International Journal of Trade & Commerce-IIARTC

July-December 2019, Volume 8, No. 2 pp. 275-288

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Women Entrepreneurship Issues, Challenges and Empowerment

through Self Help Groups: An Overview of Uttarakhand

P.N. Tiwari*
Department of Commerce, Government P.G. College, Rudrapur (U.S. Nagar), U.K. India
Email Id: [email protected]

Abstract
Entrepreneurship is one of the most important factors contributing to the
economic development of the society. Entrepreneurs have been considered PAPER/ARTICLE INFO
instrumental in initiating and sustaining socio-economic development. In India, RECEIVED ON: 04/09/2019
concept of women entrepreneurship is of recent origin. Women have become aware ACCEPTED ON: 05/10/2019
about their rights and situations and entered in different fields of business. They
have established their own successful business empires. They are contributing
towards the growth of economy and improvement of their socio-economic Reference to this paper
conditions. Government of India has given due importance to women should be made as follows:
empowerment in the country and several schemes has been introduced for the
upliftment of women entrepreneurs. Women workforce ratio in the country is P.N. Tiwari (2019), “Women
increasing due to the increase in the women literacy rate in India. The concept of Entrepreneurship Issues,
Self Help Groups (SHGs) is proved to be boon for the rural women in some states Challenges and
of India. It has not only raised their income but also their social status. Overview Empowerment through Self
of the working of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Uttarakhand is also depicted in this Help Groups: An Overview
paper. This paper particularly focuses on various issues pertaining to women of Uttarakhand”, Int. J. of
entrepreneur's issues, challenges and future perspective in India. Trade and Commerce-IIARTC,
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Women Entrepreneurs, Women workforce, Women Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 275-288
Empowerment, Self Help Groups.

*Corresponding Author
Women Entrepreneurship Issues, Challenges and Empowerment through Self Help Groups: An Overview of…….
P.N. Tiwari

1. INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is defined as the process by which individuals pursue opportunities without
regard to resources they currently control. Despite years of legislative effort, women still face
discrimination in the workforce. However, Small businesses being a leader in offering women
opportunities for economic expression through entrepreneurship. Increasing number of women’s
are discovering the best way to break the “glass ceiling” that prevent them from rising to the top
of many organizations is to start their own companies. Women performs 63% of the world's work,
produce 50% of the food, but earn 10% of the income and own 1% of the property. Globally,
women represent 49.6% of the total population, but only 40.8% of the total workforce in the
formal sector (Women, Business and the Law, World Bank, 2018). Since ages India has been men-
dominated country. But, time is changing now. Women in India have outraged the fact that since
hundreds of years they had been following the orders of men. Now they know their rights and
duties and with the spreading awareness among the women they are not less than the men. They
are walking with men at the same pace in each and every field. In earlier days, for women there
were 3 Ks - Kitchen, Kids, Knitting, then came 3 Ps – Powder, Papad, Pickles and now at present
there are 3 Es – Electronics, Energy, and Engineering.
Indian women had undergone a long way and are becoming increasingly visible and successful in
all spheres and have shifted from kitchen to higher level of professional activities. Women
entrepreneurs are fast becoming a force to reckon with in the business world and are not only
involved in business for survival but to satisfy their inner urge of creativity and to prove their
capabilities. Educated Women is contributing to a great extent to the social transformation and in
the future, will be seen that more women venturing into areas traditionally dominated by men.
Today, many women have established their own economy, i.e. entrepreneurial empire and are
now ruling their world as they wished to. The hidden entrepreneurial potentials of women have
gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in the
society. Skill, knowledge and adaptability in business are the main reasons for women to emerge
into business ventures.
"You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of Women" -Jawaharlal Nehru
2. WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP STUDIES CONDUCTED IN INDIA AND ABROAD
During 1990's, many women entered in the field of entrepreneurship to avail economic
competence and independence, but many of them are observed to be not succeeding well as they
had planned. Main reasons often are placed on the lack of enabling and sustaining facilities of
entrepreneurial environment in general. Even then, there are success cases of women-run
business units in India. In India, women with varied social, economic, political, regional and
linguistic backgrounds constitute half the nation. The socio-economic condition of women is the
key for overall growth and development of the country. A study conducted by Manickaval (1997)
shows that 56% of the women are unemployed. Hence, development of women entrepreneurship
is essential to provide economic opportunities to women.
Entrepreneur is the key factor of entrepreneurship and now women have been recognized as
successful entrepreneurs as they have qualities desirable and relevant of entrepreneurship
development. In the process of entrepreneurship, women have to face various problems
associated with entrepreneurship and these problems get doubled because of her dual role as a

