owned businesses are playing a
significant role in the reach of entrepreneurial activity in a developing country like India. However, the
number of women engaged in entrepreneurial activity and the contribution made by women entrepreneurs
to the economic prosperity of India can't be ignored. Women, in general, perform exceedingly well in retail
trade, restaurants and hotels, education, insurance, manufacturing, laundering, dry-cleaning, hair dress
and private nurseries. The majority of Indian women have been opting for industries like agriculture, agro-
based industries, handicrafts, handlooms, cottage industries, textile and garments, leather, marine products
and tobacco products. It is a healthy sign that women's participation in entrepreneurship is increasing after
globalization but the pace of increase can be further improved through proper education, training and
motivation.

Introduction
Entrepreneurship is a multidimensional phenomenon that cuts across disciplines. The term entrepreneurship
describes the process and activities undertaken by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are individuals who
organize, operate, innovate and ready to bear the risks associated with a business venture. They establish
business firms in order to pursue an opportunity they have identified. The role of entrepreneurship is more
important as it accelerates the economic development of a country. It has been recognized that micro, small
and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been the major force in job creation, innovation and economic
development. Further, it may be good to emphasize that out of many MSMEs, a good proportion of them
have women as the majority of the work force. Some of them are also owned or operated in one way or
another by women.

MSMEs have emerged as an option for women entrepreneurs and workers and can be termed as a gender
sensitive sector. Development of women needs special significance because many micro, small and medium
firms though operated through women are doing extremely well but often, is less recognized. In order to
ensure better support from various levels, it is necessary to understand the factors which influence women
entrepreneurs to take up the business. Therefore, in order to understand the importance of promoting
entrepreneurial spirit among the people and women in particular, an attempt is made by the authors to
highlight the problems and challenges of women entrepreneurs. The present study also aims at discussing
the factors motivating women to get into micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurial ventures. While
discussing entrepreneurial development, it is very much within the context to study the entrepreneurial
aspirations of womenfolk in Chennai which can be treated as a sample for the whole of India.

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 International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 28, No. 19, (2019), pp. 577-584

Conceptual Frame work

Several theories of entrepreneurship have developd from different schools of thought with several authors
emphasizing different meanings. There is no universal theory for this phenomenon. Prominent among them
is Schumpeter's theory which lays emphasis on the role of an entrepreneur who perceives the opportunities
and innovation to carry out new enterprise. The term motivation has been derived from the word motive.
The motive may be defined as an inner state of mind that activates and directs the behavior of an
individual towards the goal. The importance of motivation to human life and work can also be judged by a
number of theories. McClelland's" Acquired Needs" theory suggests three needs, i.e. achievement,
affiliation and power, which may simultaneously act on an individual. But in case of an entrepreneur, the
high need for achievement is found dominating that has been propounded to explain entrepreneur's
behaviour in this context.

Rational of the Study

MSMEs has emerged as an option for women entrepreneurs and workers and can be termed as a gender
sensitive sector., what exactly motivate women to get into small and medium scale entrepreneurial ventures.
There is always an increasing trend in the economy to maximize production. This in turn leads to more
entrepreneurial ventures which are increasing day by day. But how far, the women folk perceive this trend
and seek opportunity to become entrepreneurs and factors contributing to it needs to be evaluated . Hence
it is the need of the hour to identify the factors that create entrepreneurial aspirations of women and the
importance of promoting entrepreneurial spirit among the people and women in particular, an attempt is
made by the authors to highlight the problems and challenges of women entrepreneurs.

