Case Study on

Women Social Innovators/

Entrepreneurs
November 2022

Dr. Vishal Gaikwad, Mr. Mandar Joshi,

Ms. Malavika Khatavkar
Contents

Executive Summary......................................................................06

Introduction..................................................................................08

Methodology.................................................................................10

Discussion.....................................................................................12

Findings........................................................................................32

Key Policy Recommendation........................................................34

Conclusion.....................................................................................35

References.....................................................................................36

Annexure.......................................................................................39

4
Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

5
Executive Summary

I
n recent years women are seen playing a top managerial role. In the business world,
women’s contribution is recognized and they are offered decision-making roles. According
to International Monetary Fund Report ‘Pursuing Women’s Economic Empowerment’
(2018), women’s economic empowerment boosts productivity and increases economic
diversification and income equality in addition to other positive development outcomes.
Companies greatly benefit from increased employment and leadership opportunities afforded
to women. Further, it is shown to increase organizational effectiveness and growth. It is
estimated that companies with three or more women in senior management functions score
higher in all dimensions of organizational performance (Women’s Economic Empowerment
UN 2018 Report). Guillen (2014) argued that in developing countries women entrepreneurs
are important as they can truly make a difference.

Whenever entrepreneurship is discussed it is discussed in the context of the commercial

and not in the context of the social context. Commercial entrepreneurship and social
entrepreneurship are different from each other. Social entrepreneurship refers to innovative
activity with a social objective in either the for-profit sector, such as in social-purpose commercial
ventures. Social entrepreneurship is growing rapidly and attracting increased attention from
many sectors. Social entrepreneurial ventures in both developed and developing countries are
key contributors to the creation and diversification of economic growth, emancipation and
empowerment of women.

Understanding how women engage in social entrepreneurial activities which support

the local developmental needs is necessary to be studied in detail (Amine & Staub, 2009;
Huysentruyt, 2014). Understanding the entrepreneurs can help the policymakers to form the
right policies for businesses and remove the loopholes in the existing policies to make them
more effective. This paper is an attempt to understand what has motivated these women
to start a social start-up.

For this study, we have selected three women entrepreneurs from three different fields.
We first interviewed Akshita Sachdeva, founder of ‘Trestle Labs, an Assistive Technology
company enabling blind and visually-impaired people to access any type of content printed,
handwritten, or digital anywhere. Second, we interviewed Saloni Sancheti, founder of
‘BAANSULI’ – Bamboo Artisan Socio-Economic Upliftment Initiative (Baansuli), and third, we
interviewed Smriti Gupta, co-founder of ‘Where Are India’s Children’ (WAIC).

6
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

The present study explores the factors social (family background, role models), personal
(education, experiences), environmental (government, financial institute, investors) and
entrepreneurial learnings (actions, social and vicarious learnings) essentials for the development
and sustainable growth of women social entrepreneurs.

This study adds value from the theoretical and policy perspectives. From the policy
perspective, the study suggests that policymakers should emphasize promotional policies and
developmental programs for encouraging women to become social entrepreneurs.

7
1. Introduction

T
he world is changing at lightning speed. Addressing complex and highly interconnected
human developmental issues requires a fresh view, innovative approaches, a new type
of leadership and an attitude that questions our very assumptions. It is highlighted
and well-documented that women’s leadership is more transformative than male
leadership. There is empirical evidence which shows the positive influence of the participation
of women in public affairs (Polas and Jahanshahi, 2020, Palacios et al. 2016). Women’s
participation in business and entrepreneurial activities has increased around the world (Abu-
Hummour, 2019; Brush et al, 2009; Sarfaraz & Faghih, 2011).

In recent years women are seen playing a top managerial role. In the business world,
women’s contribution is recognized and they are offered decision-making roles. According
to International Monetary Fund Report ‘Pursuing Women’s Economic Empowerment (2018),
women’s economic empowerment boosts productivity and increases economic diversification
and income equality in addition to other positive development outcomes. Companies greatly
benefit from increased employment and leadership opportunities afforded to women. Further,
it is shown to increase organizational effectiveness and growth. It is estimated that companies
with three or more women in senior management functions score higher in all dimensions
of organizational performance (Women’s Economic Empowerment UN 2018 Report). Guillen
(2014) argued that in developing countries women entrepreneurs are important as they can
truly make a difference.

Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey, 2,250 adults ranked women
better than or equal to men in seven of the eight primary leadership traits assessed throughout
the survey. Recent studies have shown that female-led countries have performed better in
handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The presence of women entrepreneurs is talked about in the
context of commercial entrepreneurship and their role and presence in social entrepreneurship
are often neglected.

Whenever entrepreneurship is discussed it is discussed in the context of the commercial and not
in the context of the social context. Commercial entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship
are different from each other. Social entrepreneurship refers to innovative activity with a
social objective in either the for-profit sector, such as in social-purpose commercial ventures
(Dees & Anderson, 2003; Emerson & Twersky, 1996) or corporate social entrepreneurship
(Austin, Leonard, Reficco, & Wei-Skillern, 2004); or in the nonprofit sector, or across sectors,
such as hybrid structural forms which mix for-profit and nonprofit approaches (Dees, 1998).
Social entrepreneurship typically refers to the phenomenon of applying business expertise

8
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

and market-based skills in the nonprofit sector such as when nonprofit organizations develop
innovative approaches to earn income (Reis, 1999; Thompson, 2002).

Social entrepreneurship is growing rapidly and attracting increased attention from many
sectors (Martin & Osberg, 2007). Social entrepreneurship was introduced in the 1970s to
address the issue of social problems sustainably (Ebrashi, 2013). The book “The Sociology
of Social Movements” written by Banks (1972) first time mentioned the term “social
entrepreneur” to describe the need to use managerial skills to address social problems as well
as to address business challenges. Social entrepreneurship practice flourished in the 1980s
with the establishment of Ashoka, the first organization to support social entrepreneurs in
the world. Drucker (1985) in his book ‘Innovation and entrepreneurship’ used the term ‘social
innovation’ – the need for using management practices in nonprofit organizations to increase
the efficiency and effectiveness of producing social good. The rise in social entrepreneurship
forced traditional entrepreneurship to focus on innovation, risk-taking and large-scale
transformation to social problem-solving (Makhlouf, 2011).

Social entrepreneurial ventures in both developed and developing countries are key
contributors to the creation and diversification of economic growth, emancipation and
empowerment of women (Datta and Gaily, 2012). Now, women’s entrepreneurship is growing
in all fields in the world, especially in the field of social innovation.

Understanding how women engage in social entrepreneurial activities which support local
developmental needs is necessary to be studied in detail (Amine & Staub, 2009; Huysentruyt,
2014). Understanding the entrepreneurs can help the policymakers to form the right policies
for businesses and remove the loopholes in the existing policies to make them more effective.
This paper is an attempt to understand what has motivated these women to start a social
start-up. What type of challenges did they face in terms of funding, trained human resources,
government policies etc.? What kind of support did they receive from their family and others?
These are complex questions which can be answered through sustained and intensive research.
This paper attempts to fill this gap.