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wage earner and a homemaker. According to Reddi (1991) women entrepreneurs in Goa feel
frustrated at times because they need to spare their time and energy, both towards their business
as well as domestic affairs. Women in India constitute a larger proportion of total unemployed
population and hence it is imperative to find out the entrepreneurial constraints faced by them.
Rathore and Chabra, (1991) in their paper on 'Promotion of Women Entrepreneurship – Training
Strategies' state that Indian women find it increasingly difficult to adjust themselves to the dual
role that they have to play as traditional housewives and compete with men in the field of
business and industry. Working women are often tossed between home and work and experience
mental conflicts as they are not able to devote the necessary units of time and energy to their
home and children and find it mostly difficult and sometimes impossible to pursue as a career. A
study by Surti and Surupia showed that the married migrated women entrepreneurs coming
from nuclear families experience greater role stress than the unmarried local women
entrepreneurs coming from joint families.
Srivastav and Chaudhary, (1995) in their work on 'Women Entrepreneurs: Problems Perspective
and role expectations from banks, finds out that no single factor but a host of motivating factors
act simultaneously on the individual creating dissonance in her, which in turn mores her to take
an action directed towards elimination or reduction of dissonance in the individual. Women faced
problems mainly in the areas of marketing of products and approaching the banks for getting
loans. Personal problems like time constraint and family stress were also cited. The study
concludes that joint family is not an obstacle for developing entrepreneurs. In fact, it is a
facilitating factor. The entrepreneurial role enhances familial bonds and increases role satisfaction
of women entrepreneurs as a wife, mother and maker of a 'home'.
Caputo and Dolinsky, (1998) have examined the role of financial and human capital of household
member to pursue self-employment among females. The analysis revealed that business
knowledge and cooperation of husband in family matters contribute a lot to pursue the business.
Finding further suggested that government should provide necessary skill to women to ensure
rapid growth of entrepreneurship.
3. CONCEPT AND STATUS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA
The women status in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia.
From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the
promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. In
modern India, women have adorned high offices in India including that of the President, Prime
Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Leader of the Opposition. As of 2011, the President of
India, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha (Lower House
of the Parliament) are all women.
Entrepreneurship has gained currency across the sphere and female-entrepreneurship had
become an important module. India is one of the fastest emerging economies and the importance
of entrepreneurship is realized across the gamut. According to the Government of India, "An
enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of
capital and giving at least 51% of the employment generated by the enterprise to women".
"Women Entrepreneurship" means an act of business ownership and business creation that
empowers women economically increases their economic strength as well as position in

