In the post-pandemic world, entrepreneurship training for women has gained much-needed momentum. This has become a key focus area for our work with women as well. Women entrepreneurs are slowly becoming an important part of the economy. They contribute significantly not just to their families but also to their communities at large.
Financial independence is a key aspect of women’s empowerment. And thus, through our Swabhiman programme, we are aiming to reach out to women entrepreneurs and equip them with the necessary skills and training to make their enterprises sustainable.
Entrepreneurship Training for Women in Bengaluru
Under our Swabhiman project in Bengaluru we put together a team to provide enterprise development support to women entrepreneurs in Deshapande Guttahalli village in Anekal Tehsil. There are many aspects of entrepreneurship development that need to be addressed at such grassroots level.
Mobilization
Mobilization is the first step towards any activity on the ground. For this particular workshop, we did home visits for about 200 women and gathered information about their livelihoods. Most of the women showed a lot of interest in generating more income, but they did not know how to go about it. Small vendors managing everything on their own need more guidance.
Financial literacy
Assessing existing knowledge plays a key role in any training. The same is true for financial literacy as well. Being an important part of running one’s own business, it is important for entrepreneurs to be financially literate. Savings and investments, loans and borrowings, insurance, and digital transactions were all taught through the sessions on financial literacy.
However, it is important to keep in mind the target group. Thus, stories, examples, and case studies in the local language were used to teach this.
Business Idea Generation
Many women face a specific dilemma when they first start a business. What should the business be? Will I be successful at this? Is it sustainable?
Generating a business idea is a structured process. It includes a few key components that were covered in the entrepreneurship training.
- Assess whether or not you have the basic requirements needed to be a successful entrepreneur.
- Clearly explain any business idea that comes to your mind.
- Identify potential sources of business ideas and create an idea list.
- Shortlist and then select the best idea to pursue in order to start your own business.
Nurturing the women entrepreneurs
The whole idea of the training was to assess the participants’ socio-economic status and their preparedness to start the business. After due market assessment and brainstorming, a few lucrative business ideas emerged.
- Sanitary pads
- Tailoring
- Handmade cosmetics
- Snacks
- Cattle rearing
- Saree weaving
Our team identified the women who could work together to set up each of these businesses. To help these women achieve success, we are also providing them with technical and hands-on training, as per their requirement.