9
2. Methodology:

A
n inductive approach has been followed for this paper. The research strategy used
is the ‘case study approach. The research on social entrepreneurship and social
enterprises is primarily documented through case studies (Anderson, Dana, & Dana,
2006; Hockerts, 2010).

The case study is the method of choice when the phenomenon under study is not readily
distinguishable from its context (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2003); and it’s difficult to de-
contextualize social enterprises without losing valuable information, therefore, the case study
approach is selected for this paper. Another reason was to understand the indigenous views
and so, qualitative tools, such as interviews or focused group discussions (FGDs) are more
suitable than surveys. The social entrepreneurship ventures which are at the early stage of
development need to be documented in-depth to find the relationship that could lead to
qualitative studies.

10
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

3. Selection of Social Entrepreneurs:

S
ince 2013, the Pune International Centre (PIC) has been organizing the ‘National
Conference on Social Innovation’ in collaboration with the National Innovation
Foundation & Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Social innovators send their
applications from all corners of the country. Every year twelve innovators from the
Urban and Rural categories were selected for the final presentation after scrutinizing all
applications. For this study, we have selected three women entrepreneurs from three different
fields. We tried to find out the commonalities, for example, what motivates them to start a
business? and what type of challenges and obstacles they face. and if there are any similarities
between them. A common set of questions was asked to these three women entrepreneurs and
their responses were noted.

We first interviewed Akshita Sachdeva, founder of ‘Trestle Labs, an Assistive Technology

company enabling blind and visually-impaired people to access any type of content printed,
handwritten, or digital anywhere. Second, we interviewed Saloni Sancheti, founder of
‘BAANSULI’ – Bamboo Artisan Socio-Economic Upliftment Initiative (Baansuli), and third, we
interviewed Smriti Gupta, co-founder of ‘Where Are India’s Children’ (WAIC) .

11
Discussion:
Education and Motivation:

T
he family environment, education and role models play a critical role in shaping
the entrepreneur’s personality and making them feel to form and manage a new
enterprise.

Education is the most important factor in the upbringing of social entrepreneurs. It

continuously plays an important role as entrepreneurs try to deal with the challenges they
face in their business and correct the deficiencies in business training. It must be noted that
formal education is not a precondition to starting a new business or becoming a first-time
entrepreneur. Education though does provide a good background and it is needed in the area
of finance, strategic planning, marketing and management.

Past research has pointed out that personal values are important for entrepreneurs. Family
background has a significant effect on business entrepreneurial propensity (Athayde, 2009).
Childhood incidents leave deep marks on the mind which motivates entrepreneurs to start
their ventures.

Existing research shows that people get motivated to start their venture when they
experience multi-disadvantage or any kind of discrimination. When people encounter others’
hardship they become sensitive towards others and this lead to starting their venture. Also,
they are motivated when they get involved with community work. Scheiber (2016) mentions
the “cumulative effect” of experiences, and classifies learning experiences as “direct experience
with inequality, interaction with target populations, volunteer work, religious institutions, social
activism, formal education, professional experience, reading, and intercultural interactions”.
We now record the statements of the three budding entrepreneurs in their own words.

1. Akshita Sachdeva:
When I was young, I lost my grandmother to cancer. When I grew up, I wanted to become
a doctor because my grandfather would say if there was a doctor in our family, maybe my
grandmother would have been alive. I grew up listening to that and always wanted to become
a doctor.

I started pursuing biology in the 12th grade and was one day discussing with my Zoology
professor that I wanted to work in the cancer space. She said it was not always about you
knowing the best doctor because it was also about the time or the stage at which cancer gets

12
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

diagnosed. That stayed with me and I started to understand the intervention that helps to
diagnose cancer at an early stage.

There were a couple of mentors or professors that I spoke to during the second year of my
Engineering. They said that to work in this space I have got to be a part of an innovation and
incubation centre.

A team was working on persons with blindness and building a project for them. They were
in dire need of somebody from a software engineering background to join the team. I was ok
with the job. Anything in the healthcare space and if it gives me experience, I would be happy
to do that.

For the College project that I undertook, we looked at an NGO working at a blind school
in Delhi. There was this little kid. He used the device and said he wanted to talk to his dad.
So, he called his dad and we were just listening to the conversation. He was saying, ‘Dad,
some scientists have come to my school and they have made gloves for all of us and now I
can read on my own. I can travel.’ He was super excited about it. Then, maybe his dad asked
him something and he just turned around and asked, ‘When can I get this?’ That left me
dumbstruck. I didn’t have words to answer his question but it left a mark on me. It was like
a pivotal moment in my life when I decided that instead of pursuing a career in the IT sector
or taking up any other job I would rather find the answer to his question as well as answers
to similar questions that people like him have. That motivated me to continue working in this
direction.

I applied to Digital Impact Square, which is a TCS Foundation initiative in Nashik. That was
where I got my team, the mentors, and the resources that helped me start Trestle Labs.

2. Saloni Sacheti:
Yes, I wanted to work with women and for women’s empowerment. I wanted to start
something of my own, I was sure, but perhaps not at an early age.

I started looking for fellowships and job opportunities in the social development sector,
and a fellowship, SBI Youth for India Fellowship, came to my notice. I applied and went to
Dang in Gujarat, where I was placed during my fellowship

I saw the condition of women and the tribe there. They were not paid well, did not have a
regular source of income, and were doing seasonal migration. There were a lot of problems.
There was no livelihood opportunity for them. That made me realize that I should start an

13
enterprise, not for me but them. There’s a lot of bamboo in Dang. That’s how we came up
with the idea of doing something with bamboo and being a woman I thought of doing
something related to bamboo jewellery. I decided we should make something with bamboo,
make bamboo jewellery, and we initiated the process of marketing and production.

I was trained in the way I was because I come from a business family. I always liked to work
with women and for women’s empowerment and so always thought of that. Probably that
helped me and showed me a way. I wanted to do just this in my life but to choose this path I
had to go through different journeys. Then, inevitably, I homed back to my path to do what
I always wanted to do.

3. Smriti Gupta:
I had a professor during my Engineering Bachelor’s in New York. For a few months of the
year, he would go from New York to Ghana in Africa and teach there, like so many people who
I saw doing good social impact work.

I naturally gravitated towards college professors or people whose work had a social impact
or brought about social change or social reform and were inspirational.

That served as the trigger but the interest was always there and when you have the interest
throughout your life, you naturally gravitate or attach to people who think like that.

I think the desire to do something like this already existed. It’s just that those are the people
I naturally gravitated towards because of my interest.

It was perhaps during my pre-teen or teen years.

I think the desire to work in the social impact space was always there, since my childhood
or teenage or college years. In college, some of my favourite professors, besides talking about
semiconductors, electricity and all those things, would talk about social impact.