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society."Women Entrepreneurship" is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal
needs and become economically independent. A strong desire to do something positive is an
inbuilt quality of entrepreneurial women, who is capable of contributing values in both family
and social life.
Women in business are a recent phenomenon in India. By and large they had confided themselves
to petty business and tiny cottage industries. Women entrepreneurs engaged in business due to
push and pull factors, which encourage women to have an independent occupation and stands on
their own legs. A sense towards independent decision-making in their life and career is the
motivational factor behind this urge. Saddled with household chores and domestic
responsibilities women want to get independence. Under the influence of these factors the
women entrepreneurs choose a profession as a challenge and as an urge to do something new.
Such situation is described as pull factors. While in push factors women engaged in business
activities due to family compulsion and the responsibility is thrust upon them.
In rural India, agriculture and allied industrial sectors employ as much as 89.5% of the total
female labour. In overall farm production, women's average contribution is estimated at 55% to
66% of the total labour. According to a 1991 World Bank report, women accounted for 94% of
total employment in dairy production in India. Women constitute 51% of the total employed in
forest-based small-scale enterprises.
4. GROWTH OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA
Women entry into business is a new phenomenon in India,. Women entry into business, or say,
entrepreneurship is traced out as an extension of their kitchen activities mainly to 3 Ps viz,
pickles, powder and Papad. Women in India plugged into business for both pull and push
factors. Pull factors imply the factors, which encourage women to start an occupation or venture
with an urge to do something independently. Push factors refer to those factors, which compel to
take up their own business to tide over their economic difficulties and responsibilities.
With growing awareness about business and spread of education among women over the period,
women have started shifting from 3 Ps to engross to 3 modern E's, viz. Engineering, Electronics
and Energy. They have excelled in these activities. Women entrepreneurs manufacturing solar
cookers in Gujarat, small foundries in Maharashtra and T.V. capacitors in Orissa have proved
beyond doubt that given the opportunities, they can excel their male counterparts. Smt. Sumati
Morarji (Shipping Corporation), Smt. Yumutai Kirloskar (Mahila Udyog Limited), Smt. Neena
Malhotra (Exports) and Smt. Shahnaz Hussain (Beauty Clinic) are some exemplary name of
successful and accomplished women entrepreneurs in our country. There are several additional
emerging sectors where women can exploit their hidden talent. These are:
 Eco-friendly technology
 Bio-technology
 IT enabled enterprises
 Event Management
 Tourism industry
 Telecommunication
 Vermiculture
 Mineral water
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 Sericulture
 Floriculture
 Herbal and health care
 Food, fruits and vegetable processing
5. WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND PLANNING PROCESS IN INDIA
The all-round development of women has been one of the focal point of planning process in
India. The First Five-Year Plan (1951-1956) envisaged a number of welfare measures for women.
Establishment of the Central Social Welfare Board, organization of Mahila Mandals and the
Community Development Programmes were a few steps in this direction. In the Second Five-
Year Plan (1956-1961), the empowerment of women was closely linked with the overall approach
of intensive agricultural development programmes. The Third and Fourth Five-Year Plans (1961-
1966 and 1969-1974) supported female education as a major welfare measure.
The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974-1979) emphasized training of women, who were in need of
income and protection. This plan coincided with International Women's Decade and the
submission of the report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. In 1976, Women's
Welfare and Development Bureau was set up under the Ministry of Social Welfare. The Sixth
Five-Year Plan (1980-1985) saw a definite shift from welfare to development. It recognized
women's lack of access to resources as a critical factor. The Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985-1990)
emphasized the need for gender equality and empowerment. For the first time, emphasis was
placed upon qualitative aspects such as inculcation of confidence, generation of awareness with
regards to rights and training in skills for better employment.
The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992-1997) focused on empowering women, especially at the grass
roots level, through Panchayati Raj Institutions. The Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) adopted a
strategy of women's component plan, under which not less than 30 percent of funds/benefits
were earmarked for women-specific programmes. The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007) aims at
empowering women through translating the recently adopted National Policy for Empowerment
of Women (2001) into action and ensuring Survival, Protection and Development of women and
children through rights-based approach.
The Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012) lays down six monitorable targets (1) Raise the sex ratio
for age group 0-6 from 927 in 2001 to 935 by 2011-2012 and to 950 by 2016-2017; (2) Ensure that
atleast 33% of the direct and indirect beneficiaries of all government schemes are women and girl
children; (3) Reduce IMR from 57 to 28 and MMR from 301 to one per 1000 live births; (4) Reduce
malnutrition among children of age group 0-3 to half its present level; (5) Reduce anemia among
women and girls by 50% by the end of the Eleventh Plan; and (6) Reduce dropout rate for
primary and secondary schooling by 10% for both girls as well as boys.
The Twelve Five-Year Plan (2012-2017) it is widely believed that men enjoy all the power and
position, women were treated as second rate and lower human spheres. Twelfth five-year plan
entitled as 'Faster Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth'. This plan had decided at the growth
rate 8.2%. The planning commission is pushing for special dispensation for single women
participation in favour related work, both in agriculture and animal husbandry. In framing
policies schemes for the twelfth five year plan, the special needs of women must be taken due
care of the focus of the twelfth five year plan is on the health, education, urbanization and
governance.

