by G. Sai Sravanthi | Publication date: Oct. 20, 2023 | Publication: International Journal of Research

ICSSR-Project Director, Assistant Professor, Department of Business Management

Vikrama Simhapuri University, Kakutur-524324,

Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract:

Entrepreneurs are people who create businesses to take advantage of new opportunities. Women entrepreneurs as that of male entrepreneurs play a crucial to the economic development of a Nation. The Government of India defines a female entrepreneur as a company owned and controlled by women, with at least 51% of capital owned by women and at least 51% of employment created by the company. The COVID-19 virus began spreading on November 2019 in China and within a very short period of time, it wide spread almost every Nation. On March 11, 2020, WHO (World Health Organization) announced the disease as a pandemic. Women entrepreneurs have been facing various challenges in the sustenance of their enterprises during the pandemic. This paper focused on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women entrepreneurs in INDIA with the review of literature.

Keywords: Women entrepreneurs, COVID-19, entrepreneurship

Introduction:

Women Entrepreneur:

Entrepreneurship is a formidable engine of economic growth.Entrepreneurship refers to the act of setting up a new business to capture new opportunities. The act of setting up a new business or reviving an existing business so as to take advantage of new opportunities.” Women’s entrepreneurship makes women economically independent International Liberation Organization defined the women‘s enterprise as a small unit where one or more women entrepreneurs have not less than 50 per cent financial holdings .The word-Entrepreneurship is derived from the French word‘’entreprendre’’meaning’ ’undertake’’, The German word ‘’Unternehmen’’mean ‘’to undertake’’ means an Entrepreneur is “one who undertakes or manages. The Oxford English Dictionary (of 1897) defines the term ―Entrepreneur in a similar way as the director or a manager of a public musical institution, one who gets-up entertainment arranged, especially musical performance. Initially, it was applied to those who were engaged in military expeditions in the early 16^th century and later extended to cover engineering activities and construction in the 17th century.

Entrepreneur:

According to E.E. Hagen, “an entrepreneur is an economic man who by his innovative ideas, problem-solving skills and better utilization of his skills tries to maximize profits.

 M.M.P. Akhouri (former Executive Director, NIESBUD) defined an entrepreneur as “a one, who combines risk bearing, innovativeness, able to analyse opportunities and capture resources and persistent in reaching the objective.’’

 Entrepreneurship:

According to A.H. Cole “  The purposeful activity of an individual or a group involved to start ,maintain or maximize profits by production and distribution of goods and services

Government of India – “A woman entrepreneur is defined as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum financial interest of 51 percent of the capital and giving at least 51 percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women.”

Women entrepreneurs may be defined as a woman or a group of women who initiate, organize, and run a business concern. Women or groups of women who initiate, organize, and run a business enterprise are called as women entrepreneurs.

Schumpeter – “Women entrepreneurs are those women who innovate, initiate or adopt a business activity”.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has badly affected global economics. Several businesses suffered due to this crisis. The death pool has reached 6,514,397 deaths while the number of cases is 612,236,677 worldwide till 2022 (WHO COVID Dashboard) In India, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on 30 January 2020 and then civic infection is increased. The MSME sector in India comprises 69 million enterprises that approximately employ 110 million of the national workforce and is considered the second largest employment generation after agriculture. Women entrepreneurs make a tremendous contribution to the Indian Economy and own 20 percent of microenterprises, nearly 3 percent of medium-sized enterprises, and 5 percent of small enterprises. COVID-19 has made a negative impact on the global economy and the micro. small and medium sectors (MSME) IN Particular. Over the decade, the percentage of women-owned enterprises has increased. India has a greater percentage of women-owned enterprises when compared to many other countries. As per the Udyam report as of June 2021,81 % of MSMEs are owned by males,17% are owned by females and 1% are unrecognized in India. Specific women-related special provisions have also been taken by the government. The Government of India also allocated 80% of the fund to help women entrepreneurs associations to create marketing hubs (MSME,2021).

As per the findings of the report, Micro Save under the Research Scheme (RSNA – 2021) of NITI Aayog following are found:

 India could boost its GDP by USD 0.7 trillion by bringing 68 million more women into India’s workforce by 2025 according to reports of McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). India could increase GDP growth by 1.5 percentage points by inclusion of 50% of the women in the workforce as per the World Bank report. However, A Sharp fall in India’s female labor force participation rate (FLFPR) from 32% in 2005 to 19% in 2021. Constant fall 1 in FLFPR is because of several factors like reduced child labor, sectoral shift from agriculture post, and increased girls’ enrolment in higher education. Etc. India’s women’s economic contribution accounts for 17% of the GDP and the pandemic COVID-19 exacerbated the situation when women’s employment and decreased profits business. Only 20% of enterprises in India are owned by India. The majority 82% of the enterprises owned by women are micro units and run as sole proprietorships. Livestock, manufacturing, and retail trade constitute about 6.36 million enterprises of the total 8.05 million. Studies reveal that 10% to 30% of registered enterprises are not often run by women.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

1) Bhardwaj G.N , Parashar, S. Pandey. B and Sahu. P. (2012):

The researchers have examined several motivating and de-motivating factors affecting women’s Entrepreneurship and found out that there exist multiple crucial factors related to women’s entrepreneurial opportunities that differ from one place to another place but women’s entrepreneurship is very important for the development of any country economy.