After I went through my daughters’ adoptions, I realized that millions of abandoned and
orphaned kids in India were not even coming into the legal adoption process. So, the personal
experience of going through that and knowing what was missing in the ecosystem finally gave
me the exact problem I wanted to work on.

14
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

Role Models and People Who Influenced:

Empirical studies show a link between the presence of role models and the decision to
become an entrepreneur. These studies do not necessarily establish a direct link between the
presence of a role model and the setting up of new firms/start-ups. Role models can be divided
into two categories, one is icons with whom the entrepreneur is not familiar on a personal
basis, models such as Melinda Gates and the second type where the relationship can be more
personal for example if the role model belongs to the entrepreneur’s direct environment, such
as close family members, friends, teachers to which there develops a strong bond or to the
entrepreneur’s wider environment such as colleagues, where there is a weaker bond.

Social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986) discusses that individuals are attracted to
role models who can help them to further develop themselves by learning new skills and
undertaking new tasks (Gibson, 2004). Role models extend practical support and advice as a
mentor to a mentee i.e. learning by support (Nauta and Kokaly, 2001. It becomes essential to
understand how role models influence entrepreneurs in their career choice. Perhaps with a bit
of repetition, we quote from the budding entrepreneurs we already reported verbatim.

1. Akshita Sachdeva:
I started pursuing biology in the 12th grade and was one day discussing with my Zoology
professor that I wanted to work in the cancer space. She said it was not always about you
knowing the best doctor because it was also about the time or the stage at which cancer gets
diagnosed. That stayed with me and I started to understand the intersection that helps to
diagnose at an early stage.

There were a couple of mentors or professors that I spoke to during the second year of
my Engineering. They said that to work in this space I got to be a part of an innovation and
incubation centre.

2. Saloni Sacheti:
If I hand over the entire enterprise to them, there would be quarrels among them. They
would not be able to handle it and the upper sections would always try to negotiate with
them. That’s why I decided that they needed an urban face. I started loving them because I
spent around two years with them and they became my family. So, I decided that I should
take over and continue with this and try to have a more elaborate enterprise. That’s how I
entered into this.

15
 3. Smriti Gupta:
I had a professor during my Engineering bachelor’s in New York. For a few months of the
year, he would go from New York to Ghana in Africa and teach there, like so many people who
I saw doing good and impactful social work.

I naturally gravitated towards college professors or people whose work had a social impact
or brought about social change or social reform.

About the person or persons who influenced me, I would say it was my mother because I
have seen her do so much for society and she taught me to do something for society. That
thing about her made me work with women, and have an enterprise with a large number of
women working with us. So, it was not about choosing the enterprise but about working with
women and it was my mom who influenced me in that.

Motivation for Registering as a Start-Up:

Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are highly valued but one question is asked more
frequently, what are the driving forces behind starting the company? In other words, what are
the reasons behind registering a company and starting a business? Formally and legally to
start any business or venture one has to register his/her company with appropriate government
departments, without that you won’t able to get donations, work orders, tax incentives etc.
There are two types of incentives one is a ‘necessity’ incentive and another is an ‘opportunity’
incentive. Necessity can often mean an economic or regulating necessity and opportunity
often means seeing and seeking favourable business opportunities.

We asked a question to our women entrepreneurs why they decided to register their venture.

1. Akshita Sachdeva:
We registered it on the 30th of November 2017 because when we had decided to launch
the pilot version of the product on the 4th of January, the donor, the Vice Chancellor of
YCMOU, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, had committed to support our
pilot if we did this. So, it would be a paid pilot. The VC would pay for the four devices that
we built. They would have two in YCMOU and two in the National Association for the Blind
in Nashik.
The VC was the same person who had donated additional Rs 1.5-lakh device to the NGO
as well. So, that was promising and we had to register the company because we were about
to receive money from an entity/ company. That is how we registered the company so that we

16
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

could receive the payment and that journey was really interesting in the first six months from
January 2018 to June when we were running the six-month pilot

From August to November 2018, we manufactured 12 units locally in Nashik and supplied
them to customers, after which we realised that we had built something that was creating a
difference, that people were ready to pay for it, and that now we needed to think about the
manufacturing processes, supply chain, and that was a different journey altogether. That was
how it all started, to the point where we finally decided to register the company, got our first
set of customers, and had the initial manufacturing done locally.

We knew that we would register a company but didn’t want to rush it. We wanted to have
that external validation, where somebody else tells you that you are building something that
they want, that will create some change in their life, and they are ready to pay for it. Only then
the time would be ripe and when we wanted to register the company. We didn’t want to rush
because anyway, the first year goes into understanding the customers.

2. Saloni Sacheti:
I think I had never thought of it because I am largely influenced by myself. I always want
to try something different and do something out of my league because I was the first person
in my family who moved out to Delhi for studies. I was the first generation in my family to
become a lawyer. So, I think being the first generation to do something new and different,
was a reason for taking an innovative step or doing something out of my league.

This is an MSME registered as a sole proprietor enterprise. From 2017 to 2018, it was a
project under the SBI Youth for India Fellowship supported by buyers. Then in 2019, I got
registered as Baansuli under MSME as a sole proprietor enterprise. We have a trade mark for
Baansuli. So since 2019, we have been operating as an MSME sole proprietor enterprise.

3. Smriti Gupta:
Yes, I would say that was the turning point in the sense that I finally figured out what
problem I wanted to work on. I had wanted to work in the child protection space but it is such
a big space. So, knowing where you want to work, that decision came through the adoptions.

I started reaching out to people and, to be honest, my initial desire was not to start an
organisation. It was to work in this space.

So, if there was already an organisation working in this space and if they had allowed me

17
to join them, I would have joined them. But I realised after the initial exploration that nobody
else was precisely doing the kind of work I wanted. This work was not top of the mind for
anybody. It was very new. People hadn’t started thinking like this yet.

So, that is why it took a few months, at least a year, a year and a half, of exploration to get
to a stage where I realised that if something has to be done in this area, then I would have to
start something new if this does not exist.

I talked to enough people, and met people who thought like me, were passionate, and were
also very interested when I talked about starting something. That is how all three partners of
us got together and realised we have to do something formal and started the organisation.

Challenges:
With women entrepreneurship widely acknowledged to contribute to the economic
development of any country, it follows that neglecting women in the development process
constitutes human waste (Halkia et al, 2011). Many studies have shown that hindered business
growth often led to the problems like low productivity, high rates of business failure and
no access to credit growth (Dionco-Adetayo et al., 2005). There are many problems faced
by women entrepreneurs right from gender bias, working capital, lack of trained human
resources, legal formalities etc.

We asked our female entrepreneurs what type of challenges they faced in their businesses.

1. Akshita Sachdeva
I do not believe there is, at a base level, any gender to entrepreneurship. So like any
entrepreneur, as a woman entrepreneur, I have had similar challenges and figured out my way
through them.

The one thing that I constantly think about while thinking about impact is: how we get
the money. How do we get the money to manufacture stuff? How do we get the money to
pay salaries to our team?

