Govt ready to give support to women-run SMEs: Mishra

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Saurabh Gupta | 11 Sep, 2015
Women entrepreneurs are only 10 percent of total small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India; today the country ranks 70 out of 77 in world's women enterprise index, said Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Kalraj Mishra, adding that the government wants to give more priority to women entrepreneurs.

The MSME Minister Thursday exhorted FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) to seek proposals for starting enterprises by women entrepreneurs through the use of social media while urging the organizations to reach out to women's colleges for consultancy and mentoring of aspiring entrepreneurs in keeping with the Prime Minister's call for 'Start-up India, Stand-up India'.

"Our government is committed to give all necessary support for the betterment of women entrepreneurs in the country. We can't give you land as it is a matter of state government, but we are ready to give any kind of monetary support like funding, marketing, technology support through various means of government schemes," said minister.

"And so I have asked my officials to take it as pilot project," he added.

Speaking at a function to launch 'SWAYAM', a support cell for women entrepreneurs, organized by FLO in New Delhi on Thursday, Mishra said, "I believe that unless we rekindle the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst women, the nation cannot progress." Therefore, it was imperative to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship which was ingrained in the youth of the country, he added.

"In this direction Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), has recently launched a "Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Agro Industry (ASPIRE)" with the objective of creating a favourable eco-system for encouraging the start-ups with sustained employment opportunity creation and to raise the level of skilling for successful enterprise creation," the minister told SME Times on the sidelines of the event.

"The main objectives of the scheme are to Create new jobs and reduce unemployment; Promote entrepreneurship culture in India; Grassroots economic development at district level; Facilitate innovative business solution for un-met social needs and Promote innovation to further strengthen the competitiveness of MSME sector," he added.

In his address, Mishra said that women embody the power that flows 'Saraswati' (learning), 'Lakshmi' (wealth) and 'Durga' (morality and righteousness). If this power can be harnessed for enterprise start-ups, a web of innovative enterprises would be spread all across the country, proving jobs to lakhs of needy people.

Apart from the launch of SWAYAM, the Minister also inaugurated the SWAYAM website.

FLO has created a Consultancy and Mentorship cell - SWAYAM - in all its chapters pan-India to provide support to new and existing women entrepreneurs as also aspiring student entrepreneurs, in establishing a new business and enhancing existing ones.

The primary objective of FLO is to promote entrepreneurship and professional excellence in women. SWAYAM is a step further in this direction and will play an important role of connecting women entrepreneurs to the right service providers. The aim is to expedite the processes for women entrepreneurs as also to provide them with the right solutions at a reasonable cost.

Ravindra Nath, CMD, National Small Industries Corporation, while quoting from a Dell Women's Global Entrepreneurship Study, said that that the survey reveals optimism and opportunity for women-owned businesses in India. Women Business Owners in India are feeling confident anticipate a median growth of 90 percent over the next five years. This compared favorably with that of the US (50 percent) and the UK (24 percent).

Nath said that the time was ripe to build synergies between women entrepreneurs and NSIC whose mission was to assist entrepreneurs in availing of credit and marketing, technical and information support to small enterprises.

He offered the use of NSIC grounds free of cost for exhibiting the products made by women entrepreneurs promoted by FLO.

The FLO President, Archana Garodia Gupta said, "Mentorship and guidance is a tool that has the potential to help women entrepreneurs grow their businesses, and in some cases change their lives. The objective of SWAYAM is to link FLO women as mentors to women entrepreneurs in 15 locations Pan India."

"This linkage will facilitate finance, access to banking & government schemes and help identifying franchise opportunities for potential women entrepreneurs. Panels of mentors have been created for the support and guidance of women entrepreneurs across India," she added.