2) Roohangiz Namdari, Shahin Raz, Hajar Aramoon (2012) :

The study was conducted in Khoozesta Province to determine the socio-cultural and economic factors affecting women’s entrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurs were considered from Ahwaz, Dezfol, Khorramshar and Abadan, 100 entrepreneurs were selected based on simple random sampling. The research instrument used was a questionnaire and descriptive and analytic procedures were employed. The research shown that social Factors had more effect on women’s entrepreneurship in Khouzestan than other factors.

3) Irene Fafaliou, Ioannis Salamouris (2014): The research was done to identify the profile of female entrepreneurs in Greece, their main characteristics by conducting an online survey from November 2012 to January 2013, with a sample of 300 women entrepreneurs. The major findings show entrepreneurs are successful but some imbalance exists between personal and professional life.

4) Janet Rajakumari, Mrs. Angel Beulah Gracelia (2015) :

The researchers highlighted the concept of women entrepreneurship in India. The major outcome of the research study was lack of balance between job and family, male-dominated society, illiteracy, lack of technical skills, entrepreneurial skills, and marketing skills.

5) Unnikrishnan. P and S. Bhuvaneswari (2016):

The study analyzed various problems faced by women Entrepreneurs in Malappuram District of Kerala. The results reveal that the Government should provide financial assistance and training to women entrepreneurs. District Women industrial estate shall be set up for wide extension of activities of women entrepreneurs.

6) Sonal Sharma (2018):

The researchers have conducted an investigation to analyze the impact of ICT on entrepreneurship and ICT initiatives taken for women entrepreneurs and explore the challenges of women entrepreneurship.

7) R. Vijayalakshmi, V. Palanisingh, G. Lingavel, T. R. Gurumurthy (2019):

The Investigators have analyzed the issues faced by women entrepreneurs by taking a sample size of 200 and convenience sampling was used. The results reveal that women entrepreneurs are affected more by the pandemic which resulted in a huge loss of their business.

8) Ritwik Saraswat (2020):

The study attempted to understand the concept, and meaning of women’s entrepreneurship and how important role played by women entrepreneurs for the development of the economy, for which an in-depth literature review was reviewed. In addition, the research was focused on the evaluation of the effectiveness of various Government schemes employed and framed for women entrepreneurs, assessing the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. For the study, data collection was collected through primary collection through surveys, questionnaires and secondary data collected from reports of NABARD, RBI, various journals were used respectively.

9) Ika Nur Putriantini & Yoshi Takahashi (2020):

The study conducted an examination of women entrepreneurs in rural areas of a developing country to know the perspectives on demographic characteristics, barriers, and the non-economic outcomes of women entrepreneurs. The results demonstrate that there exists a significant relationship between demographic characteristics.

10) Govind Dewan and Fedric Kujur (2021):

The study highlighted the challenges and opportunities of women’s entrepreneurship in the present world. The research was confined to Kolkata during the period of December 2020 to January 2021 with 35 women respondents as a sample representing the real information. Results show that focus should be emphasized on women with family, and friends support to compete with male entrepreneurs.

11) Hiren Rana and Ninad Jhala (2021):

The research was conducted by secondary data collected through published reports, journals, websites, media, etc to understand the issues faced by women entrepreneurs and the impact of COVID-19 in India. They have suggested training programs, technical assistance and funding to women entrepreneurs and the formation of Government policies to encourage women’s participation. .

12) Faisal Mustafa, Ambreen Khursheed, Maham Fatima, Marriam Rao(2021) :

The study was done to explore the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on micro-businesses owned by women borrowers of microfinance institutions and in managing crisis situations. The results provide valuable insights on life style, household income, business sales

13) Jesica Tosses, Franklin Maduko, ISIS Gaddis, Leonardo Iacoven and Kathleen Beegle (2021):

The investigators chosen 40,000 from five countries including informal firm in the sample, predominant businesses from 49 countries during the months of April and September 2020. Findings show that digital payments were widely used by micro firms.