At times we would feel that, as a social entrepreneur, thinking about money is not good.
But I think it also fuels that impact that we generate and it is equally important. In that regard,
I would constantly think about how we do that, and that keeps you on your toes to hustle
around and get more customers because if you just sit in a lab, work on your technology and
you are not able to sell it out, it gets difficult going forward

18
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

Another thing about managing my business was hustling, selling the product on the
ground, and making sure we have the best team and the best product. We were selling it in
the best possible manner and that is when you realise when you need to scale that impact.

As a founder, while you have done your level best to reach out to customers, you also need
your clones in the business development team who could take it up. And when you have to
hire such people, you need more money. Then is the whole process around fundraising. I still
struggle with this question of whether we need equity-based investment, or if we should just
go the non-dilutive grant-based funding way.

The first of the four pillars that I manage my business around is the product. The product
is the most important thing, building a strong product. The second is building a strong team
because there is nothing without a team. The third is around fundraising. You should be very
clear about your fund-raising goals – why you need funds and how you will generate them.
Everybody has a different way of doing it.

Even after 10 months, we didn’t have enough money to draw salaries.

This is especially so when you have two people hustling, living literally on nothing, and
one person thinking about jobs and salaries and everything. It got difficult initially and then
finally we were ok.

After registering the company, from the compliance perspective, we would have lost one
year of tax exemption, which we get as a DIPP company. So, I thought it would be better if
we register it when we start receiving money.

In terms of the challenges, getting the funds was one.

The first challenge came from being a woman entrepreneur. I think my male co-founders
had similar challenges at their homes. I mean, lack of family support. It’s difficult for your
family members or your parents to digest what you are trying to do.

Their typical aim is, now that you have done your Engineering you should get settled in
four to five years so that they can just get you married and be done with it. That sort of thing
was on their minds and they found it slightly difficult to understand.

Secondly, about the financial support, you might ask what if we wouldn’t be building the
right company and doing the right pitch? These are the two challenges. If you have the right
business and if you can pitch it well enough, it is the only way you can mitigate the challenge

19
of receiving funding. Otherwise, from my perspective, there is no other challenge.

2. Saloni Sacheti
Regarding the problems and the solutions that all start-ups work on, we look at what the
problem is and how to resolve it. We go with a two-way problem and a two-way solution.
The first problem comes with the artisans. They face the problem of having no regular source
of income and seasonal migration.

The second was the problems of the consumers. They had stretched earlobes, which made
them go for surgery. So, they are advised not to wear jewellery of more than 3 to 10 grams.
We provide jewellery of not more than 3 to 10 grams, which you can put on either with Indian
or Western wear.

For the jewellery, raw material is required. We need semi-precious stones, another material
which we don’t get in Gujarat and nearby areas.

Production was going on and we were about to give it to them and suddenly the lockdown
happened and the order got cancelled. We had stock worth Rs 3 lakh ready and we needed to
make the payment to the artisans. So, we made the payment to them but we had inventory
and that is how we shifted to B2C.

We got active on our Instagram and Facebook and in DMing personally to people explaining
the situation we were in and people started liking our products, buying our products and re-
ordering our products, and we were able to sell Rs 3-lakh worth of products in around four
months.

I have faced challenges every day because it’s a challenging task especially when you are
a sole entrepreneur, the lone person managing the post-production and the pre-production
and even the dispatch and everything. The only way is to keep yourself motivated every day
to work even harder.

Sometimes funds become a challenge.

I think a perfect partner, or a supporting family, helps you overcome this. Even your
domestic help becomes a very big support when you are doing it from your home, or if you
are doing right. Domestic help also supports you in all your work, and your daily chores, but
when you talk about working with the artisans, they work with a very different mindset. They
have very different thought processes and changing them and their thought process is a very

20
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

difficult task because when I went there in the initial days, it was very difficult to make them
understand the importance of regular income or even income.

There is a different dynamic altogether with working with the rural community. They have
internal issues like, between two women, they will quarrel any day.

The challenge is to keep yourself balanced every time, not only with them and work but
also personally because sometimes you are too overloaded with so many thoughts on your
mind.

I was just thinking about it today because in India there is no concept of a sole proprietor.
A sole proprietor doesn’t come under a start-up. It either has to be an LLP, a private limited,
or a partnership enterprise/ company.

So why doesn’t the government introduce a start-up policy for women entrepreneurs who
are sole proprietors? Because, they have seed funding of Rs 2 lakh for all the start-ups, right?
But, we being sole proprietors, being woman entrepreneurs, cannot avail of it because we are
not privately limited or anything. We are a sole proprietor.

We need to have a mediator NGO who can supply our products through that channel and
in that there is an issue of commission. So, we are not able to avail of the policies because
there is no such policy for a sole proprietor or a woman entrepreneur in India.

3. Smriti Gupta
A little bit painful. What happens is, there is a lack of clear information on what exactly
you need to do. After I decided to incorporate it as an NGO, if I talked to five to 10 different
people, I would get 5 to 10 different answers.

So, there was just a lot of unclear information, and that is still our problem. We have been
functioning formally for almost three years and I would say that is still our challenge, in terms
of compliance, in terms of government rules, which one we are supposed to follow and how
to follow it. That was a huge headache.

Yes, and consistent information is also an issue. Technically, I am getting information but
if five people are telling me five different things, then it is going to give me a headache, not
clarity.

As day-to-day expenses are going to increase as you grow, matching up to those expenses

21
and getting yourself properly funded to keep your passion and your cause intact is a day-to-
day challenge for any entrepreneur or social innovator. That is what my experience has been
because cash burns like crazy.

And one of the co-founders, Meera, who has been working full time on this, hasn’t
drawn any compensation from the NGO, partly because the NGO doesn’t have the funds to
compensate us. If we get the funds, we would first like to pay our employees and towards our
programmes.

That is what is required but eventually, at some point, the organisation has to be self-
sustaining enough or has to get enough donations so that it can compensate everybody
working on it, not just the employees but anybody working full time on it. So, yeah, we were
in a position where we could do that. We could say let us not take any compensation but we
will work on it full-time for a few years.

You have to scale back your lifestyle, scale back the things you do. Those lifestyle adjustments
you have to make but yes, we were able to continue this work because we had savings and
because we have working spouses. I don’t know how somebody who does not have a working
spouse or savings, how would they start an NGO.

With passion, you need that support in terms of funds and other passionate people also
because individually surviving with your passion is a big challenge in this. So, investors have
got attracted towards the world of IT, and IT entrepreneurship.

Covid messed up my life. I am sure it messed up the life of every working parent in the
world. Covid was tough. Covid has been tough but if we keep Covid aside for a second, the
way I have managed it is with a combination of those child support things, schools, day-care,
nanny, and then bifurcating my day.

So here, I can see a major difference when it comes to a woman social innovator or a
woman social entrepreneur. And if it was her husband doing the same thing, he would have
handled it differently, without having the additional responsibilities that Smriti has to bear.

