Debashish

Ghosh, a final year MBA student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, metNischinta

Amarnath, a second-year Economics graduate student at Stella Mary's College, Chennai, last year at Saarang, the IIT-M's annual cultural fest. The meeting led to a joint column on Chennai-based entrepreneurs for a city-based newspaper, which was followed by an idea to write a book --The Voyage to Excellence -- on women entrepreneurs. Why a book on women entrepreneurs? "Because no such book was available in the market. As we searched, we found that there were books available on male entrepreneurs but nothing on women. So, we thought, why not give it a try," Debashish explained. The reasons to decide on women entrepreneurs were different for Nischinta. "We want to enable other men and women to join mainstream economic activities. I feel women are doing a wonderful job striking a balance between their house and career. So, we want to inculcate the entrepreneurial spirit in women and encourage other young women to also start something of their own." Debashish, however, disagreed with her. He felt there was nothing special about gender. According to him, entrepreneurship is gender-neutral. The 21 Leading Businesswomen in India [ Images ] *

1 2 3 4 5

Akhila Srinivasan, Managing Director, Shriram Investments Ltd Chanda Kocchar, Executive Director, ICICI Bank [ Get Quote ] Ekta Kapoor [ Images ], Creative Director, Balaji Telefilms [ Get Quote ] Jyoit Naik, President, Lijjat Papad Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon [Get
Quote ]

6 7 8 9

Lalita D Gupte, Joint Managing Director, ICICI Bank Naina Lal Kidwai [ Images ], Deputy CEO, HSBC Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals [ Get Quote ] Priya Paul, Chairman, Apeejay Park Hotels

10 Rajshree Pathy, Chairman, Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals Ltd 11 Ranjana Kumar [ Images ], Chairman, NABARD 12 Ravina Raj Kohli, Media personality and ex-President, STAR News 13 Renuka Ramnath, CEO, ICICI Ventures

14 Ritu Kumar [ Images ], Fashion Designer 15 Ritu Nanda, CEO, Escolife 16 Shahnaz Hussain, CEO, Shahnaz Herbals 17 Sharan Apparao, Proprietor, Apparao Galleries 18 Simone Tata, Chairman, Trent Ltd [ Get Quote ] 19 Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Joint MD, Kinetic Engineering [ Get Quote ] 20 Tarjani Vakil, former Chairman and Managing Director, EXIM Bank 21 Zia Mody, Senior Partner, AZB & Partners
* in alphabetical order

"These successful people happened to be women, that's all. Since the book is about women entrepreneurs, there is gender sensitivity. So, to me, the book is more from a business perspective than from a gender perspective. It was limited to women because no such book was available." Once they decided upon the idea, the search for famous women entrepreneurs from all over India began. A list was made based on the maximum number of search results on Google, the number of awards these women have won and the sectors they led. Although the initial decision was to have ten women in this list, they soon found it difficult to contain the list to ten. So, they chose not have any upper limit. Finally, there were 21 most successful women entrepreneurs in the book. The idea, which took shape in June 2004, went on for nine whole months. "Once the list was finalised, we started collecting a lot of secondary data based on research. Then, we began calling these women on their company board line numbers. We first got in touch with their secretaries and proceeded from there," says Debashish. How did the companies react to two students seeking for appointments with such top level executives? "Yes, initially, we were not taken seriously by many, but afterwards the fact that we were students worked to our advantage. We managed to convince them about the credibility of the book. But we had to schedule, reschedule and cancel some interviews. One interview was cancelled midway -- something that was very disappointing." The first interviews were done with the women entrepreneurs in Chennai and then the duo moved to Mumbai [ Images ]. "We still remember the travels we undertook. I was in Delhi [ Images ], and it was raining heavily, and I got drenched completely while going for my assignment. Still, I did the interview. Another journey we could never forget was one we undertook from Chennai to Bangalore. It was nighttime and, on the way, the bus broke down. We were stranded midway and had to keep awake the whole night. However, we managed to do the interview in the morning," Debashish narrated.