14) Nishtha Nayyar (2021):

The researchers aimed to analyze the success and pitfalls of women entrepreneurs during the pandemic COVID-19 with a sample size of 36 women entrepreneurs from Chandigarh, India. Results reveal that there is a relationship between self-efficacy and resilience and the Government’s role in encouraging women entrepreneurs.

15) Shefali Nandan and Anjali Kushwaha (2021):

The researchers have explored the various challenges faced by women entrepreneurs during COVID-19 Pandemic and the opportunities, they perceived. The approach used was exploratory case study and purposive sampling method. First-generation women entrepreneurs were selected and findings show that a rapid fall in sales and demand of the product and service during the early period of the pandemic four challenges such as operational disruptions, new skill development, work-life fusion and declining sales were identified.

16) Sanjeev Kumar and Neha Singh(2021) :

The researchers have analyzed the hindering factors along with the role of the state experienced by the Delhi-based women entrepreneurs in setting up enterprises amidst the challenges posed by COVID -19 pandemic. Recommended gender concerns in policy initiatives

17) Silvia De Simone, Jessica Pileri, Max Rapp-Ricciardi& Barbara Barbieri(2021)

The researcher’s study reveals the major role of family-work conflict on the success of entrepreneurs in Italy. Recommended Italian Government on implementing child care supply and specific family-friendly policies designed for women entrepreneurs.

18) Rizwan Ullah Khan, Yashar Salamzadeh , Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah and Mazhar Hussain (2021):

The researchers have investigated to identify the factors that affect women entrepreneurs’ success in Pakistan 181 registered SMEs operating in Pakistan were considered for the study. The results indicate that internal factors like risk bearer,, being self-confident, desire to achieve high and external factors like socio-cultural, market economic factors have a positive impact on the success of enterprises. Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), has to be set up to support women entrepreneurs.

19) Bathula Srinivasau, Shilpa Bhatia and Ankita Gupta (2022):

The study was focused on the analysis of direct and indirect impact via forward and backward linkages of women entrepreneurs during the Pandemic. A sample of 50 women entrepreneurs was considered and data was collected using a questionnaire during the August and September months of 2020. Tools used for the study are Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, U-test, Kruskal-Wallis H-test and the sampling technique adopted was convenience sampling. Results of the study show that rapid decline in revenues by 96% and customers by 94% an increase in transportation costs by 78% and 48% of women entrepreneurs have relied on personal savings to meet expenses instead of the Atma Nirbhar package by the Government.

20) Shabya Singh and John Britto.M.(2022):

The research was conducted to identify various challenges, conflicts, and opportunities faced by female entrepreneurs. Primary and secondary data collection were collected by surveys and reports. The area of study considered was NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh and findings show that the majority of female entrepreneurs faced domestic and professional life challenges in balancing work –life. They have suggested Government to organize training programs.

21) Ritu Yadav (2022):

The researchers have explored drivers of entrepreneurial intention among women entrepreneurs during the pandemic and a sample of 52 were considered and the research was confined to Haryana’s rural and urban areas. Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, online responses were collected by generation of Google forms to collect the data. The results reveal that, financial motivation, family responsibility, knowledge, and underemployment have been the four motivators to women in India to become entrepreneurs.

22) Amrita Nandy , Mohona Biswas (2022):

They have tried to identify Bangladeshi women entrepreneurs amid the Covid-19. The study laid focuses on women entrepreneurs conducting business mostly (99%) in Bangladesh’s micro, and small. medium enterprises. Findings indicate 20% of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh have been severely impacted and 90% have faced mental agony, and socio-economic stress.

23) Zhengda Xu and Heqi Jia (2022):

The study focused on the influence of Covid-19 on the well-being of entrepreneurs in China.303 entrepreneurs were selected for study and suggested measures to maintain well-being during pandemic and post-pa

24) Sonja Franzke , Jie Wu ·Fabian Jintae Froese Zi Xuan Chan (2022):

The researchers have reviewed female entrepreneurs in Asia, emphasizing on how they vary from entrepreneurs in the West, with four dimensions: Special characteristics of female entrepreneurs, their special intentions, resource constraints, and their management styles. The analysis reveals predominant differences between developing Asian female entrepreneurs often have a low level of education and developed Asian female entrepreneurs have a high –level of education.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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2) Bhardwaj G. N, Parashar, S. Pandey. B., and Sahu. P, ’’Women entrepreneurship in India: opportunities and challenges ’’.Volume 2, Issue 1,2012.

3) Bathula Srinivasau, Shilpa Bhatia and Ankita Gupta, Collision of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Women Entrepreneurship in Uttarakhand: A Microlevel Analysis’’, Journal of Economic Theory and Practice,pp:1–16, 2022.

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