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6. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

The government programme for women development began as early as 1954 in India but the
actual participation began only in 1974. At present, the Government of India has over schemes for
women. Some of these are-
(i) Mudra Yojana Scheme
(ii) TREAD (Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development)
(iii) Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme
(iv) Annapurna Scheme
(v) Stree Shakti Package for Women Entrepreneurs
(vi) Bhartiya Mahila Business Loan
(vii) Dena Shakti Scheme
(viii) Udyogini Scheme
(ix) Cent Kalyani Scheme
(x) Sabala Yojana
(xi) Kishori Shakti Yojana
(xii) Pradhan Mantri Matra Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)
(xiii) Women Empowerment Mission.
(xiv) Swadhar
(xv) State Resource Center for Women (SRCW)
(xvi) Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme
(xvii) Sanitary Napkin Sparsh
(xviii) Uttarakhand Women Integrated Development Scheme
(xix) Nanda Gaura Yojana
(xx) Working Women Hostel
(xxi) Tilu Rauteli Award
(xxii) Uttarakhand State Commission for Women
(xxiii) Mukhyamantri State Aajivika Yojana
(xxiv) Aanganwadi Karmi Kalyan Kosh
The efforts of government and its different agencies are supplemented by non-governmental
organization that are playing an equally important role in facilitating women empowerment.
Despite concerted efforts of governments and NGOs there are certain gaps. Of course we have
come a long way in empowering women yet the future journey is difficult and demanding.
7. STATE-WISE SSI IN INDIA OWNED BY WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
In India small scale industrial units are owned both by men and women. Table 1 reveals that
among the small scale industrial units owned by women entrepreneurs in India, Kerala tops the
list with 1.39 Lakh units, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1.29 Lakh units. Tamil Nadu ranks second
in the total number of small-scale units owned by women entrepreneurs in India. Lakshadweep
has the lowest number of small-scale units owned by women entrepreneurs (67 units). The total
number of women enterprises in the total SSI Sector was estimated at 10,63,721 (10-11%). The
estimated number of enterprises actually managed by women was 9,95,141 (9.46%). In the States
of Mizoram, Orissa, Karnataka, Goa, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry the

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share of women employment was significantly higher (more than 20%). The position of women
entrepreneurships and women enterprises is given State-wise in the following table-
TABLE – 1: PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT/OWNERSHIP IN SSI
SECTOR
S. No. Name of State/ UT No. of Enterprises Managed No. of Women
by Women Enterprises
1. Jammu & Kashmir 5640 5742
2. Himachal Pradesh 3515 3722
3. Punjab 30190 29068
4. Chandigarh 2059 2243
5. Uttaranchal 8706 8804
6. Haryana 10087 9620
7. Delhi 13368 14383
8. Rajasthan 29785 36371
9. Uttar Pradesh 54491 72667
10. Bihar 38170 49443
11. Sikkim 30 98
12. Arunachal Pradesh 131 150
13. Nagaland 207 179
14. Manipur 9168 10745
15. Mizoram 3076 3700
16. Tripura 631 863
17. Meghalaya 3658 3580
18. Assam 11189 11757
19. West Bengal 71847 69625
20. Jharkhand 7271 7865
21. Orissa 33274 38233
22. Chhattisgarh 11766 10034
23. Madhya Pradesh 62351 68823
24. Gujarat 55361 53703
25. &26. Daman & Diu and Dadar & Nagar 167 213
Haveli
27. Maharashtra 80662 100670
28. Andhra Pradesh 77347 77166
29. Karnataka 101264 103169
30. Goa 677 810
31. Lakshadweep 61 67
32. Kerala 137561 139225
33. Tamil Nadu 130289 129808
34. Pondicherry 1089 1065
35. Andaman & Nicobar Islands 53 110
All India 995141 1063721
Source: RBI Annual Report 2018-2019.
About 13% of the women enterprises were in the registered SSI sector and the remaining 87%
were in the unregistered SSI sector. With regard to the enterprises managed by women, 11.5%
were in the registered SSI sector and 88.5% were in the unregistered SSI sector. The share of the