"Similarly, we had two appointments in Delhi and when we reached there, one of the persons cancelled the appointment. Imagine, we had travelled all the way from Chennai to Delhi for the interviews. Luckily, the one with Ritu Nanda went on very well," said Nischinta. The shortest interview they did was with Ekta Kapoor. And, the longest was with Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. "We got a chance to interact not only with her but with many of her company officials. We spoke to people -- from her driver to the executives there. That was a very memorable opportunity." As both the authors were students (authors@v2e.net), they couldn't afford to miss classes even when they worked on the book. For the last nearly one month, they had been attending classes during the day and transcribing the interviews at night which left them with very little time to sleep. Some days, they even used to go from the IIT library where they worked straight into morning classes without even a wink of sleep. While Debashish had to only walk to his class, Nischinta had to go back home before rushing to college! For nine whole months, one of them was constantly working on the book. As their exams never clashed, the work on the book continued unabated. "That was the main reason I chose to have her as my partner," Debashish said. "We never thought we should make any money or profit out of this venture. Our idea was to inspire many more women," Debashish confided. The authors decided not to rank their interviewees. Instead they arranged the interviews in alphabetical order. Finally, they got none other than one of the most famous Indian entrepreneurs, Infosys [ Get Quote ] Chairman N R Narayana Murthy [Images ], to write a foreword, but only after a lot of persuasion. "We succeeded because we refused to take 'no' for an answer." There was no time for celebration at all for either of them after they were finished with the last line of the book, The Voyage to Excellence (www.v2e.net). Hardly surprising, for what awaited them were university exams. Photograph of Debashish Ghosh and Nischinta Amarnatha by Sreeram Selvaraj

Design: Rahil Shaikh

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Powerful women Entrepreneurs in India-Indra Nooyi, S.Gandhi, Lalita & Kalpana,Vidya Manohar, Anu Aga,Simone Tata, Indu Jain, Priya Paul, Sulajja,

The educated women do not want to limit their lives in the four walls of the house. They demand equal respect from their partners. However, Indian women have to go a long way to achieve equal rights and position because traditions are deep rooted in Indian society. Despite all the social hurdles, many women have become successful in their works. Recently, Forbes, one of the famous international business magazines, has published a list of most powerful women in various fields such as, politics, business. Indian women were also included in the list. Here are the names:

Indra Nooyi- 4th position- Chief Executivedesignate, Pepsi Co.

This Madras born woman was a straight A student in her school. Nooyi did her bachelors from Madras Christian College and MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Nooyi then went to USA and attended Yale University. From Yale, she obtained degree on management. This brilliant corporate woman started her career in Boston Consulting Group and moved on to Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri. She joined Pepsi Co. in 1994. She turned the company into a bold risk taker. In 1998, Pepsi acquired Tropicana. In 1997, Pepsi started its own fast food chain. In 2001, she became President of Pepsi Cola. Wall Street Journal included her name in their top 50 women to watch in 2005. Fortune magazine declared her 11th most powerful women in business.

Sonia Gandhi-13th positionPresident, Congress Party

She was born in Italy and had a normal upbringing. In 1964, she went to Cambridge to study English and met Rajiv Gandhi. The two fell in love and got married in 1968. Sonias entrance into politics was accidental. In 1991, after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, she was approached by the Congress Party leaders but she refused. She finally joined politics in 1998 by taking over the charge of Congress Party. Her opponents tried to ruin her image by labeling her as a foreigner, but with her timely decision to give up the position of Prime minister to Dr. Manmohan Singh, after winning the general election of 2004, she outmatched her opponents.

Lalita Gupte & Kalpana Morparia93rd position Joint Managing Directors, ICICI Bank

Kalpana Morparia and Lalita Gupte are Joint Managing Directors of ICIC Bank, the second largest bank of India. Lalita Gupte holds a Masters Degree in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. She joined ICIC Bank in 1971. Her reason behind success is her supportive family. She got great support from her husband and in laws. Ms. Kalpana Morparia is a graduate in law from Mumbai University. She joined ICIC in 1975 as a senior legal officer. In 1996, she became General Manager. She became Executive Director in 2001. In 1999, for her contribution in Finance and Banking sector in India, Indian Merchants' Chamber awarded her.

Vidya Manohar Chhabria95th positionChairman, Jumbo Group

The wife of late Manohar Rajaram Chhabria, is now leading Jumbo Group, a Dubai based $1.5 billion business conglomerate. She became chairperson of the company after the death of her husband in 2002. She runs the business with the help of her three daughters. She was ranked 38th most powerful women by the Fortune magazine in 2003.

