Tag: women entrepreneurs

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Strategy

4 Awesome Tips for Women Entrepreneurs To Grow A Strong Personal Brand!

4 Awesome Tips for Women Entrepreneurs To Grow A Strong Personal Brand!
4 Awesome Tips for Women Entrepreneurs To Grow A Strong Personal Brand!

Personal branding is crucial! It is a successful practice of people marketing themselves and their skills as brands. Whether you are a popular business coach or a fashion designer with a brilliant startup business idea or an excellent cook, it helps in attracting potential clients, customers, and a new job as well as business opportunities. Especially for women entrepreneurs, irrespective of what industry they are in. If you are a female who wants to grow their career heights then personal branding is your best bet.

However, truth to be told, making a strong first impression on popular social media channels is no cakewalk. Self-promotion can be successful for women entrepreneurs only when you post engaging content combined with credibility and confidence.

Here is a list of some of the most amazing tips that can help women entrepreneurs build a great personal brand:

1. Align Brand`s Identity with Yours

“One of the downsides of being a women entrepreneur in today`s world is that we tend to scrutinize too many things”, says Priyanka Bhargav, Head/ Associate Director, Consumer & Brand Research & Insights Myntra – Jabong. This tends to delay things as they overthink and mull over things for a long time.

So what exactly should female entrepreneurs do?

Sync your brand with your identity. If a woman wishes to create and establish a brand for herself, she just needs to go with the flow. Go with what is your personality trait. Go with what you certainly believe in and stand for, which is something inseparable from you; something that no one can take away from you.  It will result in a brand that is authentic, consistent, and a lovable brand that will be loved by Social Media.

2. Share Experiences Online

Our social media presence is often considered an extension of our identities. It not only gives our customers a peek inside our personalities, but it also defines how people and businesses perceive us.

Raka Khashu Razdan – Head, Marketing, CBRE India believes as a women leader, it is necessary to invest some time in building an online presence to highlight strengths and also connect with others to strengthen and build your network.

Sharing personal experiences often encourages other businesswomen or aspiring female entrepreneurs to find motivation. It also helps to find business mentors by picking other`s interests. Such relationships are essential in the present times to spot the right business opportunities.

3. Share Your Work With the World

An individual`s brand is established and maintained first and primarily by the evidence of her work and the outcome of that effort. Hence, creatively present your professional achievements and share them with the audience. It will enhance your credibility amongst your niche segment, making them more connected with you.

4. Use Social Media Cautiously

In a world where everyone is present on social media, everything that you post is not private. Hence, one should be extremely mindful of the profile pictures they use on social media. Always be aware of the fact that whatever content you are posting on social media it is visible to all.

From posts to likes, opinions, and comments, or even what you share and forward creates a perception of yours. You must understand that what may be alright at a personal level may not be necessarily conducive to the professional image that you are trying to establish. So always be cautious of your post.

To attract the right investors, clients, customers, and business opportunities, personal branding is critical for every entrepreneur, irrespective of their gender.  Hence, apply these tips and see your presence growing on social media.

Owing a business is incredibly rewarding, but to keep it up and running needs professional expertise if you are an amateur. To know how to build a startup from the scratch, you can take the ‘Entrepreneurship Course’ to gain in-depth knowledge about different aspects of the business.

Categories
MSME

SIDBI Joins Hands With Global Alliance For Mass Entrepreneurship To Help MSMEs Revive

SIDBI Joins Hands With Global Alliance For Mass Entrepreneurship To Help MSMEs Revive
SIDBI Joins Hands With Global Alliance For Mass Entrepreneurship

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) have entered into an MoU to help the MSMEs overcome their challenges that were elevated during the pandemic, along with the longstanding capacity gaps in the sector.

The MoU covers vast themes that include expanding credit access, building competitive clusters, increasing formalization, and improving the legal framework for ease of doing business.

Both the organizations also committed that 25 percent of the beneficiaries from the partnership would be women entrepreneurs.

The partnership will also focus on areas that include scaling up Udyam Registration as a unique ID for an MSME to access schemes across the entire MSME universe, leveraging SIDBI`s financial schemes to further formalize enterprises, among others.

