Women still stick to start-up stereotypes

HYDERABAD:Allocation of Rs 500 crore for SC/ST and women entrepreneurs under the 'Stand up India' scheme was among the high points of the Union Budget this year. Much like the rest of the country, the decision was widely appreciated by the entrepreneurial fraternity in Hyderabad too. But while it agreed with the need for more such measures to boost women-run enterprises, the community wondered if it would help ladies break away from the stereotype existing within this domain - of women being limited to the food processing and textiles industries.
At a time when innovation has become the key word in entrepreneurship, with the fresh crop of start-ups cutting across sectors such as technology, finance, health and agriculture, the footprint of women entrepreneurs, unfortunately, has failed to witness much diversity.
Ajay Babu, managing director of the Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of India (ALEAP), elaborates: "While there are a few women who come to us with out-of-the-box ideas -- like a doctor who wanted to set up a stem cell procurement agency -- nearly 60% of the women we currently support work in the areas of food and textiles."
This is true of Hyderabad as well, confirms Anu Swapna, who set up a support group for women entrepreneurs in the city about four years ago. "Most women who approached me wanted to open their own catering services or boutiques. Others expressed interest in selling handmade items such as accessories and apparels," she added.

While the increase in the number of women in these sectors is indeed commendable, experts stress the need for female entrepreneurs to make forays into other markets as well. "But for that to happen the government, both at the Centre and state, needs to focus more on implementation of schemes and awareness programmes rather than just doling out money," said P Girija Reddy, president, Confederation Of Women Entrepreneurs (COWE), which has branches in nine states in India including Hyderabad. From 29 members in 2004, its city chapter now has 800 women under its wings.
"The percentage of women entrepreneurs who choose to work in fields traditionally dominated by men such as technology is very low. Women need more encouragement and support," Reddy said adding, "Governments have, in the past too, rolled out schemes and funds for female entrepreneurs. They failed to take off due to improper implementation."
Then there are other hurdles as well. "One of the biggest challenges women face is getting access to capital. Bankers are particularly cautious while giving loan to a woman entrepreneur," said Swapna. In the tech space particularly, this is a major concern, reiterate insiders, attributing it to the poor number of female venture capitalists and angel investors.
"There are very few women who sit in the driving seat in investment networks. This could be a dampener for women entrepreneurs as often the investor also acts as a mentor," explained Vinutha Rallapalli, head of the Hyderabad and Bangalore chapters of Lead Angels, a network of angel investors.
A similar concern was aired by Vaishali Neotia, co-founder and CEO of Merxius, a technology innovation company that builds products using augmented and virtual reality. She is one of the few women who managed to get a foothold in the largely male-dominated industry. "Although investors must be gender-blind, it would be more reassuring to interact with a female mentor as she would have gone through at least a few of the same problems that I have," said Neotia.
But experts are hopeful of a slow yet steady change in the future. "I see a lot more women are aware of what they can do with engineering today. During all-women hackathons in city colleges, I was pleasantly surprised with the students' clarity of engineering concepts. That's a positive sign," said Rallapalli.
Possible reasons:
* Percentage of women in traditionally male-dominated sectors like technology, finance and health is less. Some feel awareness programmes are necessary along with schemes targeted at women
* Women may also have poor access to capital as banks can tread cautiously in taking a risk on their projects
* Number of female venture capitalists and angel investors are less in the start-up world