Both our work was important in our domains and we were trying to figure out who gets to
work first, who manages the kids and all that. And, the attitude of one of our relatives, who
I guess saw us figuring this out, was like my husband’s work comes first because that is the
work that makes money.

We do not get ready staff and hiring will always be a challenge for us. We will need to hire

22
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

smart people who we can train.

Networking with organisations is much harder because there is no one person there you can
connect with. You have to somehow have the organisation come behind you. So, networking
with individuals is doable. I would say networking with organisations is much harder.

The things that I find truly hard are compliance related. As I said, it wasn’t just at the
beginning, even now we are grappling with a couple of compliance issues or questions and
we have talked to three different CAs, who have given us three different answers. We don’t
know what to do. That to me is the tough part, tough because I can’t even take the next step
because I don’t know what it is.

Raining the Funds

The one major challenge faced by entrepreneurs highlighted above was capital. Lack of
capital is the biggest problem faced by social entrepreneurs. The majority of the start-up’s
money comes from personal savings, credit, friends and relatives. With this kind of money,
businesses do not survive long. Lack of working capital poses a risk of closing down the
business. Although there are many initiatives taken by the government like ‘Make in India’,
Start-Up India’ still, the policies framed for social entrepreneurs are not enough as they
struggle to get the funds. Traditional funding channels like banks and non-banking financial
institutes (NBFC) required collaterals for the loan which most social start-ups lack.

Further, we asked how our respondents managed the funds

1. Akshita Sachdeva:
After PIC, we got a couple of other organisations to support us in the ecosystem. One of
them was IKP Eden in Bangalore, which provided us with the first financial support through
a grant programme, Niddhi Prayas, a prototyping grant by the Department of Science and
Technology, Government of India. That is how we received the first grant, which gave us the
funding to build our manufacturing processes and have our supply chains in place so that we
were able to know the supply and demand we were generating through our team.

At times, we have also utilised a lot of brands to offer subsidies on our products to make
sure that we can create an on-ground impact even for persons who come from low-income
settings

And then we applied to this grants programme, which was at IKP Eden in Bangalore, and

23
we got a Rs 10-lakh grant. It was a prototyping grant.

I think a lot of people have different apprehensions about grant funding as well. They
think grant comes slowly and investors invest and the money comes fast. I have almost been
through both of them and chosen one.

2. Saloni Sacheti:
To make it sustainable, to carry on this project, we had funding of around Rs 80,000 given
to us by BAIF to start the production and do the business and everything from that amount.
Whatever revenue used to come, we would keep 20% of it to re-invest in the business and the
rest was distributed or paid to the artisans.

When we changed the model and I became the sole proprietor, I also wanted to have my
share but without reducing the pay of the artisans. If a product worth Rs 100 was selling
before and is selling now, if I take a cut out of it, then it is obvious that there will be less for
the artisans. So, we increased the price of the product.

3. Smriti Gupta:
We weren’t asking for much because we were trying to keep our costs low. A lot of our
founders spent our funds on this. So, overall, we kept the cost low. So, initially, it worked.

Now, it is going to become more of a priority for us. As we get into our third year, we need
committed funds, large amounts.

It is tough to raise funds. I would say it is partly because there is this catch-22 when it
comes to raising funds in India and starting as an entrepreneur.

To do work, you need money. How do you get that money without the certification?
So, there is this chicken and egg problem that I think exists for NGOs specifically, where
the government only gives you certifications after you have done the work. You need those
certifications to get donor money, without which you can’t do the work.

What do you do then when you have to go ask for money from people? Who is going to
give you money without the tax exemption? And, who are going to be those people? They
are going to be the people who personally like you or believe in your cause and it’s hard to
find such people.

24
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

Initially, I and the co-founders met a lot of expenses out of our pockets and we just
noted them down as expenses and figured whenever the money came, we would reimburse
ourselves. That is not possible in every social innovator’s case, in every scenario.

To some extent, you will put your money until so and so point but after that, you need
to work on some model, where somebody is there to help and be passionate and be a part of
your journey and fund this cause.

And in terms of fund-raising and all, I think it is getting difficult now. For the first two
and a half years, the level of funds we needed, when we reached out to people and asked for
donations, our network would support it. I feel we are reaching a stage where our immediate
network will no longer be able to support the level of funds we need. So, fund-raising is
going to get tough and now we will need large sums of money and we will need to approach
established organisations.

Government Policies:
Most social entrepreneurs’ start-ups faced lots of challenges because of a lack of clear
guidelines and regulations. And many times it becomes difficult to get required permissions
from government agencies as the officers lack clarity of the social innovative idea behind the
business.

1. Akshita Sachdeva:
In terms of policy changes and also in terms of funding resources, I would say especially
working with the government or in the government sector has been hard for us. Thankfully,
we are not exclusively B2G. So, we do not have to deal with the government a lot.

The only experience we have had dealing with government agencies is around work orders,
different competitions, and even lots of governments. Even Maharashtra has this Maharashtra
Start-up Week that they organised for promoting entrepreneurship. So, a lot of efforts have
been made in those directions as well.

But, I would say it is such a lengthy process around anything. It is hard even if you receive
a work order grant from the government, any state government, or the Central government, if
you want to get a loan from any of these government schemes around start-ups, if you have
to receive any equity investment from these schemes like BIRAC and a couple of other like
bodies under DST, DBT, who also have equity-based investments.

25
 2. Saloni Sacheti:
My first would be the start-up India policy. That is because the start-up India policy does
not consider sole proprietors as a start-up. That is the problem, but why not? Either amend
the sole proprietor thing or amend the start-up thing because, generally, it is a very common
thing.

Any woman who wants to start a business will first become a sole proprietor because if a
private limited company is started, you want to have an AGM, the audit and everything. A
woman entrepreneur would not be able to do all these. And if you are talking about women
empowerment, how can you not do all this stuff? So, I want a sole proprietor start-up in India
to become one part of it.

3. Smriti Gupta:
We talked to the government folks only once. Ours is a section 8 NGO. So, I don’t think we
go through the charity commissioner. We go through the IT department.

We didn’t have that many government contact points because our CA was doing that.

Overall, getting approvals, going to the government, and getting them to say ok to a
project was extremely hard. I would say that is the hardest part. Everything else we can
manage but that was hard because it’s just not under our control. We didn’t know when they
would give us time. We had to chase one particular government official for two years before
she even agreed to our programme. So, that is there and I think that is just a manifestation
of how government works.

I think the government officials, from what I have understood so far working with them,
are generally loaded from, say, five different directions. So, the things they will act upon are
normally when there is a drop-down pressure like, if the minister cares about something or
if their boss cares about something, then that becomes a priority for them, or if there is a
personal conviction that this work needs to be done. One or the other has to be there.

I also think she probably did not have a personal conviction about this cause, but I have
seen her grow over time, as she is now a lot more helpful than she was probably a couple of
years ago. Maybe something shifted in how she viewed this particular work or this particular
area and then.

