Experiences of Female Entrepreneurs in the Pondicherry Region

Abstract

To integrate women into a country's development and growth process, literacy, employment and health are globally recognised as crucial for their empowerment. Inadequacy of female entrepreneurship is one of the constraining factors in their empowerment. Hence, the government of India is making planned efforts to inculcate a sense of entrepreneurship among women through various incentives and development programmes. This paper addresses the issue of female entrepreneurs, their motivation, problems and constraints in Pondicherry region. The study is based on a survey conducted on during 1999-2000, covering a random sample of 250 rural and urban female entrepreneurs. To pursue the objectives of the study simple average, percentage and scaling technique are employed. The study reveals rural female entrepreneurs to be less qualified than their urban counterparts. Majority of them in both areas started their business between 20-29 years of age. They are largely engaged in traditional and less remunerative activities in rural areas and in trade and services in the urban areas. They mainly used own investment funds rather than borrowed capital. Monetary returns for the two groups were quite low, with the urbanites earning relatively higher income. The market channel for raw materials was wholesalers iI1 both regions, while for sales of the finished products it was consumers. The motivations to start enterprise in both areas were reported to be the desire to earn money, to supplement family income and to do something independently. The business problems experienced by the two groups were almost common, viz., competition from better quality products, difficulty in getting loan and irregular work. The general constraints included excessive work burden and responsibilities for both the respondents. Conflicts of dual responsibilities as a worker and home-maker, low social contacts and lack of self-motivation were the common socio-psychological constraints faced by the two groups.