HRM Women and Social Entrepreneurship -A Growing Trend

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1 HRM Women and Social Entrepreneurship -A Growing Trend Prof. karuna Jadhav, Neville Wadia Institute of Management Studies & Research (NWIMSR), Pune-01. Abstract : During the last two decades, Indian women have entered the field of entrepreneurship in increasing numbers. With the emergence and growth of their businesses, they have contributed to the Indian economy & society. These women entrepreneurs have entered many industries and sectors. Many of the earlier obstacles to their success have been removed, yet some still remain. Further, there has been much progress in the training and development of women entrepreneurs within public policy and academic programs. Indian women business owners are changing the face of businesses of today, both literally and figuratively. The dynamic growth and expansion of women-owned businesses is one of the defining trends of the past decade, and all indications are that it will continue unabated. For more than a decade, the number of women-owned businesses has grown at one-and-a-half to two times the rate of all businesses. Even more important, the expansion in revenues and employment has far exceeded the growth in numbers. The result of these trends is that women-owned businesses span the entire range of business life cycle and business success, whether the measuring stick is revenue, employment or longevity. This strengthens the view that all governmental programs and policies should target at strengthening women s entrepreneurship in their native lands. Key Words: Women Entrepreneurs, Indian Society, Social Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Development in India Introduction : Many women are finding that the power and privilege that comes with successful entrepreneurship make it easier to make a difference, both financially and by promoting new ideas. Combining a for-profit business with social activism provides the best of both worlds. Women who are thinking about launching a nonprofit should consider the alternative -- Social Entrepreneurship. Women are turning to social entrepreneurship because they tend to work more with their hearts. Women find a natural place in social businesses because it s ok to be empathetic, caring, collaborative, which are attributes that are not always perceived to be welcome in the corporate world. Objective : The present study intends to get through understanding about various aspects of gender based social entrepreneurship. In order to achieve this, it has kept the following objectives. To understand the meaning of social entrepreneurship Evaluate the available literature on women in social entrepreneurship. 145

2 Feb., 2012 To explain the importance of social entrepreneurship. The study adopted the literature review as the basis for achieving the stated objectives. Exploratory method of research was used to understand the concept of social entrepreneurship All the data in this study are obtained from the secondary data such as books, article, journal, economic report. Social Entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is the art of creating a socially responsible business that aims to generate profit, while solving social and environmental problems. Social entrepreneurs start and run social enterprises commercial businesses that often come with a triple bottom line mandate. The triple bottom line refers to people, profits, and the planet. TBL implies that businesses can and ought to be run in a financially, socially, and environmentally responsible manner. Social entrepreneurs are visionary individuals with creative solutions for solving some of the world s most perplexing social problems. These people have the ability to identify the problem, develop a way to change the system, and disseminate the ideas so that entire societies work together to raise themselves above crisis. They are ambitious, driven, resourceful, and results-oriented. Social entrepreneurship overcomes the gap between the business and the public sectors, as it is connected to the non-profit or the third sector, as well as to the concept of the social economy, with emphasis on objectives to serve communities and society rather than generating a company s profit. The main characteristics of social entrepreneurship, outlined in diverse theoretical resources, are: 1. Explicitly formulated mission to create and sustain social value and to benefit the communities; 2. High degree of economic risk and autonomy in activities related to producing goods and/or selling services; 3. Pursuit of new opportunities and exploration of hidden resources to serve that mission; 4. Quest for sustainable models, based on well elaborated feasibility study; 5. Ongoing engagement in innovation, adaptation and learning; 6. Decision-making power not based on capital ownership; 7. Participatory and collaborative nature involving various stakeholders; 8. Limited distribution of profit and minimum amount of paid work; 9. Change opportunities lying in the hands of every individual. Social enterprises are often confused with nonprofit organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The main difference between a nonprofit and social enterprise is the revenue model. Nonprofits rely primarily on charitable contributions, public funding and foundation grants to support their programs and cover their administrative overhead. If, due to a bad economy, donations, grants, and public sector subsidies dried up, the non profit would have to shut down. Very few nonprofits have created robust earned income streams, though there is an increasing trend to do so. A social enterprise is designed to operate like a for profit business. Social enterprises rely primarily on their earned income stream, and like any other company, if needed; it takes loans, invites capital investments, and forms partnerships etc. in order to expand its business activities. A nonprofit s sole aim is to create social value where as the aim of social enterprise is two or three fold: financial, social, and environmental sustainability. 146