According to GAME Co-founder Mekin Maheshwari, “This long-standing experience combined with the force of GAME`s 80+diverse partner alliance should ease the access to credit and a range of new support services for MSMEs at large scale.”

“We hope the power of the Alliance can be leveraged for nation-building efforts such as formalizing MSMEs and substantially improving access to credit & non-financial services,” said SIDBI Chairman and Managing Director, Sivasubramanian Raman.

Categories
Business motivation

15 Powerful Quotes by Michelle Obama That Will Inspire & Motivate Every Female Entrepreneur

Michelle Obama (Photo Credits: Facebook)
Michelle Obama (Photo Credits: Facebook)

The world is progressively evolving with more and more powerful women taking the centre stage and leading by example. One of the such remarkable and strong women is Michelle Obama. Born in an African-American household in US’s Chicago, Michelle went on attending the Harvard law School, after studying sociology and African American studies at Princeton University. She also made huge contribution towards the development of the society. 10 Inspiring Books Every Female Entrepreneur Should Read to be Successful.

Michelle stood rock strong behind her husband Barack Obama during his presidential campaign and two-tenures in the office.As the first lady of the USA, Michelle she lead various campaigns to support the military families and ending childhood obesity in the country. In an effort to promote healthy eating, Michelle also planted a vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House in 2009. Michelle Obama remains to be a source of inspiration to various women across the globe. Women in Business: 5 Tips for Female Entrepreneurs to Establish Successful Start-Ups.

Here Are Some Powerful Quotes By Michelle Obama That Will Inspire Every Women Entrepreneur:

“We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.”

“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.”

“Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses… swapped back and forth and over again.”

“When somebody walks up to me, don’t look around, don’t look beyond them. Look them in the eye, take in the story.”

“Strong men, strong men, men who are truly role models, don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful.”

“The difference between a broken community and a thriving one is the presence of women who are valued.”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s the power of using your voice.”

“You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.”

“Every day, you have the power to choose our better history — by opening your hearts and minds, by speaking up for what you know is right.”

“Instead of letting your hardships and failures discourage or exhaust you, let them inspire you. Let them make you even hungrier to succeed.”

“You have to fill your bucket with positive energy—and if you have people hanging around you that are bringing you down and not lifting you up, whether that’s your ‘boo’ or your best friend—you have to learn how to push these people to the side.”

“No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half its citizens.”

“I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them.”

“When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.”

“Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.”

Women are proving their metal in every field. They are standing head to head with the men and giving a stiff competition in the business world as well. Like any other spectrum, the businesses have been dominated by the male members of the society for a very long time. Even today, most of the top ranking posts in various companies and organisations are held by the men only. However, little by little things are changing with more and more women starting their own businesses, surviving the market and succeeding.

Categories
Powerful Personalities

International Women’s Day 2021: Take a Look at Top 3 Famous Women Entrepreneurs in India

Savitri Jindal, Falguni Nayar, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Photo Credits: Facebook, Wikimedia Commons)

Every year March 8 is celebrated as International Women’s Day (IWD). The day recognizes the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. First observed in 1911, the IWD also raises awareness about women’s equality and lobby for accelerated gender parity.

The theme of IWD 2021 is Let’s all choose to challenge. “We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women‘s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge,” according to the official IWD website. On IWD 2021, here are the top 4 businesswomen in India who inspire me and others around the world.

Savitri Jindal

Savitri Jindal is the chairperson of Jindal Group. Considered as one of India’s leading conglomerates, the company is a leading player in the steel, power cement, oil, and infrastructure industries. The 70-year-old took charge of the company after her husband and founder of the Jindal Group, Om Prakash Jindal died in a helicopter crash in 2005. Under her leadership, the company is touching new heights.

