Context:

This editorial is based on the news “Unnati-Udyamita se Pragati and  Mentorship Platform” which was published in PIB. Recently, the 9th Annual Shakti International Women Entrepreneurs Summit was held in New Delhi. 

Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: Nurturing Growth through Panjikaran Se Pragati and WEP Unnati Initiatives

• Panjikaran Se Pragati: It is a joint integrated national campaign by the Ministry of  MSME and Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP). 
  • Target: to get Udyam registered and unlock a world of opportunities.
• WEP Unnati :Udyamita se Pragati Tak is a joint program of the Ministry of MSME and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP).The Mentorship Platform is for Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP).
  • WEP: It is an initiative of NITI Aayog (launched at the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2017). It is a first-of-its-kind, unified access portal that brings together women from different parts of India to realise their entrepreneurial aspirations. 
  • Founding Pillars: Ichha Shakti: It represents motivating aspiring entrepreneurs to start their businesses.
    • Gyaan Shakti: It provides knowledge and ecosystem support to women entrepreneurs to foster entrepreneurship.
    • Karma Shakti: It means providing hands-on support to entrepreneurs in setting and scaling up businesses.
  • An Unprecedented Increase: in the MSME sector. Women lead more than 1.40 crore MSMEs. 
• Zed Certification of women-owned MSMEs is now completely free.

The Crucial Role of Women Entrepreneurs in Nation Building and Economic Equality

• A Basic Building Block: Women are the building blocks of a nation and essential for sustainable development. When a man is educated, it’s just an individual is educated but when a woman is educated, it means, a generation is educated. 
• To Bridge the Economic Gender Disparity: As per the World Economic Forum Report 2019, for every dollar a man gets paid, a woman on average is paid 54 cents. 
• To Break the Orthodox View: Women need to be financially strong to change the conventional thinking.
• To Achieve Economic Targets: As India progresses economically and targets a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

Challenges Faced by Women Entrepreneurs in India’s Business Landscape

• Lack of Autonomy: They face underrepresentation at the various levels of decision-making and unrecognition of their efforts and achievements.
• Societal Pressures: In most regions in India and also globally.
• Limited Access to Finance & Opportunities
• Lack of Technological Exposure: It creates barriers to the success of women as entrepreneurs in rural areas specifically. 
• Very little contribution to the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Sector: Women make up only 28% of the STEM workforce and men vastly outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college. 

Way Forward:

• Improve the Quantity and Quality of Start-ups and Enterprises established by Women: By increasing their access to capital and support in funding.
• Exclusive Support: The government should facilitate support during pregnancy and other benefits about childcare, which would help in creating a supportive work environment for them to choose entrepreneurship as a career choice.
• Gender-neutral Approach to promote awareness and capacity building for entrepreneurs.