Review of Literature
Various researches have come up with varied observations on Entrepreneurship. Prashant K Nanda(2013)
in his article," Translating Passion into Viable Business Proposition", stated that finance has never been a
constraint to someone’s craze to start any new venture. Since the opportunities are immense, the whole
country would be a market place for them once it is started by using the available resources.
Chandu Nair (2013) stated in his article "My Entrepreneurial Journey" - when one starts off as an
entrepreneur, almost nothing is known. Despite knowing this, what helps in success is unknown. The
mortality rate of new ventures is frighteningly high. Still a number of them become entrepreneurs because
of the joy of initiating, leading, guiding and participating in a journey that one never knew before.
Carter et al., (2004), indicate that perhaps the most popular reason for starting a new business is
individual’s intention to earn more money and achieve financial security.
Hisrich and O’Brien (1981)confirmed the reasons for women entrepreneurs owning businesses. The
formation of initial idea about a product or service, desire for financial independence and the desire to be
one's own boss.
Research Gap
Although many prior studies and reserch papers and publications have asssessed the entreprenerial spirit of
the women entrepreneurs there has been no significant research on the factors influencing women folk to
become an entrepreneur in the recent past. The present study is perhaps the first attempt to fulfill this neeed.
Considering this as a comprehensive study material an attempt has been made to find out the reasons that
influence women folk to take up their entreprenerial journey to get into into micro, small and medium scale
entrepreneurial ventureswith special reference to Chennai.

Objectives of the Study

To identify the factor that influences aspiring women folk to become entrepreneurs
To bring out the immune challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in Indiafolk to take up their
entreprenerial journey to get into into micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurial ventureswith special
reference to Chennai.

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Hypotheses:
1. Non-conducive factors for the sustainable development of women entrepreneurial venture are not
significant.
2. Ambition, compulsion, facilitation, or guidance factor does not play any significant role for aspiring
women folk to become entrepreneurs.

Research Methodology
According to the fourth All India Census of MSMEs carried out in the year 2006-07, published by the
Ministry of MSME, Government of India, New Delhi, there were 15.64 lakh units in the country. Women
entrepreneurs contributed 13.72% and men contributed 86.28% in the whole country. In Tamil Nadu, there
were 233.88 thousand units – out of which 179.23 thousand units (28%) were managed by women and
179.23 thousand units (72%) were run by the men folk.
There were 54650 units in Tamil Nadu. Out of this, 8198 units were managed by women entrepreneurs and
46452 Units were managed by male entrepreneurs. According to an estimate for the year 2012, there are
1240 units in Chennai, and nearly 350 units are managed by women entrepreneurs in Chennai. Out of the
350 units managed by women entrepreneurs, 200 units were selected at random. A tested standard protocol
was used to collect information and the authors personally interviewed all the women entrepreneurs.
Simple Random Sampling method was adopted to carry out the survey. Both Primary and Secondary data
were used in the study.

Factors Influencing Women’s Entrepreneurial Journey

A study was conducted among 200 women entrepreneurs selected at random among 350 women
entrepreneurs in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. In addition to the general information such as age, type of
ownership, years in the business and products promoted, a list of 20 parameters to assess the motivational
factors of these women to involve themselves in the MSMEs sector. The list includes the following
parameters: Educational background, occupational background, social and cultural background, skills and
knowledge, attitudes displayed by parents, economic necessity, self fulfillment and personal goal
attainment, enterprising attitude, high achievement motivation, desire to be independent, access to financial
resources, desire to control, recognition on par with male counterparts, demand for the product, need for
job satisfaction, Stronger effects on business rather than choice or intention, unsound units, availability of
labour and raw material, guidance from EDP through Government and NGOs, and financial support from
the government. Each parameter is assessed using a ten point scale which was converted into percentage
scores.

Factor analysis is a statistical tool to reduce the number of original set of variables into a smaller set of
hypothetical variables or factors. These factors are orthogonal or mutually independent of one another.
Each factor is highly loaded with the variables that are related to one another. It is of interest to know the
motivational factors of women entrepreneurs in their journey and factor analysis has been used for this
purpose. Scores of the twenty parameters and Varimax rotation procedure have been used in the analysis.
The following table provides the details of the variance explained by each one of the twenty parameters,
number of factors extracted and the percentage of variance covered by each factor.