Falguni Nayar

Falguni Nayar, a former investment banker with Kotak Mahindra, founded Nykaa in 2012. With her hard work and dedication, Nykaa has become one of the leading online cosmetic and wellness company in India. The lifestyle retailer offers over 850 brands and has more than 30 physical stores. In 2017, Nayar got the title of “Most powerful business” by Business Today.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the billionaire chairperson and managing director of Biocon Limited, is a self-made businesswoman. She calls herself an accidental entrepreneur. Creating a biopharmaceutical company in 1978, her net worth is $4.6 billion (September 2020).

Categories
Business motivation

10 Inspiring Books Every Female Entrepreneur Should Read to be Successful

Inspiring Books for Women Entrepreneurs| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Inspiring Books for Women Entrepreneurs| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

In today’s world that is slowly moving towards gender equality, more and more women are taking up entrepreneurial roles. Defying the age old orthodox barriers of society and religion, several women are leading the business world effectively and effortlessly. Married women and mothers who left their career midway to fit in the household role are also making a comeback with impactful start-ups and business ideas. They are leaving no stone unturned to prove their worth and capability to a male-centric and patriarchal society. 3 Marketing Techniques for Start-Up to Follow During Initial Business Stages.

Amid the complexities and challenges of the business world and the constant struggles to keep with the at the family front as well, many female entrepreneurs start losing their motivation and find it difficult to hold on the spirit of moving ahead. To pull out the women entrepreneurs from such situation and bring them back on the track of success, here are some inspiring books : 4 Startup Ideas That Housewives and Moms at Home Can Consider and Earn a Good Amount.

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal

Shark Tales by Barbara Corcoran

The Gift of Struggle by Bobby Herrera

What You Can Do, I Can Too by Helen Vallaeys

Connect The Dots by Rashmi Bansal

Dare to Be: 14 Fearless Women Who Gave Wings to Their Dreams by Rinku Paul and Puja Singhal

Superwomen: Inspiring Stories of 20 Women Entrepreneurs by Prachi Garg

In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs by Grace Bonney

Million Dollar Women: The Essential Guide for Female Entrepreneurs Who Want to Go Big by Julia Pimsleur

She Walks, She Leads: Women Who Inspire India by Gunjan Jain

From incubation to implementation of the business, entrepreneurs have to go follow a long and difficult journey. Constant source of motivation and appraisal is required to keep moving ahead towards the achieving success without giving up because of small hurdles.

Categories
Finance

5 Schemes to Financially Empower Women Entrepreneurs in India

Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs | Representative Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs | Representative Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

The start-up ecosystem has been blooming in India without any gender disparity, more and more women are also establishing and running their own businesses successfully and independently. In many sectors, the women-led businesses have outshone the male ones. Even the government through its various organisations, several private and public sector banks and other non-banking financial institutions are progressively supporting the women-led initiatives. They are providing loans and funds at easier and flexible terms of repayments and lower interest rates to female entrepreneurs so that they easily overcome the financial bottlenecks and a smooth and efficient functioning of business is undertaken.Women-Led Businesses in India Get Major Boost As Visa Announces Grants To Empower Budding Businesswomen.

Here are 5 schemes to financially empower business women :

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

Under this central government scheme, loans ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 Lakh are offered to women entrepreneurs at easy terms of repayments. It is managed by the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) and offers loans to production, trading and service sector businesses.

Stree Shakti Package For Women Entrepreneurs

Under this scheme offered by the State Bank of India, women who have at least 50 per cent of the ownership stake can avail a discounted rate of interest by 0.50 per cent if the loan amounts is Rs 2 Lakh or more. The applicant should however taken part in state run Entrepreneurship Development Programmes.

Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana Scheme

Under this scheme offered by the Oriental Bank of Commerce, women who have at least a 51 per cent of the ownership stake can avail loans ranging from Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 25 Lakh without any collateral security. With a payback period of seven years, a concession of up to 2 per cent is also given on the loan. Business Confidence in India Improves As Economic Activities and COVID-19 Vaccination Drive Gathers Pace: NCAER Survey.

Stand-Up India

Under this scheme offered by the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI), loans are offered to manufacturing, trading and service sector businesses. Loan amount ranging from Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 1 Crore are offered to the applicant. It can be repaid within seven years from the date of issue.

