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Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) sees lot of scope for women entrepreneurs to emerge in the food and education sectors.
This has been revealed in a study conducted by GAME in collaboration with Facebook. GAME is an organisation that provides learning for grassroot entrepreneurship. This study seeks to unlock entrepreneurship opportunities for women in the country.
Currently, only 3 per cent of businesses with more than four employees are women-owned.
The study titled, 'Unlocking Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Women’ highlighted that food, education (specifically creches), beauty and wellness are the sectors in India that hold high potential for home-based women entrepreneurs.
“Supporting women entrepreneurship is both an economic and a moral imperative for India. The data is clear — women entrepreneurs create more jobs for other women and invest back into their families. Bridging the gender divide in labour force participation can increase our GDP by 20 per cent and this is a collective goal we should strive for,” said Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Women and Child Development and Textiles.
The study further said that women-owned businesses within the education sector are more prevalent than in the food sector. One in five urban enterprises in the education sector is owned by a woman, it mentioned.
Also read: Making entrepreneurs of women
The research study was conducted from May to August 2019 across Bangalore and Mumbai. The objective of GAME is to create one crore entrepreneurs in India by 2030, around 50 per cent of whom will be women.
According to the report, the food sector encompasses approximately 550,000 women-owned enterprises that employ more than 20 lakh women. The sector appeals to women as it doesn’t require a high financial investment to start a business, and offers flexible work schedules, found the report. The emerging opportunities within the sector include home-made snacks, home cooked meals, and cloud kitchens.
“The food and education sectors in particular show great promise and we want to encourage more women to set up their own businesses, be their own boss, and achieve economic independence. While women entrepreneurs face formidable challenges, the combination of new market platforms, peer-support networks, and role models will make women entrepreneurs a force to reckon with before the end of the decade,” said Ravi Venkatesan, Founder, GAME.
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