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units managed by women in terms employment was 7.14. The employment generated per Rs. one
Lakh investment in the units managed by women was 2.49. Principal Characteristics of SSI units
managed by women are presented in the following table.
TABLE-2: PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SSI UNITS MANAGED BY WOMEN
(Rs. In lakhs)
For Units Managed by No. of Market Value Original Value Employme Gross Exports
Women Units of Fixed of Plant & nt (Number Output (Rs.)
Assets Machinery of (Rs.)
(Rs.) (Rs.) Employees)
Regd. SSI Sector 114362 336245.71 110478.53 349342 603168.34 33148.23
Percentage to total of the 8.32 3.66 3.64 5.67 2.97 2.69
respective category
Unread SSI Sector 580780 377633.18 114961.16 1429962 373248.25 538.02
Percentage to total of the 9.63 6.04 4.68 7.62 4.72 0.28
respective category
Total SSI Sector 995142 71387.88 225439.68 1779304 976416.58 33686.25
Percentage to total of the 9.46 4.63 4.11 7.14 3.46 2.37
respective category
Source: MSME, Annual Report 2018.
8. PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA
Women entrepreneurs encounter two sets of problems, viz. general problems of entrepreneurs
and problems specific to women entrepreneurs. These problems are discussed as follows:
(i) Problem of Finance : Finance is regarded as "life blood" for any enterprise, be it big or
small. However, women entrepreneurs suffer from shortage of finance on two counts.
Firstly, women do not generally have property on their names to use them as collateral for
obtaining funds from external sources. Thus, their access to the external sources of funds is
limited. Secondly, the banks also consider women less credit-worthy and discourage
women borrowers on the belief that they can at any time leave their business. In such a
situation, women entrepreneurs are bound to rely on their own savings or loans from
friends and relatives. Thus, women enterprises fail due to the shortage of finance.
(ii) Scarcity of Raw Material: Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of
raw material and necessary inputs. Added to this are the high prices of raw material, on the
other. The failure of any woman co-operatives in 1971 engaged in basket making is an
example how the scarcity of raw material sounds the dearth-knell of enterprises run by
women.
(iii) Tough Competition: Women entrepreneurs do not have organization set up to pump in a
lot of money for canvassing and advertisement. Thus, they have to face a tough competition
for marketing their products with both organized sector and their male counterparts. Such
a competition ultimately results in the liquidation of women enterprises.
(iv) Limited Mobility: Unlike men, women mobility in India is highly limited due to various
reasons. A single woman asking for room is still upon suspicion. Cumbersome exercise
involved in starting an enterprise coupled with the officials humiliating attitude towards
women compels them to give up an idea of starting an enterprise.