Factor Analysis

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Total Variance Explained

Extraction Sums of Squared Rotation Sums of Squared
Initial Eigenvalues
Loadings Loadings
% of Cumulative % of Cumulative % of Cumulative
Component Total Total Total
Variance % Variance % Variance %
1 5.813 29.067 29.067 5.813 29.067 29.067 5.189 25.945 25.945
2 3.581 17.906 46.973 3.581 17.906 46.973 3.388 16.938 42.884
3 2.406 12.029 59.003 2.406 12.029 59.003 2.760 13.798 56.681
4 1.591 7.954 66.956 1.591 7.954 66.956 2.055 10.275 66.956
5 1.404 7.020 73.976
6 1.225 6.123 80.099
7 .867 4.335 84.434
8 .750 3.750 88.183
9 .693 3.465 91.649
10 .485 2.425 94.074
11 .394 1.971 96.045
12 .344 1.719 97.764
13 .279 1.397 99.160
14 .168 .840 100.000
15 .000 .000 100.000
16 .000 .000 100.000
17 .000 .000 100.000
18 .000 .000 100.000
19 .000 .000 100.000
20 .000 .000 100.000
A set of 20 parameters has been reduced to a set of four factors. The first factor covers about 26 per cent
of the total variance, the second factor covers about 17 per cent, the third about 14 per cent and the fourth
factor covers about one-tenth of the total variance. Put together, all the four factors cover about 67 per cent
of total variance. The loss of information by reducing the original set of 20 variables into four hypothetical
variables is about 33 per cent.

The four factors are listed after being rotated using Varimax rotation in the following table. The table
provides the variables that are highly loaded in each of the four factors.

Rotated Component Matrix

Component
Factors motivating women-folk in Chennai 1 2 3 4
Self-fulfillment and personal goal attainment .969 -.015 .046 .061

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Desire to be independent .864 -.019 .000 .028

High achievement motivation .837 -.054 .026 .076
Recognition than their male counterparts .782 -.037 .171 .194
Desire to control .766 .058 .087 -.017
Enterprising attitude .747 -.029 .039 .103
Access to financial resources .665 .031 .079 .290

Stronger effects on business rather than choice or intention .019 .791 .178 .168
Need for job satisfaction -.142 .782 .256 -.034
Economic necessity .149 .728 -.006 .033
Demand for the product . -.039 -.718 .526 -.103
Unsound units available at cheap price -.004 -.671 .577 -.001
Availability of labour and raw material .179 -.660 .094 -.084

Skills and knowledge experience -.025 .026 .833 .066

Financial support from the government to start-up .181 .025 .756 .039
Occupational background .007 .386 .534 -.164
Social and Cultural factor .443 -.116 .471 .140
Attitudes displayed by parents .443 -.116 .471 .140

Guidance from EDP through Government and NGOs .226 .131 .042 .947
Educational background .226 .131 .042 .947

The parameters that are highly loaded in the first factor are Self-fulfillment and personal goal attainment,
Desire to be independent, High achievement motivation, Recognition than their male counterparts, Desire
to control, Enterprising attitude and Access to financial resources. These variables are related to the
ambition of women entrepreneurs of Chennai and hence termed as

Ambition factor.
Stronger effects on business rather than choice or intention, Need for job satisfaction, Economic necessity,
Demand for the product, Unsound units available at a low price, and Availability of labour and raw material
are highly loaded in the second factor. This factor is named as Compelling Factor.
Skills and knowledge experience, Occupational background, Social and Cultural factor, Attitudes displayed
by parents, and Financial support from the government to start-up are loaded in the third factor and this is
christened as Facilitating Factor.
The fourth factor is loaded with Educational background and Guidance from EDP through Government
and NGOs. This may be called as Guidance Factor.

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Factor analysis is carried out using the scores of the twenty parameters yielded four major factors and these
are named as Ambition factor, Compelling factor, Facilitating factor, and Guidance factor. These four major