3 Globally, social business enterprises are active mainly in the social, environmental, human rights and gender equality areas. Examples include: street children; children s health; health insurance for disadvantaged people; housing; educational opportunities; poverty in degraded urban areas; ageing and the elderly; migrants and ethnic minorities; work and employment; climate crisis; pollution problems; clean drinking water; empowerment of women; human rights; gender equality; digital divides. Women social entrepreneurs driven by impact rather than scale Many women are turning to social entrepreneurship because they tend to work more with their hearts, says American serial social entrepreneur and Ashoka Fellow Christina Jordan. Women tend to be very nurturing and their work is an extension of how they see the world. 1. Does a female s ability to build relationships allow them to spot opportunities more easily? 2. Does their empathizing nature cause them to be risk averse or tolerant of ambiguity? 3. To what extent can social capital help one to overcome start-up barriers? These questions along with many others would further the academic literature; however, the bottom-line for female entrepreneurs is that, effectively, women succeed by being female, not by acting in a more masculine way. Women business owners have long been the fastest growing sector of entrepreneurs, and it is very common for this group to lead the charge of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs use their business acumen to both create a profitable business and contribute to the greater good. Wanting to use your talents to create social change no longer requires a low-paying position within the nonprofit sector. In fact, many women are finding that the power and privilege that comes with successful entrepreneurship make it easier to make a difference, both financially and by promoting new ideas. It s hard to find large social enterprises led by women. There are not enough women pitching for investment and there are only a small proportion of women on impact investment panels. Among the questions we ll look at are: 1. Do we need more women angels to invest in early stage social businesses who cater for women s needs? 2. What do women bring to social business that men could learn from? 3. Are social businesses led by women started because of some market failure or glass ceiling in their industries which influences how they run their businesses? 4. Are women better at combining social impact with profit? 5. Is social enterprise the ideal market place for women to pursue their career as opposed to the male-focused corporate world? EQ s advantageous relationship with social capital and entrepreneurial behavior The advantages continue as women can use their EQ to build relationships, which is imperative in networking and creating social capital (the goodwill or benefits that come from social networks). This, in turn, not only allows women access to vital resources, but aids them in overcoming any barriers (i.e. need for capital) and increases their chance of identifying entrepreneurial opportunities through social sources. Women s behavior in owning or managing a business are reflective of entrepreneurial behavior (motivation and willingness to exploit opportunities) in that team-building and participative management practices are common and social support is demonstrated. Since women have more adept interpersonal skills, it s not surprising that they strategically use their social networks to build support for their idea and spend more time than men in doing so. 147