Bharatiya Mahila Bank Business Loan

Under this scheme, loans are offered up to Rs 20 Crore for businesses in the manufacturing and production sector. It also provides, a concession up to 0.25 per cent on the interest rates is also provided. Under it, one can avail a loan up to Rs 1 Crore without any collateral security.

Categories
Startup

Women in Business: 5 Tips for Female Entrepreneurs to Establish Successful Start-Ups

Women in Business| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Women in Business| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Women are increasing taking up various entrepreneurial roles with the bloom in start-up ecosystem. Not only has the female participation in the work fold has increased, women are increasingly starting their own businesses and becoming financially independent. To promote women entrepreneurship, the government has also introduced various schemes to provide financial support to their business at the entry stage as well as during growth phases. The wave female entrepreneurship  is not restricted to urban areas only, more and more rural women are starting their businesses.5 Habits of Highly Successful Leaders and Entrepreneurs.

From idea generation to establishment and running of business operations, women all over the country are single handedly driving their start-ups to growth and success. Here are some tips for women entrepreneurs to be successful in business :

Know Your Business 

Before starting the business, the women entrepreneurs should gain proper and adequate knowledge about the nature of business, market conditions, nature of products and services offered, strategies of competitors, consumers’ tastes and preferences and choose the most profitable positions for the product. Awareness and clarity on different aspects of markets help to boost confidence of the entrepreneurs.

Be Decisive 

Another important characteristic a woman in business needs to have is decision making. As an entrepreneur, women face various challenges, both business related as well as socially constructed. She needs to be upfront with all the difficulties and follow her heart. Woman entrepreneurs need to be highly decisive, trust their decision making process and stand by it. Top 21 Books That Every Entrepreneur Should Read In 2021.

Networking 

To grow in business, support and collaboration is important. This is even more important for women who are new to entrepreneurship as in most cases they lac support from their immediate surroundings. Connecting with already established and successful business women strengthens young female entrepreneur psychologically and provide much needed motivation and guidance.

Seek Feedback 

Feedback and reviews from customers help in understanding the market better and making necessary changes. Entrepreneurs should read reviews, find articles about their business, and interview their customers. They need to pay particular attention to negative reviews and ask people specifically what they wish they were getting out of the product or service they’re using from your competition.

Be Positive and Believe in Yourself

Businesses take time to establish and experience success. It is a long process. There are certain bottlenecks take keep popping up in the journey. However, a women entrepreneur should never be afraid of failure and always remain positive. She needs to trust herself and have full faith in their dreams to becoming a successful businesswoman.

Women are regularly scaling newer heights in all aspects of life. In business as well, various female entrepreneurs have proven their immense worth while many others are on their way to success. Self belief and determination with adequate knowledge are the key to success.

Categories
Startup

Women Entrepreneurship To Get Major Boost As Telangana’s WE Hub and Gujarat’s I-Hub Join Hands To Support Startups in Raising Capital

Women Entrepreneurs in India (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Hyderabad, January 18: In a bid to give a major boost to women entrepreneurship, Telangana’s WE Hub and Gujarat’s i-Hub have collaborated to help female entrepreneurs. The pact aims to encourage and support startups in raising capital. WE Hub is a State-run platform for Women Entrepreneurs in Telangana while i-Hub is an incubation set up of the Gujarat Government. As part of the MoU, as many as 240 women entrepreneurs will be selected for the pre-incubation program and a total of 20 will be shortlisted for the co-incubation program.

Here’s how the women entrepreneurs would benefit from the Collaboration:

  1. The partnership will initiate pre-incubation program for 240 aspiring women entrepreneurs in the EdTech, MedTech and Fintech sectors in the states of Telangana and Gujarat.
  2. Post three months of pre-incubation program and after rigorous interventions a total of 20 entrepreneurs will be selected for the final virtual/physical co-incubation program.
  3. This co-incubation brings in the startups the opportunity to scale up to viable enterprises and receive solid scale-up rapid growth mentorship from the leaders at i-Hub and WE Hub.
  4. The startups will also have Government supported exposure visits across Telangana and Gujarat, the pact read.