In contrast, in the WCD commissioner in Telangana, there was an older commissioner,

26
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

a lady. When we approached her, she was completely dismissive of our work. She said this
work was not even needed. She said there was no problem. But then, the new commissioner,
another woman officer, acknowledged the problem in the first meeting. She said this was an
issue and we need somebody to work on it because I think she had a conviction that this is
an area that needs to be improved.

So, it’s variable and depends upon what their convictions are, whether they have the
conviction, whether they are just cruising through the job, or if they want to make a difference.
It depends upon how much time they have, how much bandwidth they have, and what
priorities their boss has set for them.

Further, we asked our respondents how they overcome the challenges they faced in their
businesses. Some of it is inevitably repetitive to some extent.

1. Saloni Sacheti:
The second was the problems of the consumers. They had stretched earlobes, which made
them go for surgery. So, they were advised not to wear jewellery of more than 3 to 10 grams.
We provide jewellery of not more than 3 to 10 grams, which they could wear, either with
Indian or Western wear.

I buy all this material locally and design things and send the raw material to tribals and
women in Dang. They make the products and courier them to me in Jaipur. I do the quality
checking and when the order comes, I dispatch it from Jaipur. This is how we manage the
cycle.

I feared that when I was not there, other people might come and would offer to give the
artisans more money. So, I wanted to make sure they keep on working with me. So, I told
them that based on how much they make and send, I would pay them accordingly, but they
would have to make and send that much. So, the model of payment changed. Earlier, based
on how much sold, they would get that much only. So, those were the two different models.
Nothing has changed as such.

Production was going on and we were about to give it to them and suddenly the lockdown
happened and the order got cancelled. We had stock worth Rs 3 lakh ready and we needed to
make the payment to the artisans. So, we made the payment to them but we had inventory
and that is how we shifted to B2C.

We got active on our Instagram and Facebook and in DMing personally to people that this

27
and this happened to us and people started liking our products, taking our products and re-
ordering our products, and we were able to sell Rs 3-lakh worth of products in around four
months.

It was a huge time, though, because four months is a long time. Still, we could sell those
Rs 3-lakh worth of products in four months. So, at that time, we realised it is good to have
both B2B and B2C.

Ironically, the pandemic was great for us in a way as we could move to the hybrid model
of B2B and B2C. We could make more designs in jewellery and were made to realise that we
could work while we were sitting here, and work was happening easily because we were doing
it on WhatsApp. I was just sending the design on WhatsApp and they were able to make it
for me. Also, we could easily do an expansion in the product range. So that is how Covid was
for us.

2. Akshita Sachdeva:
In terms of how I manage my business, there are a couple of things. It starts with me. I
have to be passionate enough, motivated enough and hustling enough to make sure that we
can generate impact and at the same time generate revenues for the company.

With my co-founders, we would be doing outreach camps. We did state-wide outreach

campaigns. Initially, since it was a new product, it was not like a smartphone that you launch
on social media, we had to reach out to customers. We had to go from college to college, NGO
to NGO, giving demonstrations about the product. And, interestingly, if you build a strong
enough product and when people see it, they know that they need to have it.

You have to go there, talk to people, show them the product, demonstrate it, and sell it.
That is how we also generate impact. It is not just about you selling it and then you get the
money. It is also about if you don’t sell it, it is sitting in your office. Then you don’t generate
impact. So, it is both ways.

Another thing about managing my business was hustling, selling the product on the
ground, and making sure we have the best team and the best product. We were selling it in
the best possible manner and that is when you realise when you need to scale that impact.

We have had a bootstrap venture for the past four years and have received support from good
government and private companies who have supported us through their grants programmes,
the social entrepreneurship sector, the women entrepreneurship sector, and also the IT sector.

28
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

3. Smriti Gupta:
I think a perfect partner, or a supporting family, helps you overcome this. Even your
domestic help becomes a very big support when you are doing it from your home, or if you
are doing right. Domestic help also supports you in all your work, and your daily chores, but
when you talk about working with the artisans, they work with a very different mindset. They
have very different thought processes and changing them and their thought process is a very
difficult task because when I went there in the initial days, it was very difficult to make them
understand the importance of regular income or income itself.

I think staying motivated every day and waking up with positive thoughts will help overcome
all the challenges.

As I said, Meera and I worked for quite a long time in the high-paying corporate sector.
That helped. Second, we have spouses. Our spouses draw a salary. My husband has his start-
up and all that.

One of the things I learnt was that I can’t do this meeting at 9 a.m., then at 2 p.m., then at
6 p.m., and then at 9 p.m. I have to say I am going to work from 9 to 5, then from 5 to 9 p.m.
Until my kid sleeps, I can’t take meetings or work. So, I have had to block off hours in my life.

Training them on the field becomes part of our job of making them understand.

I would say that anybody working in any very specific NGO field, will have to train their
people and for us that is even more applicable.

Leadership Qualities:
Entrepreneurs need to have the leadership qualities needed to make company formation possible
and to run the company successfully. Knowledge acquired from formal education ad previous work
experience makes an entrepreneur feel capable of forming and managing a new business.

We asked our interviewees, what leadership qualities are needed by social women
entrepreneurs.

1. Saloni Sacheti:
About the two leadership or management qualities, if you talk about what I possess and
how I am handling things, I can relate to any emotional, financial or mental problem with

29
anybody. So, if you can, instead of sympathising, empathise with people, it is very important
when you are leading a team.

Secondly, I am a good decision-maker. If I am making any decisions, I will try to make them
as soon as possible and not worry about whether it is good or bad or even ugly. But, I will try
to the best of my capability and capacity to work hard to make it correct and to make it work.

I think the decision-making power of a leader and trying to execute that decision in your
everyday life are the two beautiful parts of skills.

2. Smriti Gupta:
I would tell women, and entrepreneurs, that their work is work irrespective of whether
somebody is compensating them for it or not.

The second leadership quality I think worked in our favour is looking at everything in a
professional light.

Experience with PIC

Our three interviewees participated in the ‘National Conference on Social Innovation’
which PIC hosted in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation and TISS. These
three social start-ups received after-conference training and support from PIC to run their
businesses. Each start-up was assigned one mentor who will help the entrepreneurs in solving
their business difficulties. We asked interviewees about their experience with PIC.

1. Akshita Sachdeva:
I would say the first people to believe in us after Digital Impact Square was PIC, we got to
know this through and during the NCSI conference. I mean, I got to be a part of PIC. So, PIC
has been the first people, the first organisation to believe in us and support us in our journey.
After we received support from PIC, we also got mentorship from Mr Sanjay Kanvinde sir.

I don’t know if without PIC we would have been able to reach out to him because the
relationship that we have with him went beyond PIC. So, while it was a six-month thing, it
has gone on and on and I would still find myself texting him, saying, ‘Sir, I have an urgent
thing. Can we have a quick five minutes call?’ And it would end up being a 30-minute call
and, thankfully, he would not mind that. That was the relationship we had with him and also
the team and everybody around it.

30
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

The support that we have received from PIC has been the basis of everything.