4 Feb., 2012 Women use networking not only as a critical tool, but also as a development strategy for their business; thus, they should spend more time in exercising this ability. Additionally, many of the EQ abilities are related to entrepreneur behaviour; so, as EQ is an advantage for women, they are more likely to act in an entrepreneurial manner, given a suitable context. Therefore, emotional intelligence, social capital, and entrepreneurial behaviour essentially merge to provide an advantage for women entrepreneurs. Moving forward It is fact that women entrepreneurs are less likely to have full support of a marriage partner (cited by men as an important factor in entrepreneurial success) and are the household care-giver; limiting the time and energy they have for their business. Women entrepreneurs tend to be younger than males and younger entrepreneurs perceive less risk in starting a venture. This is important for the future of female entrepreneurship, because, as the profile of female entrepreneurs is changing; younger generations are adapting and advancing the expectations. These younger generations no longer struggle for gender equality because it is already given to them. Therefore, they can focus on enhancing their abilities and utilizing their natural talents to help them achieve their goals and perpetuate the progression of female entrepreneurship. Kalpana Sankar, Chief Executive of India-based social enterprise Hand-in-Hand says that balancing social performance with financial performance targets is like walking a tight-rope. Nonetheless, women have to come to terms with the drastic changes in the microfinance space, wherein more IPO s and private equity funding seem imminent. Women realise that they have to produce results on a scale on a par with male-run microfinance organisations. According to Sankar there is a glass ceiling in the microfinance sector amid rapid commercialization and women managers in microfinance institutions need to face up to the challenges of a competitive environment. Women leaders and managers in India still face social constraints while lobbying and networking professionally. It appears that there are increasingly fewer women leaders in microfinance due to rapid commercialization in this sphere. Women prefer to retain the social ethos in this field and hence are not able to come to terms with this rapid change. If commercialization is the new way to go, they may prefer to plan for succession at the earliest possible opportunity. The government of India launched a scheme called Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development Scheme for Women (TREAD) during the 11th five-year plan. This schemed envisioned economic empowerment of women through the development of their entrepreneurial skills in nonagricultural activities. Why Do Indian Women Undertake Entrepreneurship? In spite of the growing number of female entrepreneurs, the share of female entrepreneurs is still significantly low when compared to their participation rate. However, there are several factors responsible for increasing the level of female entrepreneurship in India: 1. Nature of Entrepreneurship: Women enter into entrepreneurial activity because regular employment does not provide them with the flexibility, control or challenge offered by business ownership. 2. Motivation: Several evidences suggest that women do not lack the motivation to enter into business ownership. They are often highly motivated than their male counterparts to overcome the barriers to business start-up. 3. Empowerment: Indian women are becoming more empowered now-a-days. Legislations are being progressively drafted to offer them more opportunities at various levels. 148

5 4. Social Conditions: Population growth results in a strong positive relationship on entrepreneurial activity. Across genders, the increase in demand and competition for jobs pushes more people into necessary entrepreneurship. For women, in particular, the relatively high involvement in necessary entrepreneurship indicates that self-employment is used as a way to circumvent institutional and cultural constraints with respect to female employment, as well as a way to provide supplemental family income. 5. Economic Conditions: Auspicious economic conditions favour the participation of women in entrepreneurial activity. The smaller amount of financial capital requirement and higher proportion of available bank loans positively correlates the level of female entrepreneurship to economic conditions. In fact, in a country like India, the relationship between the size of unofficial economy and entrepreneurial activity is positive. 6. Literacy & Education: Increased levels of education have played a crucial role in initiating the process of entrepreneurship. It is not only the illiterate that are starting the businesses but those with education & skills are also exploiting profit opportunities. Conclusion : Women social entrepreneurs in particular tend to invest every single bit of money that they have in their projects, including what should provide for them in their old age such as their assets and family money. They tend to invest everything they can get their hands on in their project which leaves them quite vulnerable at the late stages of their career. Another gender difference is that women social entrepreneurs tend to plan for their own succession. Or if they don t have a plan, they know that their work demands them to eventually step down and hand over the reins to the stakeholders. It is difficult for women to negotiate their financial package and for them, the cause is more important than the financial returns. It is possible that they end up in a similar situation because as a woman they cannot help their basic giving nature. Their work in this field is more of an inner calling rather than a commercial proposition. With relevant education, work experience, improving economic conditions and financial opportunities, more women around the world are creating and sustaining successful business ventures. This will not only have an impact on the economies of the countries in which women own their businesses but also will change the status of women in those societies. It is likely that, as we begin this millennium, this will be the century of the entrepreneur in general and of the women entrepreneur in particular. References:- 1. Anna, A.L., Chandler, G. N., Jansen, E., and Mero, N. P. (2000). Women business owners in traditional and non-traditional industries, Journal of Business Venturing. 2. Brush, C. (1997). Women-Owned Businesses: Obstacles and Opportunities, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. 3.Moore, D.P. (2000). Careerpreneurs: Lessons from Leading Women Entrepreneurs on Building a Career without Boundaries. Davies-Black Publishers. 4. Kamau, D.G., McLean, G.N., and Additively, A. (1999). Perceptions of business growth by women entrepreneurs. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. Wellesley, MA: Babson College