Guwahati: Many women in Assam are involved in small-scale enterprises, such as weaving, baking cakes (pitha) and other local edibles, singing, dancing, handicrafts, fishery and kitchen gardening. While for decades, women would be engaged in such activities to cater to the needs of family members, they are now coming out of the cocoon to make a mark in these enterprises.

Many enterprises — such as silk, blacksmith, goldsmith, carpentry — were supported by the government. As society moved ahead, there was immense technical input. Many women failed to compete equally with the development. At the same time, many emerged as successful entrepreneurs with traditional home-based skills.

In the 21st century, there are changes in outlook and a new advanced stage is found for progress and self-development. Now, women entrepreneurs are editors, founders, technical supporters, starters of educational institutions, home service providers, vocational institution owners and engaged in operating recreation agencies, placement cell owners, etc.
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises made efforts to nurture low-cost products and services, through Udyam Sakti. They created a portal for women entrepreneurs for their aggrandizement and to meet all the challenges they are facing. There are many other income-generating schemes implemented by the concerned authority, that is the Ministry of Women and Child Development, like giving training and assistance (financial) for their upliftment.

A significant bank to support women entrepreneurs is the Small Industries Development Bank of India. It has implemented two special schemes for women entrepreneurs, namely. Mahila Udyam Nidhi and Mahila Vikas Nidhi. While Mahila Udyam Nidhi aims to provide equity to women entrepreneurs, Mahila Vikas Nidhi offers developmental assistance to pursue income-generating activities for women. They also try to support credit needs and training for credit utilisation.

For the First Women Entrepreneurs Conclave in Assam in 2018, Dr. Sriparna B. Baruah, a doyen in providing management education in northeast India, wrote, “It was a first step towards a silent revolution for progress towards women empowerment, capacity building, sustainability and leadership.”

The platform provided a fantastic opportunity to learn, meet and earn newer opportunities for entrepreneurship.
A number of organisations like LIC, SBI, UBI etc. have a special preference for women entrepreneurs. Some of the prominent government schemes are like Annapurna Scheme, Stree Shakti package, lent Kalyani Scheme, Mudra Yojana Scheme, Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme, Dena Shakti Scheme, Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana are available.

North Eastern Development Financial Corporation (NEDFi ) allows market display for women-related products like data material, home décor, eatables, ornaments, etc. They also provide financial assistance.

Again, the Women Enterprise Development of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal trade aims to provide Financial Assistance to women entrepreneurs, to support taking up new ventures and uplift existing ventures.
Assam startup is a new initiative by the state government. Its motive is to bring the startup ecosystem to the state. It envisages the noble task to promote the empowerment of youth and make this state a startup hub for the country. There is special provision for women entrepreneurs as well.

This way, there are a lot of prospects for women entrepreneurs in Assam. Media also play a stupendous task in promoting and publishing about women entrepreneurs from time to time.

Entrepreneurship is a project for total commitment. Giving reverence for unpaid care work tells women’s role and status in a family. However, the basic need for meeting the challenges of entrepreneurship is to build up confidence.
One effort can be to build up co-operatives, develop societies and self-help groups, introducing financial assistance than a loan, create networking opportunities, building shelters for travel, stay and leisure while marketing their products.
Besides, technical support for women is also essential to reach out beyond their four walls and border area. Conferences and conclaves are essential to developing in Assam. Emphasis should also be given to providing them with financial literacy, English education, technical education and the creation of a strong vigilance team for their protection and care. The existence of middlemen should be deleted. Care and protection should be such that even very simple women feel secure while utilising their resources like time, energy and money.

Sanjukta Bhattacharyya, the owner of Orange Oven and Co-owner of Ruka, said there are some personal challenges in her bakery and fashion-related business.

“Yes, there are some challenges in the cake business. For example, delivery is one of them. As we know cakes are very fragile item it needs to be handled with care. Our cakes are delivered by us, which also ensure safe and timely delivery. Road conditions in some areas of Guwahati are not good, so we face difficulty in delivering big 3 tiers cakes. In rainy days water logging also sums up our difficulty. The cake business is quite big in Guwahati. It still has the opportunity to grow. Maintaining quality and competing in the market is a big challenge. We always assure quality products to our customers,” she said.

She added that in recent times she also collaborated with my best friend Ritikankana Choudhury, owner of Thuria to create a new venture (RUKA by Ritikankana and Sanjukta) to set a benchmark in the fashion industry with a vision to expand it all over India.

Drishti Medhi, co-founder of QuickGhy spoke about the challenges of women entrepreneurs in general. The first challenge, according to her is a lack of financial literacy. Next, she mentioned the harmful role of the lack of engaging peer support groups which is crucial for having a strong feedback system and fast-track learning. Also, according to her, there is a lack of access to funding opportunities including societal pressure of choosing the traditional career path.
Speaking on the prospects, Medhi said women can identify local challenges to build strong and scalable solutions to reach nationwide and also, globally.

A woman entrepreneur must build access to wider opportunities across industries to promote and encourage bigger aspirations among women. She advised women entrepreneurs to look beyond the existing Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across handicrafts, tea and explore opportunities in Direct to Consumer (D2C) sectors for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) products based on the rich availability of locally produced agri products, across automobile industries, Information Technology and tech solutions for the emerging sectors of the Web 3.0.

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