And, the mentorship that we have received from Sanjay sir has gone beyond PIC, beyond
our expectations because when it had all started, when we applied to NCSI, PIC, we didn’t
even know or expect that this is the kind of support we would receive.

The second thing is about the grant money, that PIC supported us with the award money.
That was helpful.

The first one to believe in the company Trestle Labs was PIC. The role that PIC has played
in our journey has been beyond what we thought it would be.

2. Saloni Sacheti:
I became a PIC top 18 social innovator, it was a good accolade that added to my portfolio
and my profile. I was mentored by Anil Kulkarni sir, who gave me feedback on various
procedures to work on.

Recently, I benefitted from their social welfare initiative, where I was able to get my website
done. It was because I was a part of PIC Pune. I could make a website with the help of their
Shared Service Centre. They not only help their recent winners but also their past winners.
Nobody does that. I think nobody in the entire fraternity or this industry has been helping
or incubating people like that. I have never seen any institution that is helping their winners,
innovators, from three to four years back. PIC is helping them and that is a wonderful thing.

3. Smriti Gupta:
The journey overall in PIC was good. PIC was very, very supportive.

What was hugely helpful was the networking. Our mentors put us in touch with the right
people and that was hugely beneficial. The government official who finally talked to us after
two years happened because of PIC.

The benefits I already talked about. Another benefit I missed mentioning is that it is always
good to have somebody brainstorm things with you, which is what our mentors did with us.
Not everything would result in something but that brainstorming helped keep us on our toes.
We are talking to our mentors once a week or two and these are the things we go and work
on. So, that brainstorming and that accountability helped

31
5. Findings:

W
omen social entrepreneurs are playing an important role in economic, societal
and environmental value creation worldwide. It is widely recognized that women
face more challenges compared to their male counterparts in their entrepreneurial
endeavours. For many women entrepreneurs, striking the balance between work
and family is difficult. For this study, we have selected three women entrepreneurs from
three different fields. We interviewed them to find out the commonalities, for example, what
motivates them to start a business? What type of challenges and obstacles do they face? And
if there are any similarities between them. Our findings are as follows.

Family background plays a great role in shaping entrepreneurship qualities. There is a

piece of strong evidence that entrepreneurs tend to start their venture when they are self-
employed or they have entrepreneurial parents. The independent nature and flexibility of
self-employment by parents are ingrained at an early age. When parents are supportive and
encourage independence, achievement and responsibility appear to be very important for
female entrepreneurs (Hisrich &Brush, 1986). The education of entrepreneurs is an important
factor which plays a major role in an entrepreneur’s life. Personal values are very important
for social entrepreneurs. Apart from the family members teacher can significantly influence
the person with regards not only to business careers but to entrepreneurship as one possible
career path. Earlier research suggests that generally male entrepreneurs tend to start their first
significant venture in their early 30s, whereas female entrepreneurs tend to do this in their mid-
30s (Hisrich, 1990). Now women entrepreneurs are starting their businesses in their early 30s.

Though the desire for making difference in society is generated from the culture, family,
and teachers and in the environment you are operating but the important question is what
makes it possible to form a new company? Several factors like government, marketing, support
and finances contribute to creating new ventures. Government policies play an important role.
It has been observed that there are many policies and initiatives taken by the government to
encourage new entrepreneurship. But these policies and schemes are not enough for budding
social entrepreneurs, especially sole female ones. Government need to come up with new
policies targeting social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. This is especially true because
social entrepreneurship is different from traditional entrepreneurship. Many times government
officials do not understand the nature of social enterprise therefore government officials
need the training to handle the issues faced by social enterprises. Working capital is the
main challenge in front of social entrepreneurs. Most of the time, they manage from their
savings. They do experience difficulties and often fail to attract financial support from formal
agencies. The demand for collateral makes things difficult for social entrepreneurs.

32
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

Training and mentorship programs play a significant role in nurturing and sustaining
enterprises rather than in creating them. To encourage the social women entrepreneur and
entrepreneurship there should be tailor-made training and mentorship programs. It is evident
that women are willing to take up businesses and not only contribute to the nation’s growth
but also they want to create a difference in society. Women social entrepreneurs work for the
oppressed and often neglected class of people. The entrepreneurial training will help them to
become successful.

33
6. Key Policy Recommendations:
Based on the discussion with these three women entrepreneurs, policy measures to support
women’s entrepreneurship can go along with some different lines. Policymakers can

• Listen to the voice of women entrepreneurs. Work on creating better possibilities for
women entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs.

• Incorporate a women’s entrepreneurial dimension in the formation of all SME-related

policies.

• Promote the development of women entrepreneur networks. Entrepreneur’s networks are

one of the main sources of knowledge about women’s entrepreneurship and valuable
tools for its development and promotion.

• Periodically evaluate the impact of SME-related policies the on the success of women-
owned businesses and the extent to which such businesses take advantage of them.

• Give training to the government official to understand the nature and activities of social
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.

34
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

7. Conclusion:

T
he present study explores the factors social (family background, role models), personal
(education, experiences), environmental (government, financial institute, investors)
and entrepreneurial learnings (actions, social and vicarious learnings) essentials for
the development and sustainable growth of women social entrepreneurs.

This study adds value from the theoretical and policy perspectives. From the policy
perspective, the study suggests that policymakers should emphasize promotional policies and
developmental programs for encouraging women to become social entrepreneurs. Mentorship
programs created by PIC are one good example. The key focus of this study is to understand
the issues faced by social women entrepreneurs. This study has a few limitations indicating
new opportunities and directions for conducting further research. This study employed
qualitative analysis that highly depends on the skills of the researcher that may provide a
subjective outlook. Therefore, it is suggested that future studies follow a semi-qualitative or
quantitative approach. There is also a need for a comparative study between men and women
entrepreneurs to analyze the conceptual framework. In entrepreneurial research, a substantial
contribution has been made by this study, there is a need for a longitudinal study.

35
References:
• Abu-Hummour, A. M. (2019). Inclusiveness of Jordanian women in local decision-making
process: Opportunities and threats. Journal of Public Affairs, 19(4), e1928. https://doi.
org/10.1002/pa.1928

• Amine, L. S., & Staub, K. M. (2009). Women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa: An

institutional theory analysis from a social marketing point of view. Entrepreneurship &
Regional Development, 21(2), 183–211.

• Amine, L. S., and K. M. Staub (2009). “Women Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa: An

Institutional Theory Analysis from a Social Marketing Point of View,” Entrepreneurship
and Regional Development 21(2), 183–211.

• Anderson, R. B., Dana, L. P., & Dana, T. E. (2006). Indigenous land rights,
entrepreneurship, and economic development in Canada: “opting-in” to the global
economy. Journal of World Business, 41(1), 45-55.

• Austin, H. Leonard, E. Reficco, J. Wei-Skillern Corporate social entrepreneurship: A new

vision of CSR Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 05-021, Harvard Business
School, Boston (2004)

• Athayde, R. (2009). Measuring enterprise potential in young people. Entrepreneurship:

Theory & Practice, 33, 481-500. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00300.x.