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(v) Family Ties: In India, it is mainly a woman's duty to look after the children and other
members of the family. Man plays a secondary role only. In case of married woman, she has
to strike a fine balance between her business and family. Her total involvement in family
leaves little or no energy and time to devote for business. Support and approval of
husbands seem necessary condition or women's entry in to business. Accordingly, the
educational level and family background of husbands positively influence women's entry
into business activities.
(vi) Lack of Education: In India, around three-fifths of women are still illiterate. Illiteracy is the
root cause of socio-economic problems. Due to the lack of education and that too qualitative
education, women are not aware of business, technology and market knowledge. Also, lack
of education cases low achievement motivation among women. Thus, lack of education
creates problems for women in the setting up and running of business enterprises.
(vii) Male dominated society: Male chauvinism is till the order of the day in India. The
constitution of India speaks of equality between sexes. But in practice women are looked
upon as able, i.e. weak in all respects. Women suffer from male reservations about a
women's role, ability and capacity and are treated accordingly. In nutshell, in the male
dominated Indian society, women are not treated equal to men. This in turn, serves as a
barrier to women entry into business.
(viii) Low Risk bearing ability: Women in India lead a protected life. They are less educated and
economically not self-dependent. All these reduce their ability to bear risk involved in
running an enterprise. Risk bearing is an essential requisite of a successful entrepreneur. In
addition to above problems, inadequate infra structural facilities, shortage of power, high
cost of production, social attitude, low need for achievement and socio-economic
constraints also hold the women back from entering into business.
9. TOP 10 WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS AND LEADERS OF INDIA: AN OVERVIEW
The Indian women are no longer treated as show pieces to be kept at home. They are also
enjoying the impact of globalization and making an influence not only on domestic but also on
international sphere. Women are doing a wonderful job striking a balance between their house
and career. Women are achieving success in almost every field, 'Business' is also one of them.
There are more than 14% of businesses which are owned and managed by women entrepreneurs
and the numbers keep increasing. There are many successful and famous women entrepreneurs
in India who are doing great in their fields. Here I’m going to list Top 10 Most Successful and
Famous Indian Women Entrepreneurs (2019) who are the great examples as well as source of
inspiration for upcoming entrepreneurs:
(i) Falguni Nayar – Founder of Nykaa: Falguni Nayar (Falguni Sanjay Nayar) is one of those
most famous and successful women entrepreneurs in India who possess a dream of doing
something big, and that she did! She is now a successful entrepreneur who runs a company
with a valuation of 200crs. Falguni has done her post-graduation Diploma in Management
from IIM(Indian Institute of Management), Ahmadabad. She was the former Managing
Director at Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. for more than 18 years. She gave up her job in 2012
to pursue her dreams of becoming a women entrepreneur. After quitting her job, she

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decided to start a multi-brand beauty store named “Nykaa“. She got this business idea
when she was shopping on an International multi-brand beauty store, Sephora. She felt the
need to replicate that in India, and that’s how the Nykaa was started. Nykaa is an e-
commerce store that deals in beauty and wellness products from all the leading brands like
Lakmé, Kaya Skin Clinic, L’Oréal Paris, and more. It has its offline presence in 17+ stores
and expanding. It has over 850+ curated brands and 35,000 products.
(ii) Neeru Sharma – Co-Founder at Infibeam: Neeru Sharma holds an MBA from Carnegie
Mellon University and an Engineering degree in Computer Science. She is one of the
founders or we can say a co-founder at Infibeam. Infibeam was started in 2007, it’s
an online eCommerce store for books, electronics, and automobiles in India. Infibeam is
listed on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India and Infibeam also became
India’s first eCommerce company to file an IPO, in July 2015 Neeru Sharma heads all of
Corporate Development at Infibeam, which includes strategic thinking, new business
model evaluation, and implementation, formulating and handling strategic alliances and
representing Infibeam in the eCommerce arena.
(iii) Radhika Ghai Aggarwal – Co-Fonder of Shopclues: Radhika Ghai Aggarwal is the Co-
founder at ShopClues. She is also the first woman entrepreneur from India to enter the
Unicorn Club. Radhika holds an MBA from Washington University and has also studied
Web 2.0 and Creative Writing from Stanford. In fact, ShopClues is also not Radhika’s first
entrepreneurial venture. She had earlier started a company which was a content portal for
NRI women, known as “FashionClues“. ShopClues is an online eCommerce store, just like
Flipkart and Amazon which is owned by Clues Network Pvt. Ltd. ShopClues raised
funding of US$100 million from Tiger Global Management and joined the Unicorn Club in
January 2016.
(iv) Richa Kar – Founder of Zivame: Richa Kar – the founder of Zivame, become a successful
women entrepreneur by starting India’s biggest online retailer of lingerie.In 2011, Richa
realized that lingerie is an under-served category in India. That’s how she decided to start
Zivame which was accepted by the Indian Women’s as it’s a comfortable way of shopping
for innerwear online in India. Zivame runs by Actoserba Active Wholesale Pvt. Ltd., which
is a Bengaluru based company launched in 2011. Zivame is now also extending into
multiple categories and channels. It has it’s a presence in more than 26 retail stores and over
600 multi-brand outlets along with the reach across India through its online channel. It also
becomes India’s flagship omnichannel lingerie brand. Zivame has raised total funding of
$57.6 million since it was established.
(v) Sabina Chopra – Co-Founder in Yatra: Sabina Chopra – the co-founder at Yatra, she is one
the most successful women entrepreneurs in India having more than 16 years of work
experience with ebookr which is Europe’s Largest Travel Company in India. She has her
Bachelor of Arts degree from Delhi University. Sabina launched Yatra.com in 2006 along
with two co-founders, Dhruv Shringi and Manish Amin. Yatra is basically an online portal
or an online travel agency to book hotels, flight tickets, bus and train tickets, and holiday