Anu Aga- Chairperson (former) Thermax Group

Like Vidya Manohar Chabaria, this woman also became the Chairperson of Thermax Engineering after the death of her husband Rohinton Aga. The companys condition was critical at that time. Its share price dipped to Rs. 36 from Rs. 400. Anu Aga, the then Director of Human Resource, Thermax, was compelled to take charge of the company. In order to make the company profitable, she brought a consultant from abroad and restructured the company. The strategy worked and the company saw profit again. She stepped down from the post of chairperson in 2004. Now, she spends most of her time in social activities. Bombay Management Association awarded her Management Woman Achiever of the Year Award 20022003.

Kiran Mazumdar-ShawBiocon

She is the first female master brewer and the richest woman in India. Her father was a master brewer and he encouraged her to get into this profession. Shaw obtained her Honors degree in Zoology from Bangalore University. Then she went to Ballarat University to study brewery. Her first job was in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974, as a trainee brewer. She started her firm Biocon India in 1978 in her garage. When she applied for loan to the banks, she was turned down. At that time, biotechnology was not known in India and she was a female and her company did not have much assets. With her hard work and determination she overcome all these obstacles and turned Biocon into the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in India.

Simone TataManaging Director (former) Lakme

With her visions, she changed a small unknown cosmetics company, one of the subsidiaries of Tata Oil Mills, into one of the leading cosmetic companies of India. Lakme changed the face of Indian fashion and cosmetics forever. For her success, Simone N. Tata is also known as Cosmetic Czarina of India. Simone joined Lakme in 1961 and became Chairperson in 1982. The company is now sold to Hindustan Liver. Simone is now heading Trent Limited another subsidiary of the Tata Company.

Indu Jain- Chairperson (former) The Times Group

Indu Jain has many identities: spiritualist, entrepreneur, humanist, educationalist, great lover of art and culture. She was the Chairman of the The Times Group, the biggest and the most powerful media house in India. The company was bought from a British group. Now, her two sons Samir and Vineet are running the company. Among the major products of the company, The Times of India, the largest selling English daily newspaper of the world. In 2000, Jain delivered speech at the Millenium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders.

Priya PaulApeejay Surrendra Group

Priya Paul finished her Bachelors in Economics from USA. She got into her family business at the age of 24 after her father Surrendra Paul was assassinated in 1990. Appeejay Surrendra Group has several subsidiaries such as, tea, hotel, shipping, retail, real estate and financial services. At present, Priya is the Chairperson of Appeejay Park Hotels.

Sulajja Firodia Motwani Kinetic Motor

This beautiful woman is the Joint Managing Director of Kinetic, and the Managing Director of Kinetic Finance. Her grandfather founded this company. He was a very well known figure in the Indian auto industry. Sulajja did her MBA in America. Later, she worked in Barra International, a California based investment consultancy firm, for four years and then returned to India and joined her family business. She travels a lot around India and likes to deal face to face with people. This is how she tries to understand the market in her country.

Neelam DhawanManaging Director, Microsoft India

She has become a pioneering figure in the IT industry of India. Neelam Dhawan has been working in the Indian IT field for the last twenty two years. She is the new Managing Director of Microsoft India. Before coming to Microsoft, she worked in all the top IT companies in India such as HP, IBM and HCL You might also like:

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5 comments:

Entrepreneurs in India said... Wow, it is a nice list great women entrepreneurs in India. Thanks for providing list
July 20, 2010 1:40 AM

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September 22, 2010 2:28 AM

sharetipsinfo said... Hi, Seems like its a nice blog. So let us also add something useful in it. Trading in volatile market can be very fruitful also if we follow technical levels closely. Its a common saying that stock market can change fortune in either way. But now the question is how to earn money from the Indian stock market. Traders are advised to strictly follow technical analyses and investors can follow fundamental analysis. Many analysts say its not wise to follow technical and fundamental analysis together. But we say what the problem is if one does so? As more knowledge will add up things will not have any negative impact. Regards . Sharetipsinfo Team
October 4, 2010 10:44 PM

Preeti said... I am a budding entrepreneur in internet marketing in India. Is there anyone else too?
June 15, 2011 9:46 AM

Raja said... Many real estate developers have decired the move terming in a bad and illtimed one and are wary if the sector will witness a downward trend in the coming days. Nifty

July 27, 2011 11:05 PM

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India's Top Business Women:

[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Entrepreneur Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman & Managing Director of Bioon Ltd., who became India's richest woman in 2004 (an estimated Rs.2,100 crore ) ~US$480 million), was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. She founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs.10,000 in her garage in 1978 - the initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans were turned down by banks then - on three counts biotechnology was then a new word, thecompany lacked assets, and (most importantly) women entrepreneurs were still a rarity. Today, her company is the bigget biopharmaceutical firm in the country. In 2006, Shaw caused a few Page 3 ruffles after a much hyped photograph showed her in an embraceand lip-lock with senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje Scinidia.

