Entrepreneurship offers tremendous opportunities for women across the world by opening doors to greater self-sufficiency, self-esteem, education, and growth not only for the women themselves, but also for their families and their employees.

 

In my confabs with women and women's groups, I sometimes come across women who are restless and mildly dissatisfied with the kind of life they lead. These women are otherwise smart, well-educated, and confident, who have chosen not to take up jobs in order to concentrate on raising a family. There are other career women who feel tired of their monotonous jobs and want to do something demanding creativity and freedom.

 

Many of them tell me that they would like to 'do something' much more meaningful than being a stay-at-home mom or a harried office worker. They usually have issues such as old parents/young children who need round-the-clock care, or husband's frequent transfers forcing them to leave jobs, to face ordeals like the lack of training for the kind of jobs available locally, or monotony with the current jobs. Children grow up and other priorities change and they suddenly find that there is more time available at their disposal or an urge comes up to channelise the extra time and skills they possess to earn better money.

 

Here are some of the tips that I share with these women to help them kick-start and 'do something'. Don't just sit there saying 'I want to do something'. At least make a beginning as a home based business, and then grow at your own pace and comfort level to an SME status. One has to be very practical and logical and must do a lot of homework before starting one's own venture.

 

 

a) What marketable skills do I possess? What business skills do I possess?

 

b) Am I willing to get any further training required and where can I get it from?

 

c) How much time can I devote to my business per week and how much support do I have from my spouse and immediate family?

 

The answers to these questions will pretty much determine the rest of your business plan. Careful and logical thought has to be given to the above before the criteria given below can be addressed. Always make notes in detail so that they can be used for future reference.

d) What is the niche product or service that I can provide, for which there is sustainable demand?

 

 

Here I would like to narrate an interesting story of a woman entrepreneur from Pune.

A house wife with two school-going children, Anuja, grew to become a very successful business owner in just 3 years. It all began when one day her children's rickshaw-wallah took off without notice leaving her children and six other kids stranded at school.

Since Anuja owned a Van and had free time during the day, she offered to ferry the kids back and forth till new arrangements could be made. After two days a light bulb went off in her head!!  She offered to ferry all the kids in her van, for the same amount of money that was being paid to the rickshaw-wallah… and she was in business! She also threw in the free service of meeting the teachers and paying the school fees. And since she could accommodate more children in her van, she very quickly found more customers for her school taxi service. After saving every penny she earned, in five months she had collected enough money to make a down payment on another van and her monthly earnings were enough to pay off the EMI and hire a driver. At the end of three years she owns a fleet of school buses, employs twenty six people, and is running a very successful business. Anuja saw an opportunity, a demand for a niche service, and was able to convert it into a roaring business. Now she is planning to expand into the tourist taxi segment, and is making arrangements to buy second hand cars for a Mumbai-Pune taxi service.

 

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