Innovative Initiative to Promote Women Entrepreneurship Through Women Entrepreneurs Association of Tamil Nadu [WEAT]: An Initiative of Centre For Women’s Studies, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli

Abstract

Women Entrepreneurship Development has been a challenge for many industrial promotional agencies in India. Entrepreneurship Development Programmes have not succeeded in bringing desired results. Efforts to promote entrepreneurship through STEP, EDC etc. also yielded with limited results. Similarly teaching entrepreneurship in colleges, conducting awareness programmes has stopped with the awareness alone failed to go beyond taking up entrepreneurial activities. Given this it was attempted to analyse the prospects and problems of women in micro enterprises in Tiruchirappalli district which revealed that women entrepreneurs largely confirmed to micro scale of operation, mostly service and trade, and feminine and traditional nature of activities in which women were found since long. These women were not able to avail any formal credit and largely depended only on informal credit taking away their lion share of profit. Given that majority of the women entrepreneurs in the micro scale were pushed to assume such occupations due to their poor economic background, who do not have any organization or association to support their demands to government or any other bodies to collectively represent their issues, it was recommended strongly to have an association. It is the outcome that study done in 2001 by the author of this paper that the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Tamil Nadu [WEAT] could be initiated with the modest number of just 35 members in the beginning which has risen to 526 numbers at present. Primary aim of this initiative is to bring likeminded, budding as well as struggling women micro entrepreneurs to come together to represent solidarity to promote entrepreneurship, ultimately taking it as a movement to make interested women to be job providers rather than job seekers. One of the major objectives of the WEAT is to promote grass root women to become entrepreneurs not necessarily self-help group women but women in micro scale or self-employed women and further to help the existing entrepreneurs to expand their scale of operations. Progress of WEAT: 1. WEAT within its short period of inception, able to attract several women to become members, undergoes training, prepare project, get bank assistance and start their units and run the unit. The specific progress and strategies followed may be outlined as follows. 2. 26 women entrepreneurs could start their garment units by availing bank credit 3. More than 40 existing women, who were already engaged in certain micro entrepreneurial activities, were able to expand their scale of operation. 4. 43 women were able to receive intensive food processing training for five days and able to diversify their products 5. 36 women were given computer training able to either work with ITES or initiate ITES Another 20 each woman who had undergone the above training will be tied up with bank loan to initiate BPO and Food processing units, which is under processing. 6. Another 30 women were given training on Eco green products such as banana fibre products, areca nut leaf plates, fly ash bricks etc. are also given and their application to install machine and start the unit is under processing. 7. The members of WEAT are taken to give training to College students with attractive honorarium. 8.They are taken to interact with college teachers to take the message of their struggle to progress and survive in the field. 9. The have also been recommended to be professional trainers to DRDA, Women Development Project, Tsunami affected areas etc. 10. Above all, the products of members of WEAT as well as SHG women are exposed to regular exhibition cum sale in the University and College Campuses, every two days in each colleges, in around 10 colleges and University campus ensuring thereby 22 days of regular marketing of their products, which has contributed to expand their business 11. All women enterprises have been started in three different places, in which the members sell most of the products produced by the WEAT members 12. Effort to approach the district administration to give space in market areas to display their products, to make them members of various task force committee to represent their issues, exploring various future opportunities for promoting women entrepreneurship etc. 13.Every 15 days meeting of the entrepreneurs inviting various officials, entrepreneurs, association etc. motivating them has been on going. 16. The strategies followed are tying up with various organization which are working for women entrepreneurship, helping them right from identification up to starting the enterprises, marketing etc. and networking with similar organizations which deliver the good without any cost. Above all, the credibility that they have on the University, which is an academic body not NGO and self-less, price less service given by the Centre, the access, the response and facilitation which all go a long way in bringing such a progress for WEAT.