[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ]

Ekta Kapoor, creative head of Balajji Telefilms, is the daughter of actor Jeetendra, and sister of actor Tushar Kapoor. She has been synonymous with the rage of soap operas on Indian TV, after her most famous venture 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', which started airing on STAR Plus in 2000. Ekta dominates Indian television, producing more than eight television soaps. At the 6th Indian Telly Awards 2006, she bagged the Hall of Fame award for her contributions. Most of her creations begin with the letter'K' due to her superstition that it brings her good luck. [ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Sunita Narain, an environmentalist and political activist as well as a major proponent of the Green concept of sustainable development, was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2005. Narain, who has been with the India-based Centre for Science and Environment since 1982, is currently the

director of the Centre, and the director of the Society for Environmental Communications, and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, 'Down to Earth'. [ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Neelam Dhawan, Microsoft India managing director, leads Microsoft's sales and marketing operations in the country. A Stephenian (graduated in 1980), she passed out of Delhi's Faculty of Management Studies in 1982. Back then, while she was keen to join FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever and Asian Paints, both companies rejected Dhawan as they did not want to appoint women for marketing.

Naina Lal Kidwai was the first Indian woman to graduate from the Harvard Business School. Fortune magazine listed Kidwai among the World's Top 50 Corporate Women from 2000 to 2003. According to the Economic Times, she is the first woman to head the operations of a foreign bank in India (HSBC). Kidwai was awarded the Padma Shri this year.

Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Joint Managing Director of Kinetic Engineering Ltd., is incharge of the company's overall business developmental activities. She is also the Director of Kinetic Motor Company Limited and Kinetic Marketing Services Limited. A fitness freak and avid sports enthusiast, she even played badminton at the national level. The magazine 'India Today' has honoured her with the title of business 'Face of the Millennium'. She was ranked among the top 25 business entrepreneurs of the country,and was also presented with the Society Young Achiever's Award for Business in 2002. The same year, she was chosen as the 'Global Leader of Tomorrow' by the World Economic Forum.

Mallika Srinivasan, Director of TAFE India (her husband is automobile tycoon Venu Srinivasan, CMD of TVS Motors) was named Businesswoman of the year in 2006. When she joined the company in 1986, its turnover was Rs.85 crore, and at the time of her award,TAFE and its allied companies were earning revenues of Rs.2,900 crore. A couple of years after her marriage in 1982, and less than a year after her daughter was born, Srinivasan went to Wharton to pursue her MBA. It's no surprise that TAFE also runs hospitals and schools. A serious votary of woman power, Srinivasan says women's contribution to society has often been underestimated.

Dr. Jatinder Kaur Arora, an outstanding scientist from Punjab, was conferred a national award for her work on women's development through science and technology. Dr. Arora, perhaps the first scientist to get such an award, is a doctorate in microbiology and has a brilliant academic record. An unlikely and fairly new contender on this list, she is serving as a joint director in the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology at present.

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi, chairman and executive officer of PepsiCo, was according to Forbes magazine's 2006 poll, the fourth most powerful woman in the world. She was also named the #1 Most Powerful Woman in Business in 2006 by Fortune magazine. She got her bachelor's degree from Madras Christian College in 1974, entered the Business Diploma programme at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and later moved to the US to attend the Yale School of Management. Nooyi serves on the board of directors of several organizations, including Motorola, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the International Rescue Committee, and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Among her friends are former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who describes her asa 'wild New York Yankees fan'.

Read more: http://www.funonthenet.in/forums/index.php? topic=98538.0#ixzz1bgQ8DsrM

Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs And Leaders Of India

Posted at YouthKiAwaaz on January 2, 2011 in Biz and Eco 25 Comments

By Bhavita Kukreja: Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or group of women who initiate,organise and cooperate a business enterprise. Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving atleast 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to women. The Indian women are no longer treated as show pieces to be kept at home.They are also enjoying the impact of globalisation 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. Here are a few: (The lists consists of no political figure and concentrates only on business leaders and organizational heads).