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packages in India and abroad. The company is based in Gurugram. It also became the
second-largest online travel service provider in India on April 2012. Yatra has raised more
than $50 million funds in 4 rounds of funding.
(vi) Sairee Chahal – Founder of Sheroes: Sairee Chahal – the founder and CEO of SHEROES,
which is not her first venture. She also has another venture known as Fleximoms, that’s the
place from where she got the idea of SHEROES and become a successful women
entrepreneur in India. SHEROES is an online destination for women from where they can
get advice on a particular profession and explore different career opportunities. Sairee
established SHEROES in January 2014 with a mission of helping women to find the perfect
career and make their life better. SHEROES also runs the only women career helpline in the
world which is operated by a team of career counselors and coaches. They help women by
offering them support, advice, and resources.
(vii) Shradha Sharma– Founder of Your Story: Shradha Sharma is the founder of YourStory
which is a media technology platform for entrepreneurs. She is also one of the top bloggers
in India. Before starting YourStory, She served as an assistant vice president at CNBC
TV18 and also a brand adviser at The Times of India. Shradha founded YourStory in 2008,
with the mission to tell stories that matter, stories with heart, with a drive. YourStory have
published more than 70,000 stories of entrepreneurs and change-makers and helped more
than 50,000 entrepreneurs’ access networking and funding opportunities. YourStory stands
tall with a database of over 70,000 stories where she leads the team of over 100 people who
offer the content in 11 different local languages and having a reader-base of more than a
million.
(viii) Suchi Mukherjee – Founder of LimeRoad: Suchi Mukherjee – the founder of Lime Road, is
an Indian Women Entrepreneur who started her entrepreneurial journey in 2012 when he
was on maternity leave. Suchi lives in Haryana with her husband and has two children. In
1998, Suchi started her career with Lehman Brothers Inc., and in 2003, she joined Virgin
Media as Director of Change and Business Development. She also worked in eBay, Skype,
and Gumtree later. LimeRoad was founded in 2012, it’s an online eCommerce store which
deals in fashion, lifestyle, and accessories. LimeRoad also has reported an increase in
revenue of about 78.5 percent in February 2019.
(ix) Upasana Taku – Founder of Zaakpay, Co-Founder in Mobikwik: Upasana Taku – the
founder of ZaakPay and Co-Founder in Mobikwik is Indian Women Entrepreneur who
now runs Mobikwik which now become India’s largest independent mobile payments
network and ZaakPay which is an online payment gateway. Upasana has worked with
HSBC and Paypal, which helps her in getting a good knowledge and background in
payments. In April 2009, She founded MobiKwik with Bipin Preet Singh and in October
2017, they have launched ZaakPay which an online payment gateway for MobiKwik.
(x) Vandana Luthra – Founder of VLCC: Vandana Luthra – the founder of VLCC Health Care
Limited is an Indian women entrepreneur who has expertise in beauty, fitness,
food nutrition and skincare. She studied all this from Germany, UK, and France. In 1989,

