A 2024 World Economic Forum report shows a massive gender gap of 40% when it comes to economic participation. The latest Economic Survey recorded a welcome increase in female labour force participation over the last five years. While the figure is 41.7% as of 2024, income disparity, rigid work conditions and a general all-round decline in well-paying jobs have led to more women seeking to become self-employed. But if they are to become job creators, women’s entrepreneurship needs a much greater push from the government and social organisations at the grassroots.
Women trying to set up their own businesses face multiple challenges. They lack financial literacy and proper documentation to secure credit. Many are fearful of the cumbersome processes involved while many institutions are still biased against lending to women. At a macro level, of the 60-plus million rural women engaged in entrepreneurial activities, only 17% have employed workers while the rest 83% are “solopreneurs”. MicroSave’s 2022 report revealed that close to 96% of women-led enterprises are unregistered or unregulated, preventing them from accessing finance, expanding, and scaling up.
But there are many encouraging developments. The Buddha Institute nurtures women entrepreneurs by providing mentors as well as money to sustain enterprises at critical times. It also provides an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning among women entrepreneurs. The Buddha Institute has nurtured 17 women entrepreneurs and aims to nurture another 500 by 2030.
The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) has already brought over 100 million rural poor women into the fold of self-help groups (SHGs). By supporting organisations like the Buddha Institute, it could potentially build the capacities of lakhpati didis to become successful entrepreneur-job creators and help realise the Viksit Bharat vision.
Kalyani Chavali has set up an enterprise, Sahrudaya, in Talegaon near Pune. She says, “I grew up among really strong women. My mother, my aunts, everyone around me, were working independent women. When I was 18, I was sick with TB. My mother took great care of me and that is when I realised food can be both healing and a celebration. And that has become a core value at my enterprise, Sahrudaya. One of our customers, who was also a professor at IIT Mumbai, told me about the Buddha Institute. That’s when Sahrudaya’s journey truly began. I realised how important our work is in creating opportunities and support in the rural sector, reflected in Kavita tai, one of the first people I employed, who came from a very humble background.”
Kavita tai says, “My parents were farmers. I felt that because I was unable to complete my education, my children should have the opportunity to do so. I realised if I didn’t work, I wouldn’t be able to provide for my kids. Farming alone is not enough. When you don’t earn, you don’t speak up. But when you earn, you gain confidence to speak. At Sahrudaya, I trained Subhadra tai, Jyoti tai and the numbers grew.”
Ved Arya, founder-director of Buddha Institute, says, “Enterprises like the one set up by Kalyani can create jobs for rural women who otherwise are outside the mainstream and away from India’s economic development. It is a known fact that if you enhance the gender ratio in employment by including more women, it can contribute immensely to the GDP.”
Among each 100 entrepreneurs in India, only seven are female, according to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs. The Google-Bain report also indicates that only 20% of businesses in the country are owned by women. Women entrepreneurs like Kalyani thus break one more glass ceiling.
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