On Saturday, an MoU was signed by Jayesh Ranjan, Telangana Principal Secretary, IT and Industries and Anju Sharma, Principal Secretary Higher and Technical Education, Gujarat.

Categories
Technology

Flipkart and Niti Aayog Collaborate To Enhance Women Entrepreneurship Platform To Help Women Entrepreneurs in India; All You Need To Know About the WEP

Women entrepreneurs in India (Photo Credits: Unsplash)

New Delhi, January 12: With an aim to enhance community experience for women entrepreneurs in India, e-commerce marketplace Flipkart and NITI Aayog have joined hands to launch the revamped Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP). The WEP is a unified access portal which brings together women from parts of India to realise their entrepreneurial aspirations. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer of the Flipkart Group, said MSMEs and start-ups have enabled the industry to better understand their challenges and needs.

The vision of the two partners- Flipkart and NITI Aayog is to make ‘Community’ a very interactive, rewarding and intuitive question and answer platform leveraging WEP resources. Through this, the entrepreneurs can utilise it for fruitful discussions and for sharing knowledge, ultimately benefiting the women entrepreneurs’ ecosystem in India.

Women entrepreneurs face unique obstacles, right from a lack of networking opportunities and mentors to the challenge of balancing work and family. When women come together or form communities, they are better equipped to tackle challenges that come their way, and shared experiences from mentors and professionals can further help them to take their passion and entrepreneurial ambition to new heights.

The idea of the platform was first mooted by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant who announced the setting-up of a Women Entrepreneurship Platform at 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Hyderabad during 2017, with an overarching theme of ‘Women First, Prosperity for All.’

Here’s all you need to know about Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP):

  1. The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is a first of its kind, unified access portal.
  2. It aims to bring together women from different parts of India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations.
  3. The revamped version will also include an additional feature to offer mentorship to the women mentees with specific knowledge concerning a problem area through a dedicated online mechanism facilitated under FICCI-FLO’s empowering the Greater 50% mission, it added.
  4. The ‘Community’ on the WEP platform aims to connect women entrepreneurs seeking clarifications on aspects of setting up new businesses with those who have experience in setting up businesses and hence can contribute by solving queries.
  5. These include queries like registering businesses, GST, funding, effects of the pandemic, progressing already established businesses.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant hopes that the WEP will become a digital place for entrepreneurs to not only seek information and support, but also help each other out. He said the WEP will serve as a forum for people’s voices to be heard – helping inform policies and programs to better suit the needs and requirements of people.

Meanwhile, Krishnamurthy said as a homegrown company, the constant and intense engagement with local Indian businesses, MSMEs and start-ups has enabled us to better understand their challenges and needs, adding that the WEP plays a critical role in uplifting and empowering women-led businesses in their growth ambition.

Categories
Startup

Women Entrepreneurship Cell Launched by Maharashtra Govt to Boost Female Engagement in Startups

Women Entrepreneurs in India (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

In a bid to give a major boost to women entrepreneurship in Maharashtra, the state government has announced of establishing of a woman entrepreneurship cell. The special cell that has been launched will work towards enhancing, guiding and training the female entrepreneurs in startups and different entrepreneurship-related sectors. The news was announced by Maharashtra Employment and Entrepreneurship Minister Nawab Malik. The cell is established to improve the innovation-driven entrepreneurship ecosystem in Maharashtra.

The Minister said that there will now be a “Girl-Student Entrepreneurship Club” at schools and universities levels. In these clubs, appropriate coaching will be given to college students who aspire to be budding entrepreneurs in their career. Further, it’ll additionally create incubators for women entrepreneurs and will help them in organising accelerated packages. The Minister further added that the monetary help might be supplied to start-ups established by these women entrepreneurs.

In December, the state government of Maharashtra decided to provide financial assistance to innovative startups which wish to file for patents. Malik had said that in the first phase of the scheme, 125 to 150 startups will be supported with financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. He said in order to survive in a competitive world, it is important for startups and early-stage entrepreneurs to protect their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).