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

1.Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd., who became Indias richest woman in 2004, was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. She foundedBiocon India with a capital of Rs.10,000 in her garage in 1978 the initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans were turned down by banks then on three counts biotechnology was then a new word, thecompany lacked assets, women entrepreneurs were still a rarity. Today, her company is the bigget biopharmaceutical firm in the country.

Ekta Kapoor

2.Ekta Kapoor, creative head of Balaji Telefilms, is the daughter of Jeetendra and sister of Tushar Kapoor. She has been synonymous with the rage of soap operas in Indian TV, after her most famous venture Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi which was aired in 2000 on Star plus. Ekta dominates Indian Television.At the 6th Indian Telly Awards 2006,she bagged the Hall Of Fame award for her contributions.

Neelam Dhawan

3. Neelam Dhawan, Managing Director, Microsoft India, leads Microsoft India. She is a graduate from St. Stephens College in 1980,and also passed out from Delhis Faculty Of Management studies in 1982. Then she was keen on joining FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever and Asian Paints, both companies rejected Dhawan, as they didnot wish to appoint women for marketing and sales.

Naina Lal Kidwai

4. Naina Lal Kidwai, was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School. Fortune magazine listed Kidwai among the worlds top 50 Corporate Women from 2000 to 2003. According to the Economic times, she is the first woman to head the operations of a foreign bank in India. ( HSBC)

Indu Jain

5. Indu Jain, the multi-faceted lady used to be the Chairman of the Times Group-The most powerful and largest Media house India has known. Indu Jain is known by many different identities such as that of

spiritualist,humanist,entrepreneur,an educationalist but most prominently she played the role of the Chairman of Times Group. Indu Jain is the perfect picture of the successful Indian Woman entrepreneur.

Priya Paul

6.Priya Paul, she has a bachelors degree specialising in Economics from Wellesley College, USA. She entered her family business and is currently the Chairperson of Park Hotels.

Simone Tata

7. Simone Tata, has been instrumental in changing a small subsidary of Tata Oil Mills into the largest cosmetic brand in India LAKME, synonymous today with Indian Fashion. She became a part of Lakme during 1961 and has been responsible for turning the company into one of the biggest brands of fashion in India. At present she is the Chairperson of Trent Limited, a subsidary of Tata Group.

Mallika Srinivasan

8.Mallika Srinivasan, currently the Director of TAFE- Tractors and Farm Equipment, India , was honoured with the title of Businesswoman of the Year during 2006 by the Economic Times. She joined the company in 1986 and has since been responsible for accelerating turnover from 85 crores to 2900 crores within a span of 2 decades.

Preetha Reddy

9. Preetha Reddy, Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, one of the largest healthcare conglomerates of India, is one of the pioneer businesswoman of India in the segment of Health Care Industry.

Ranjana Kumar

10. Ranjana Kumar, currently Vigilance Commissioner in Central Vigilance Commission, after her retirement as the Chairperson of NABARD- National Bank For Agricultural and Rural Development, is a prominent Indian Banker. When the Government of India appointed her as the Chairperson and Managing Director of The Indian Bank, she became the first woman to become head of a public sector bank in India. At that time of her appointment, The Indian Bank was saddled with huge losses and during her tenure she ensured the turn around of The Indian Bank. 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.

Problems of Women Entrepreneurs in India

By

Ex-Professor Symbiosis (SCMHRD, SCDL), IIIT, SCMLD, SBS Pune

Prof. Dileep Kumar M.

Introduction Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or a group of women who initiate, organize and operate a business enterprise. Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as an enterprise

owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to women. Like a male entrepreneurs a women entrepreneur has many functions. They should explore the prospects of starting new enterprise; undertake risks, introduction of new innovations, coordination administration and control of business and providing effective leadership in all aspects of business. Push-Pull factors and Women in business Women in business are a recent phenomenon in India. By and large they had confide 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 on legs. A sense towards independent decision-making on 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 some thing 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. Problems of Women Entrepreneurs in India Women in India are faced many problems to get ahead their life in business. A few problems cane be detailed as; 1. The greatest deterrent to women entrepreneurs is that they are women. A kind of patriarchal male dominant social order is the building block to them in their way towards business success. Male members think it a big risk financing the ventures run by women. 2. The financial institutions are skeptical about the entrepreneurial abilities of women. The bankers consider women loonies as higher risk than men loonies. The bankers put unrealistic and unreasonable securities to get loan to women entrepreneurs. According to a report by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), "despite evidence that women's loan repayment rates are higher than men's, women still face more difficulties in obtaining credit," often due to discriminatory attitudes of banks and informal lending groups (UNIDO, 1995b). 3. Entrepreneurs usually require financial assistance of some kind to launch their ventures - be it a formal bank loan or money from a savings account. Women in developing nations have little access to funds, due to the fact that they are concentrated in poor rural communities with few opportunities to borrow money (Starcher, 1996; UNIDO, 1995a). The women entrepreneurs are suffering from inadequate financial resources and working capital. The women entrepreneurs lack access to external funds due to their inability to provide tangible security. Very few women have the tangible property in hand. 4. Women's family obligations also bar them from becoming successful entrepreneurs in both developed and developing nations. "Having primary responsibility for children, home and older dependent family members, few women can devote all their time and energies to their business" (Starcher, 1996, p. 8).The financial institutions discourage women entrepreneurs on the belief that they can at any time leave their business and become housewives again. The result is that they are forced to rely on their own savings, and loan from relatives and family friends. 5. Indian women give more emphasis to family ties and relationships. Married women have to make a fine balance between business and home. More over the business success is depends on the support the family members extended to women in the business process and management. The interest of the family members is a determinant factor in the realization of women folk business aspirations.

6. Another argument is that women entrepreneurs have low-level management skills. They have to depend on office staffs and intermediaries, to get things done, especially, the marketing and sales side of business. Here there is more probability for business fallacies like the intermediaries take major part of the surplus or profit. Marketing means mobility and confidence in dealing with the external world, both of which women have been discouraged from developing by social conditioning. Even when they are otherwise in control of an enterprise, they often depend on males of the family in this area. 7. The male - female competition is another factor, which develop hurdles to women entrepreneurs in the business management process. Despite the fact that women entrepreneurs are good in keeping their service prompt and delivery in time, due to lack of organisational skills compared to male entrepreneurs women have to face constraints from competition. The confidence to travel across day and night and even different regions and states are less found in women compared to male entrepreneurs. This shows the low level freedom of expression and freedom of mobility of the women entrepreneurs. 8. Knowledge of alternative source of raw materials availability and high negotiation skills are the basic requirement to run a business. Getting the raw materials from different souse with discount prices is the factor that determines the profit margin. Lack of knowledge of availability of the raw materials and lowlevel negotiation and bargaining skills are the factors, which affect women entrepreneur's business adventures.

9. Knowledge of latest technological changes, know how, and education level of the person are significant factor that affect business. The literacy rate of women in India is found at low level compared to male population. Many women in developing nations lack the education needed to spur successful entrepreneurship. They are ignorant of new technologies or unskilled in their use, and often unable to do research and gain the necessary training (UNIDO, 1995b, p.1). Although great advances are being made in technology, many women's illiteracy, strucutural difficulties, and lack of access to technical training prevent the technology from being beneficial or even available to females ("Women Entrepreneurs in Poorest Countries," 2001). According to The Economist, this lack of knowledge and the continuing treatment of women as second-class citizens keeps them in a pervasive cycle of poverty ("The Female Poverty Trap," 2001). The studies indicates that uneducated women donot have the knowledge of measurement and basic accounting. 10. Low-level risk taking attitude is another factor affecting women folk decision to get into business. Low-level education provides low-level self-confidence and self-reliance to the women folk to engage in business, which is continuous risk taking and strategic cession making profession. Investing money, maintaining the operations and ploughing back money for surplus generation requires high risk taking attitude, courage and confidence. Though the risk tolerance ability of the women folk in day-to-day life is high compared to male members, while in business it is found opposite to that. 11. Achievement motivation of the women folk found less compared to male members. The low level of education and confidence leads to low level achievement and advancement motivation among women folk to engage in business operations and running a business concern. 12. Finally high production cost of some business operations adversely affects the development of women entrepreneurs. The installation of new machineries during expansion of the productive capacity and like similar factors dissuades the women entrepreneurs from venturing into new areas. How to Develop Women Entrepreneurs? Right efforts on from all areas are required in the development of women entrepreneurs and their greater

participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Following efforts can be taken into account for effective development of women entrepreneurs. 1. Consider women as specific target group for all developmental programmes. 2. Better educational facilities and schemes should be extended to women folk from government part. 3. Adequate training programme on management skills to be provided to women community. 4. Encourage women's participation in decision-making. 5. Vocational training to be extended to women community that enables them to understand the production process and production management. 6. Skill development to be done in women's polytechnics and industrial training institutes. Skills are put to work in training-cum-production workshops. 7. Training on professional competence and leadership skill to be extended to women entrepreneurs. 8. Training and counselling on a large scale of existing women entrepreneurs to remove psychological causes like lack of self-confidence and fear of success. 9. Counselling through the aid of committed NGOs, psychologists, managerial experts and technical personnel should be provided to existing and emerging women entrepreneurs. 10. Continuous monitoring and improvement of training programmes. 11. Activities in which women are trained should focus on their marketability and profitability. 12. Making provision of marketing and sales assistance from government part. 13. To encourage more passive women entrepreneurs the Women training programme should be organised that taught to recognize her own psychological needs and express them. 14. State finance corporations and financing institutions should permit by statute to extend purely trade related finance to women entrepreneurs. 15. Women's development corporations have to gain access to open-ended financing. 16. The financial institutions should provide more working capital assistance both for small scale venture and large scale ventures. 17. Making provision of micro credit system and enterprise credit system to the women entrepreneurs at local level. 18. Repeated gender sensitisation programmes should be held to train financiers to treat women with dignity and respect as persons in their own right. 19. Infrastructure, in the form of industrial plots and sheds, to set up industries is to be provided by state run agencies. 20. Industrial estates could also provide marketing outlets for the display and sale of products made by

women. 21. A Women Entrepreneur's Guidance Cell set up to handle the various problems of women entrepreneurs all over the state. 22. District Industries Centres and Single Window Agencies should make use of assisting women in their trade and business guidance. 23. Programmes for encouraging entrepreneurship among women are to be extended at local level. 24. Training in entrepreneurial attitudes should start at the high school level through well-designed courses, which build confidence through behavioral games. 25. More governmental schemes to motivate women entrepreneurs to engage in small scale and largescale business ventures. 26. Involvement of Non Governmental Organisations in women entrepreneurial training programmes and counselling. Conclusion Independence brought promise of equality of opportunity in all sphere to the Indian women and laws guaranteeing for their equal rights of participation in political process and equal opportunities and rights in education and employment were enacted. But unfortunately, the government sponsored development activities have benefited only a small section of women. The large majority of them are still unaffected by change and development activities have benefited only a small section of women i.e. the urban middle class women. The large majority of them are still unaffected by change and development. The reasons are well sighted in the discussion part of this article. It is hoped that the suggestions forwarded in the article will help the entrepreneurs in particular and policy-planners in general to look into this problem and develop better schemes, developmental programmes and opportunities to the women folk to enter into more entrepreneurial ventures. This article here tries to recollect some of the successful women entrepreneurs like Ekta Kapoor, Creative Director, Balaji Telefilms, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CEO, Biocon, Shahnaz Husain and Vimalben M Pawale, Ex President, Sri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad (SMGULP). References 1. Jose P., Ajith Kumar. & Paul T.M., (1994) Entrepreneurship Development, Himalaya Publishing. 2. Medha Dubhashi Vinze (1987) Women Entrepreneurs In India: A Socio-Economic Study of Delhi - 197576, Mittal Publications, New Delhi. 3. Renuka V. (2001) Opportunities and challenges for women in business, India Together, Online Report, Civil Society Information Exchange Pvt. Ltd. 4. Starcher, D. C. (1996). Women entrepreneurs: Catalysts for transformation. Retrieved July 6, 2001: http:// www.ebbf.org/woman.htm10 (c2001269511) 5. "The female poverty trap." (2001, May 8). The Economist. Retrieved March 14, 2001: http://www.economist.com12 (c2001202213) 6. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). (1995a). "Women, industry and

entrepreneurship." Women in Industry Series. Vienna, Austria: author. Retrieved July 6, 20001: http://www.unido.org/doc/150401.htmls15 (c2001266816) 7. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). (1995b). "Women, industry and technology." Women in Industry Series. Vienna, Austria: author. Retrieved July 6, 2001: http://www.unido.org/doc/150401.htmls15 (c2001266618) 8. Women entrepreneurs in poorest countries face formidable challenges, including lack of training, credit, say speakers at Brussels forum" [Press release]. (2001, May 21). Retrieved July 6, 2001:http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/dev2331.doc.html19 9. http://www.celcee.edu