Female-led Social Enterprises and Rural Reconstruction in India: An Analysis through Socio-Economic Perspectives

Abstract

Social enterprises are the mission driven business ventures aim to meet a market place needs, wants and problems in an innovative and sustainable manner by developing a viable business model, around products, services, processes or other platforms. With these broader perspectives, they develop a culture and process of innovating on the existing ideas, to solve the critical problems of the society and bring social change by minimising the gap in the development sectors. As women in rural India have been identified as one of the most disadvantaged groups, in term of development, the importance of social entrepreneurship has been recognised to empower them and to recognize their contribution for rural reconstruction and development. Therefore, the paper will focus the contribution of female led social enterprises in the reconstruction and revitalization of rural economy, sustainable rural development by solving socially significant problems faced by the marginalised section of the society particularly the women. The paper also brings to light the success stories of two female led social enterprises, their contribution for the socio-economic development of rural areas and the challenges they face.