Non- Chi-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
conduci Square
ve N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N % Valu Sig
e .
Viewin
g risk 11 56 10 1 7. 1 6. 1 6. 1 8. 2. 2. 1. 1. 20 100 186. 0.0
20 4 4 3 2
differen 2 .0 .0 4 0 2 0 2 0 7 5 0 0 5 0 0 .0 256 00
tly
Low
quantity 7. 10 52 2 14 1 6. 1 6. 1 8. 2. 2. 1. 20 100 225. 0.0
14 0 .0 5 4 3
perform 0 4 .0 8 .0 2 0 3 5 7 5 5 0 5 0 .0 712 00
ance
Accessi
1. 1. 9 48 1 7. 2 10 1 7. 1 6. 1 5. 1 8. 1 5. 20 100 217. 0.0
ng 2 3
0 5 7 .5 4 0 0 .0 4 0 2 0 1 5 7 5 0 0 0 .0 960 00
credit
Limited
marketi
4. 1. 9 48 1 8. 2 10 1 7. 1 6. 1 5. 1 8. 20 100 304. 0.0
ng 9 2 0 .0
5 0 7 .5 7 5 0 .0 4 0 3 5 1 5 7 5 0 .0 360 00
strategie
s
Inferior
raw 8. 4. 1. 8 44 2 12 1 9. 1 7. 1 5. 1 6. 20 100 151. 0.0
17 9 3 0 .0
material 5 5 5 9 .5 4 .0 9 5 5 5 1 5 3 5 0 .0 984 00
s
Handlin
g 8. 8. 1 6. 8 44 2 12 1 9. 1 7. 4. 20 100 146. 0.0
16 17 0 .0 0 .0 9
Compet 0 5 2 0 8 .0 4 .0 9 5 5 5 5 0 .0 760 00
ition
Networ
king 5. 6. 1 8. 1 6. 1. 8 42 2 13 1 9. 1 7. 20 100 133. 0.0
10 13 3 0 .0
facilitie 0 5 7 5 2 0 5 5 .5 6 .0 9 5 5 5 0 .0 984 00
s
Balanci
ng work 7. 4. 1 6. 1 8. 1 6. 1. 1. 8 40 3 15 1 9. 20 100 116. 0.0
15 9 2 2
and 5 5 3 5 7 5 2 0 0 0 1 .5 1 .5 8 0 0 .0 984 00
family
Gender 9. 7. 4. 1 6. 1 8. 1 6. 1. 1. 8 40 3 15 20 100 151. 0.0
19 15 9 2 2
bias 5 5 5 3 5 7 5 2 0 0 0 0 .0 1 .5 0 .0 720 00
Awaren
1. 4. 2 12 1 8. 1 8. 1 6. 1. 2 11 1 7. 7 38 20 100 127. 0.0
ess 3 8 3
5 0 5 .5 7 5 6 0 3 5 5 3 .5 5 5 7 .5 0 .0 400 00
about
factors are considered as the motivational factors for women entrepreneurs of Chennai.

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trade
policies

Non - Conducive Factors for the Sustainable Development of Women Entrepreneurs

Women view risk differently than men, Low quantity performance (such as job creation, sales turnover and
profitability) compared to men, Accessing credit from formal institutions, Limited knowledge of marketing
strategies. Obtaining quality raw materials, Difficulty in handling Competition, Lack of networking facilities,
Balancing time between the enterprise and the family, Prevailing social and cultural gender-based
inequalities, Limited awareness about trade policies

Table 2 Non - Conducive Factors for the development of women entrepreneurs

Table 2 clearly shows the opinion of the participating women about the key challenges faced by them.Fifty
six percent of the respondents considered the difficulty in understanding the risk related to business as the
major challenge and this factor is ranked first. Women entrepreneurs are not able to compete with their
male counterparts in job creation, sales turnover and profitability due to prevailing social, cultural and
psychological factors. This low quantitative performance by women is ranked second by 52 percentage of
respondents. Difficulty to access credit from family or financial institutions is another challenge, according
to nearly 49 percent of the respondents. Limited exposure to marketing strategy is giventhe fourth rank by
49 percent of the respondents. Obtaining quality raw materialalso make nearly 45 percent of the
respondents to consider as a challenge. Difficulty in handling competition is another challenge as per the
views of nearly 44 percent of the respondents. Lack of networking is also considered a big challenge
according to 42 percent of the respondents. Balancing work and family pose great challenges as well, and
this aspect has been given the eighth rank. Gender bias for talent in India also makes nearly 40 percent of
the respondents to consider it as a challenge. Awareness about trade policies is ranked tenth with 38
percentage of respondents feeling that the government has not taken the necessary initiatives to create
awareness about the changing trade policies from time to time.