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Vandana started VLCC which is a beauty and slimming services center in Safdarjung
Development Area, New Delhi. VLCC is currently operating more than 326 locations in 153
cities and 13 countries. Vandana was also ranked 26th in the distinguished annual Forbes
Asia 2016 list which is of 50 Power Businesswomen in the APAC region (which includes
Asia, Australia, and New Zealand).
Women like these are an inspiration for all other women who strive to achieve great heights in
their lives. Taking them as our role models, each one of us can be there where they are right now.
All we need have is faith in ourselves, confidence and above all a fixed aim that we need work
towards.
10. WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS (SHGS): AN OVERVIEW OF
UTTARAKHAND
The scheme, Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) launched in 1982-83
(presently called as SHGs), inaugurated an era for systematically organizing women in groups for
providing them opportunities of self-employment on a sustained basis. Several thousands of rural
women from the length and breadth of the country participate in this programme and they have
taken up a number of trades under DWCRA banner. The programme called for formation of
groups of 10-15 women who could collectively engage in an activity. One woman amongst the
members functions as the group organizer who helps in the choice of activity, procurement of
raw materials, marketing of products etc.
A revolving fund of Rs. 15,000/- (subsequently increased to Rs. 20,000/-) was made available to
each group for credit and administrative needs. The programme is implemented by the District
Rural Development Agency (DRDA) at the district level. SHG is the only programme of its kind,
which aims at empowering the rural poor women by inculcating entrepreneurial skill. It seeks to
encourage collective action in the form of group activities, which are known to work better than
individual efforts.
As per official census of India 2011 population of Uttarakhand is having 100.86 lakh showing
change of 18.81% from last decade. Uttarakhand feeds 0.83% of total population of India. As per
preliminary report of Uttarakhand out of total population of 10086292 male and female
constituted 5137773 and 4948519 respectively. Uttarakhand is also one of the state were women
empowerment is on rise and entrepreneurial activities are increasing. According to census report
2011 literacy rate among women is 70.70% with regard to sex ratio, Uttarakhand is having 963
more than India's average sex ratio, i.e. 940. Female work force participation in the Uttarakhand is
44.2% higher than other major states and much higher than that of India's average (26.0%).
The 6392 registered Mahila Mandals in the state. Cash awards are given to these who perform
well. They works in the village to eradicate liquor shop and to promote women's economic
employment generation for women through the formation of Self Help Groups in rural areas for
raising the per capital income of women.
An important achievement is that loan repayment of 94% of those SHGs is 100%. Moreover, a
group of members of SHGs (Nainital & Dehradun districts) travelled to one of the South Indian
states in 2005-06 on field trip and are now implementing the lessons – Learnt from the experience

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of their counterpart. The SHGs are involved in a wide range of economic activities, such as agro
business, handicraft, floriculture, tailoring and carpentry, running of fair price shops, etc. in order
to be gainfully employed and augment household of Mahila Mandals and SHGs have raised the
level of women's involvement in household decision making. The NFMS IV (2016) report
maintains that in Uttarakhand 58.5% of women have access to surplus money as compared to
45.6% in Haryana and 54.6% in Uttar Pradesh.
11. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE SCHEME
The specific objective of the scheme is to improve the socio-economic conditions of rural women
and creating employment opportunities. The specific objectives are :
(i) To help and promote self-employment among the rural women, who are below the poverty
line, by providing skill training, which are acceptable to the beneficiaries, by encouraging
productivity in their existing work and by introducing new activities hitherto undertaken.
(ii) To organize the beneficiaries in groups, activity-wise and promote economic and social self-
reliance;
(iii) To generate income for the rural poor by creating avenues for production of goods and
services;
(iv) To organize production enhancing programmes in rural areas;
(v) To provide for care of the children of the working women by providing an improved
environment, care and food by establishing crèches/balwadis.
12. FUTURE PERSPECTIVE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA
The country needs to mobilize and utilize fully all its resources including human resources. The
participation of women in economic activities is necessary not only from a human resource point
of view but also is essential even from the objective of raising the status of women in the society.
The economic status of the women is now accepted as an indicator of a society's stage of
development and therefore, it becomes imperative for the government to frame policies for
development of entrepreneurship among women. The long-term objectives of the development
programmes for women should aim to raise their economic and social status in order to bring
them into the mainstream of national life and development. For this, due recognition has to be
accorded to the role and contribution of women in the various social economic and political and
cultural activities.
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