PROMOTION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Women establish enterprises for economic independence and empowerment, and contribution towards the economic betterment of the country. A woman entrepreneur is one who has unique competencies such as: innovative and creative orientation; leadership qualities; self and social awareness; ability to identify opportunity; risk taking ability; and ability to commercialize resources through the production of new goods and services. In order to develop and augment any enterprise, competency in various domains is essential. The present study explores factors for the development of a holistic conceptual framework of competency development to promote women entrepreneurship. An extensive review of literature was conducted to identify the factors essential for competency development and determine how these competencies enhanced the performance of an enterprise. With the help of open-ended questions, data were collected through in-depth interviews with eleven woman entrepreneurs from selected regions of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, two states of India. Qualitative approach was used based on multiple case studies to meet the research objectives of the study. Through a rigorous review and analysis of cases, it has been found that entrepreneurial learning is responsible for the development of competencies of women entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial learning occurs due to personal, social and environmentally driven motivational factors. Personal motivators can be categorized as extrinsic and intrinsic factors. These are self driven factors which motivate a person to learn and develop competencies for improving enterprise performance. Intrinsic motivational factor is urging to maintain work life balance and extrinsic motivators are previous and present work experiences and entrepreneurial education and training. Social identity, family members, friends and role models are certain socialization agents who help in creating a motivational drive in an entrepreneur. Similarly, environmental agents - government, NGOs, financial institutions (especially banks) and culture - also act as motivational factors. An entrepreneur learns by observation, socialization, and also through action and reflection of past experiences. Entrepreneurial learning in the form of action, experiential, social, and vicarious learning helps in the development of personal, social, managerial and entrepreneurial competencies. These competencies are essential for the performance of an enterprise. Therefore, the objective of developing a holistic conceptual framework for the promotion of women entrepreneurship through competency development has been achieved in the present study. The findings of the ii study would provide assistance to policy makers in framing promotional programs and policies towards encouraging women entrepreneurs in future.