Limitations

The study discusses mainly the motivational and non-conducive factors by women entrepreneurs in
MSMEs Sector. The study has been conducted only in Chennai city with the assumption that Chennai can
be treated as a representative sample for the whole of India. The study has limited its scope to find out the
major motional factors and could not study the close relationship with the entrepreneurial factors such as
Type of industry, Nature of organization, Capital invested, Average Sales Turn over, Average Net Profit,
etc. Therefore it could not be claimed to be an exhaustive study.

Findings and Suggestions

Entrepreneurship plays a crucial part in the transition process towards self-employment and self-
sufficiency. The research has identified four motivating factors such as the Ambitious factor, Compelling
factor, Facilitating factor, and Guidance factor as the inspiring factors for women folk in Chennai to take
up the entrepreneurial activities, in micro, small and medium scale enterprises. It is also found from the
study that Guidance factors seem to be the least inspiring factor. Therefore, great support is required from
all realms, especially educational institutions. They should concentrate on entrepreneurial education and
improve the entrepreneurial skills of women youth. The government should support the entrepreneurial
development opportunities for women and provide better environment for their participation by developing
necessary infrastructure, design programs and course ware, ensure training and development activities in
tune with the requirement of entrepreneurial activities. Further in order to fuel the economy, new vistas
should be opened to women by providing special assistance and concessions.

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The study also found outfour main obstacles. The capital investment is a major decision and it invites risky
consequences in case of a new venturestarted by women entrepreneurs. Difficulties in increasing the
volume of the production are due to the prevailing social and cultural gender-based inequalities and biases
result in women 's low quantitative performance. Limitedbusiness experiences, include lack of knowledge
of marketing strategies, weak business associations, lack of networking facilities, and poor access to
education and training programs act as thebarriers. Societal attitudes toward starting a business in general,
the economic climate of the market, and the availability of accessible funds as important environmental
factors influence the decision to start a firm. These factors combined serve as non - conducive factors for
the emergence and development of women entrepreneurship. If these obstacles are removed then it is easy
to promote entrepreneurial spirit among the people and women in particular.

Conclusion
Entrepreneurship is facilitating more job opportunities forthe young generation especially women in small and
medium sector industries in many countries. The requirement of capital for a business venture is not the same
for all kinds of businesses including Micro, Small and Medium Sector business ventures. In order to start a
small scale business, the new entrants have to think of various expenditures like infrastructure, manpower,
machinery, raw materials, capital etc., and has to make the project viable in accordance with the expectations
be accepted by passionate and happy entrepreneurs as part of the The present findings indicates similar views.
Women-owned businesses and women involved businesses in the small and medium sectors are increasing
day by day. When a woman starts off as an entrepreneur, the one word she hears most often is a very simple
two letter word - NO. The toughest task is converting that into a three letter word - YES. That is the essence
of entrepreneurship, in an Indian context. Women should experiment with various kinds of business models
and select that model which no one has even thought of. Each experience should be useful and instructive.
What women know is not often as important as who she knows and when she knows. Net working is essential.
To hear opportunities knock at the door, one has to be standing near the door. No matter what happens, one
has to be present in order to be taken seriously. Once she invests in business, there will be interference in
decision making that should business venture. From the study it is understood that in the entrepreneurial
journey falling down is inevitable due to non-conducive factors that influence the sustainable growth of
entrepreneurs. Therefore failure lies not in falling down but not in getting up. Women should take the
entrepreneurship for the sheer joy of initiating, leading, guiding and participating in the journey of business.

References
1. KhankaS. S.,(2011) Entrepreneurial Development,Fifth Edition,S. Chand and Company,New
Delhi , Pp18- 23
2. Radha.V.(2012)Entrepreneurial Development, Fifth Edition,Prasanna and Co,Chennai
3. Zimmerer, T.W., & Scarborough, N.M. (2001).Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small
Business Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hill.
4. Chandu Nair (2013 "My Entrepreneurial Journey"Live Mint, 6 January 2013

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