• Brush, C. G., de Bruin, A., & Welter, F. (2009). A gender-aware framework for women’s
entrepreneurship. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 8–24.
https://doi.org/10.1108/17566260910942318

• Datta, P. B., & Gailey, R. (2012). Empowering women through social entrepreneurship:
Case study of a women’s cooperative in India. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,
36(3), 569–587.

• Datta, P. B., & Gailey, R. (2012). Empowering women through social entrepreneurship:
Case study of a women’s cooperative in India. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,
36(3), 569-587.

• Dees, G. 1998. The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship. Available at http://www.

caseatduke.orgdocuments/dees_sedef.pdf. Last accessed: July 5 2010.

36
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

• Dees, J. G. and Anderson, B. B. 2003. Sector-Bending: Blurring Lines between Nonprofit

and For-Profit. Society, 40(4): 16–27.

• Dionco-Adetayo, E.A., Makinde, J.T. and Adetayo, J.O. (2005), “Evaluation of policy
implementation in women entrepreneurship development”, available at: www.womenable.
com/userfiles/ downloads/ICSB_bestWOBpaper_2005.pdf (accessed March 30, 2008).

• Drucker, P. F. (1985). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. London: Pan Books Ltd.

• Ebrashi, R. (2013), “Social entrepreneurship theory and sustainable social impact”, Social
Responsibility Journal, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 188-209

• Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of

Management Review, 14(4), 532-550.

• Emerson, J. and Twersky, F. 1996. New Social Entrepreneurs: The Success, Challenge and
Lessons of Non-Profit Enterprise Creation. San Francisco: Roberts Foundation, Homeless
Economic Development Fund.

• Guillén, M. F. (2014). Women entrepreneurs. Inspiring stories from emerging economies

and developing countries. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Halkias, D., Nwajiuba, C., Harkiolakis, N. and Caracatsanis, S.M. (2011), “Challenges facing
women entrepreneurs in Nigeria”, Management Research Review, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 221-
235. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409171111102821

• Hisrich, R. D., & Brush, C. G. (1986). The woman entrepreneur: Starting, financing, and
managing a successful new business. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books

• Huysentruyt, M. (2014). Women’s social entrepreneurship and innovation. OECD Local

Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Working Papers, 2014/01, OECD. Gentry,
K. M. (2007).

• Hockerts, K. (2010). Social entrepreneurship between market and mission. International

Review of Entrepreneurship, 8(2), 177-198.

• Huysentruyt, M. (2014). Women’s Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. OECD Local

Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Working Papers 2014/01, OECD.

37
• Makhlouf, H. H. (2011). Social entrepreneurship: Generating solutions to global
challenges. International Journal of Management and Information Systems, 15(1), 1-8.

• Martin, R. and Osberg, S. (2007) Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition.
Stanford Social Innovation Review, 5, 28.

• Palacios-Lopez, L. Christiaensen, T. Kilic How much of the labor in African agriculture is

provided by women? Food Policy (2016), 10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.09.017

• International Monetary Fund Report ‘Pursuing Women’s Economic Empowerment’

(2018),

• Polas, M. R. H., & Afshar Jahanshahi, A. (2020a). The effects of individual characteristics
on women intention to become social entrepreneurs?. Journal of Public Affairs.

• Reis, T. 1999. Unleashing the New Resources and Entrepreneurship for the Common
Good: A Scan, Synthesis and Scenario for Action. Battle Creek, MI: W. K. Kellogg
Foundation.

• Sarfaraz, L., & Faghih, N. (2011). Women’s entrepreneurship in Iran: A GEM based-data
evidence. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 1(1), 45–57.

• Thompson, J. 2002. The World of the Social Entrepreneur. The International Journal of
Public Sector Management, 15(4/5): 412–31.

• Yin, R. K. (2003). Applications of case study research Thousand Oaks: Sage.

38
 Case Study on Women Entrepreneurs

Annexure:
Organisation name- WAIC
Director and Co-founder, Smriti Gupta

WAIC is registered as Child Welfare and Action Foundation. WAIC are working to ensure
that abandoned and orphaned children are accounted for and reach a positive outcome in
the best interest of the child, they are focusing on a three-pronged approach. Their team
consists of people passionate about child welfare, who have a common vision that we as
individuals and society must protect and ensure a future for every vulnerable child. Their team
is distributed pan-India and includes entrepreneurs, technologists, campaigners, counsellors,
business heads, and strategists.

Organisation name: Trestle Labs Pvt. Ltd.

Co-founder, Akshita Sachdeva

Ms. Akshita and team have developed their solution ‘Kibo – A one-stop solution to access
any kind of printed, handwritten and digital content’. Kibo comprises 2 products: ● Kibo
● Kibo XS device. Kibo mobile-app is a one-stop solution to access any kind of Printed,
Handwritten and Digital content, in real-time, through audio, across multiple Indian and
overseas languages, with an immersive reading and learning experience at par with sighted
peers. While bringing access to 1 Million+ accessible books in collaboration with online digital-
libraries to download and listen in audio, it also reads any digital document – PDF, ePub,
Daisy, Docx, Txt, Images and Audio across multiple Indian and overseas languages. While Kibo
mobile-app also offers Capture and Read feature, not many of our Visually-impaired friends
are dextrous enough to capture photos using their phone, and the task is even tougher when
the content is huge (for Higher-education, Competitive-exams and Workplace scenarios). So,
for Educational and Workplace scenarios, we have developed Kibo XS which is a table-lamp
like device that reads any Printed and Handwritten Content across 12 Indian and multiple
overseas languages in real-time through audio, translates text across 100+ languages and
helps download the same across Editable formats like Doc, Docx and even PDF, while giving
an option to save the documents on Kibo-cloud for multi-device access.

39
 Organisation name: Baansuli- Bamboo Artisan Socio-Economic
Upliftment Initiative
Co-founder, Saloni Sancheti

Dang is one of the most economically distressed districts out of 640 districts in India
having 98% of the tribal population. The major source of income is agriculture but due to
hilly terrain, post monsoon Dang faces water scarcity creating discouragement for cultivation
practices. As a result, Dangs observes seasonal migration of cultivators and agriculture laborers.
Ms. Saloni Sacheti observed that this area is bamboo abundant and decided to use bamboo as
a source of income generation for the tribal people. She founded a project called ‘Baansuli-
Bamboo Artisan, Socio-economic Upliftment Initiative’ in which uniquely handcrafted bamboo
earrings made from locally sourced variety of Manvel bamboo. This contemporary jewellery
uses german silver, semi-precious stones, tussles etc. to make it more attractive.

40
 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
...
to create a world class think tank
...
to provide a forum for liberal intellectuals
...
to promote an environment for free and fair public debates
...
to provide a platform to promote arts and culture
...
ICC Trade Tower, A Wing, 5th floor, Senapati Bapat Marg, Pune 411 016
[email protected] I www.puneinternationalcentre.org
@PuneIntCentre