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Startup

4 Best Small Startup Business Ideas For Women Entrepreneurs

Whether it’s sports or the startup ecosystem, India is moving ahead. The Indian women too have become more career-oriented and focused as compared to the past. Today, women are more concerned about their studies because financial independence has become necessary. While many are heading the top-level positions like Indra Nooyi, many others have become successful entrepreneurs too.

Out of 58.5 million entrepreneurs in India, 14% are women. A small startup business ideas can boom into a full flourishing business. All it takes is a little push and women today can achieve their sky of success.

However, running a business is no walk in the park. It takes a lot of determination and passion to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams. But if you feel you have it in you, what it takes to be a successful women entrepreneurs in India, many business ideas can start with low or zero investment.

Here is a list of small business ideas that you can start and be your boss:

1. Food Delivery Business

It may sound clichéd, but making good food is an art. An art that is delicate and invaluable. And, if you have been receiving compliments on your culinary skills in your circle, a food delivery business is what you consider.

With lots of people returning to their traditional taste buds, you can succor their demands with family recipes, traditional cuisines, or simply home-cooked food in your style.

You can begin with calling your circle of friends and tell them you are starting your own food business. Word of mouth helps in spreading the word for your business. Becoming a home chef is one of the best small startup business ideas that you can start from home.

2. Fashion Boutique

If you have a thing for fashion, then opening a fashion boutique is another profitable startup business idea for you. You need to have a minimum budget of INR 5 Lakh to start this business. Along with that, you will also need a minimum of 300 sq ft of space, a set of sewing machines, and one tailor. You can use platforms like Shopify and Facebook to showcase your designs and reach a bigger audience. With online payment gateways, you can easily manage the payments.

3. Unique Handicrafts

Another fantastic small business idea for women is to start a business of handmade craft supplies. The market has seen an emerging trend towards handmade as it is authentic and unique. This business needs very low investment as you can start this business from your home in just INR 500 – 2000.

By using the websites like Shopify, you can set up your shop online and sell your unique creations from the comfort of your home. Stationary to handcrafted book covers, diaries, and wall hangings to handmade goodies, it is an amazing money making ideas that you can start from home.

Use good quality products and create items that showcase finesse and you can see loyal customers knocking at your doors.

4. Stock Trading

The stock market has huge potential not just for investors, but also for women who want to gain financial independence from the comfort of their homes. Women with great knowledge of the market, shares, and stocks have already turned their homes into their Wall Street Office.

Stock trading can be done from anywhere, even as a side-hustle. All you need is good analytical skills and how to use your financial skills with a budget of INR 5000. There are many sites like Groww, Zerodha, Funds India that offer help and also advise how to invest money in the stock market and make sensible investments. There are also multiple online courses for entrepreneurs on the Trading & Stock Market.

From Social Media Influencer to opening a bakery, there are many small business ideas for women that can be converted into a home-based or online business opportunity. All you need to do is to identify a skill or a talent that you excel at.

The above-mentioned small ideas for women entrepreneurs are perfect for those who want to be their boss. To more such amazing ideas, visit www.badabusiness.com.

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Powerful Personalities

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

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).

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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

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.

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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

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.

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Startup

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

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).

 

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Startup

Google India Partners with Sheroes to Support 500 Rural Women Entrepreneurs in India; All You Need to Know About the Programme

New Delhi, December 22: In a bid to support rural women entrepreneurs in India, Google India on Monday said it has partnered with Sheroes to support 500 women entrepreneurs by connecting them with experts and enabling access to resources, guidance and mentorship. In 2019, Google had started a small pilot for an accelerator programme for 10 women entrepreneurs in rural India across its Internet Saathi network. The programme by the tech giant is centered on solving for basic business issues like customer acquisition, selling and marketing, digital presence, management and self-confidence.

Google has now joined hands with Sheroes to scale this to 500 rural women entrepreneurs. Under the initiative, the tech giant would connect them with experts, urban women entrepreneurs in the same or adjacent industries and enabling access to the right resources, guidance and mentorship over a six-month period. Kerala-Based Startup Inks Pact With UN Women’s Empowerment Principles to Train, Promote and Empower Women.

In a statement, Google India said within three months, there was a rise in confidence among the participants and the women went back and applied the learning to their businesses. It stated that 80 percent of them started working on their digital presence and one of the participants had a working website within months. In a separate statement, Google said it has launched new insight tools for the travel industry.

In 2015, the Internet Saathi programme was initiated in collaboration with Tata Trusts to bring basic digital literacy skills to women in Indian villages and have them become informal teachers for other women in their communities. Since then, the programme has touched over 30 million women across the country.

Categories
Startup

5 Schemes Focused on Development of Women Entrepreneurs in India

The Indian startup ecosystem is thriving successfully. For the past few years many entrepreneurs have emerged and established their business across the industries with much success, giving tough competition to the existing stalwarts. Not only men, Indian women are progressively moving the bandwagon on entrepreneurship forward. Women have been fraying well in the start-up community, starting, sustaining and succeeding in various businesses ranging from food to clothing, entertainment to event planning, tech to handicrafts. They have been proving their worth in the business sphere.

Keeping in view the enthusiasm and determination of the women entrepreneurs, the government has launched various schemes to support and encourage them. The aim is to motivate more and more women to enter the business sector, have their start-ups and fulfil their dreams. Quick finance, loans and other facilities are provided to women at easy and flexible terms and conditions, so that they can start and sustain their businesses.

Here are five schemes that are offered for the development of women entrepreneurs in India-

  1. Stree Shakti Package For Women Entrepreneurs

The scheme is offered by the State Bank of India and its branches. Under this loans up to Rs 50 Lakh are sanctioned to women entrepreneurs who have at least 50 per cent share in the ownership of a firm0020vvvv0072 or business and have taken part in the state agencies run Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDP). If the loan exceeds Rs 2 Lakh, a 0.50 per cent concession is granted on the rate of interest.

  1. Annapurna Scheme

Offered by the State bank of Mysore, this scheme is available to women entrepreneurs who have started or plan to start a food catering business. The loan can be utilised for buying various goods required in the business including kitchen equipments. A loan up to Rs 50,000 is sanctioned under the scheme. The loan can be paid back in 36 instalments. The interested charged as per prevailing rates. To secure the loan the candidate needs guarantor and has to offer some asset as collateral.

  1. Dena Shakti Scheme

The scheme is offered by Dena Bank. Under this, women who plan to start businesses in various sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, micro-credit, retail are provided loans. A loan up to Rs 20 Lakh can be sanctioned under this scheme There is a concession of 0.25 percent on rate of interest. Under the scheme, loans up to Rs 50,000 are offered under the microcredit category.

  1. Udyogini Scheme

This scheme is offered by Punjab and Sind Bank to the women entrepreneurs involved in Agriculture, retail and small business enterprises to get loans for business at flexible terms and concessional interest rates. The maximum amount of loan under this scheme for women between the age brackets of 18-45 years is Rs 1 Lakh but the candidate’s family income is also taken into consideration and is set at Rs 45,000 per annum for SC/ST women. For widowed, destitute or disabled women from SC/ST categories, a subsidy of 30 per cent of the loan, up to Rs 10,000, is provided.

  1. Mudra Yojana Scheme for Women

This scheme is offered by the Government of India for women who want to start small new enterprises and businesses including beauty parlours, tailoring units, tuition centres, among others. There are three schemes under it each with different criteria for loan sanction. Firstly, Shishu Scheme, where loan up to Rs 50,000 is sanctioned to women to fund the initial stages of the business. Secondly, Kishor Scheme, here the loan amount ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 Lakh and is offered to well-established women enterprise. Lastly, Tarun Scheme here loan amount is Rs 10 Lakh and is offered to established business looking for expansion and diversification.

Apart from them, various other schemes for the development of women entrepreneurs are being offered by several organisations in the markets. The main aim of such schemes is to ensure financial support to women entrepreneurs to help establish the business and keep it afloat in later stages.

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Technology

V-Enhance E-Training Programme Launched by Vestige to Empower Hearing and Speech Impaired Entrepreneurs in India

New Delhi, September 28: In a bid to empower the hearing and speech impaired entrepreneurs in India, Vestige, India’s leading home-grown direct selling company, has launched a custom-built e-training programme called V-Enhance. The special training programme aims to help distributors with hearing and speech impairment to augment their understanding about Vestige Marketing’s health and wellness products and their benefits through sign language.

According to a report by IANS, the aim of the V-Enhance E-Training Programme is to empower and support them to sell products with utmost confidence and build a rewarding and sustainable career with Vestige. This is a unique initiative taken by the firm which will help them realise their own potential to become successful and self-reliant entrepreneurs in the future.

Gautam Bali, the company’s founder and Managing Director said Vestige has provided equal opportunity to a diverse range of people globally and there are thousands of extraordinary success stories that highlight the the same. “For us, each distributor joining the system is a valued partner in our business. So, we feel that it is our duty to provide the differently abled a platform where they can equally grow. V-Enhance has been conceptualised with that very idea of providing equal opportunity to everyone.”

V-Enhance E-Training Programme is a two-month-long training programme. It covers the various health and wellness product categories offered by Vestige. It must be noted that there are multiple trainings every week covering topics like women’s health, immunity, detoxification & rejuvenation, glycemic health, fitness and diet and many more.

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Business motivation Strategy

Visa, IFundWomen Announce Grant Programme to Empower Women Entrepreneurs in India

Mumbai, September 21: With an aim to empower women entrepreneurs in India, Visa along with its global partner IFundWomen on Monday rolled out a grant programme to boost the morale of women entrepreneurs across the country. According to a report by IANS, the digital payments technology leader will seek applications from women entrepreneurs across all sectors till October 20, 2020. IfundWomen is the go-to marketplace for women-owned businesses. The applicants need to submit details about their business and online presence, along with a short video about their business to www.ifundwomen.com/visa-india. Three winners will be selected and receive grants of Rs 7 lakh each and training from leaders within the Visa and IFundWomen network.

Women-owned businesses constitute around 14 percent of the total entrepreneur base in India. To spread the word, Visa said it has partnered with FLO (the ladies’ wing of FICCI) and Instamojo as digitisation partner for the programme in the country. T R Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “We want to see this number increase but our interactions with women entrepreneurs show that access to capital to fund, run and grow their businesses remains a challenge”.

The Visa and IFundWomen grant programme in India, the first outside of the US, “aims to boost female entrepreneurship and empower budding businesswomen through our network, guidance, financial support and resources to help achieve their dreams”, he added.

Visa’s partnership with IFundWomen is specifically designed to help women entrepreneurs secure the funding they need through a series of grants. This year in June, Visa had committed to supporting 50 million small businesses globally to power recovery and enable them digitally. In August 2020, through the first India edition of Visa Everywhere Initiative, it awarded three fintech startups with monetary awards and technological support to take their solutions to market, the company said.