Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU) successfully concluded a webinar with the theme Challenges and Opportunities for Women MSMEs. While the sector is growing rapidly, the participation of women has still been low. The seminar focused on micro enterprises run by women. Policy makers, two micro entrepreneurs, providers of market access and researchers in the field were brought on the same platform to discuss ways of having more and more women join and succeed in creating enterprises. The “micro” of the MSMEs is worth focusing on because it provides 97 per cent of the employment provided by the MSME sector.

Shri Satyendar Jain, Minister for Health, Industries, Home, Public Work Department, Power, Urban Development, and Transport graced the platform as the Chief Guest. Speaking on the need to uplift small and medium entrepreneurs Shri Jain said that “The Delhi Government is aware and cognizant of the need to work in a concentrated manner for those entrepreneurs who really need the support. The big will get bigger and always get heard but it is the small entrepreneurs who remain invisible and their needs are often not known and thus not even attended to.” He mentioned that the micro entrepreneurs need to be applauded for their role and possibly there is a need for some policies just for them.” Shri Jain also mentioned that in his experience, women entrepreneurs are able to work well with various stakeholders and also have the ability to call a spade a spade.

Thus, they are better poised to succeed if they receive the right attention and support. Professor (Dr.) Neharika Vohra, Vice Chancellor, DSEU shared that women entrepreneurship in micro enterprises contributed to the elevation of women and thus families from poverty. She highlighted that there are 0.55 million MSMEs in Delhi employing 2 million people. Their needs and issues need to be understood to ensure that more of them can be successful and many more can venture into undertaking entrepreneurship. The need for skill enhancement, making formalization easy, and the provision of basic training for women to operate in the digital economy were emphasized. She added that, “DSEU is working towards creating a policy paper on a gender sensitive entrepreneurship ecosystem.”

The Webinar also showcased the inspiring stories of two women, Tarannum Ben and Ms Aruna Rani. Tarannum Ben, with very basic educational skills mentioned that, “She started her own venture due to the uncertainty of regular employment of her husband. She used her skill in gems embroidery to create employment opportunities for 25 women in her locality.” Tarannum Ben benefitted in her work with the training imparted in financial literacy by SEWA. She and her fellow entrepreneurs showcase their skilled work at exhibitions. She is keen to employ more women and expand the business.

Ms Aruna Rani has been living in a settlement colony, Savda Ghevra, for 15 years. Narrating her entrepreneurship journey she said “She started her venture of making spices 15 years back as she was located in a place with low connectivity with the city and limited market access.” She was introduced to a self-help group 10 years ago, through which she bought a grinder machine. She and three other women are able to sell 60 kgs of spices each month”. The pandemic had affected Ms Rani’s business because of lack of mobility. She felt that if she had better access to the market she could expand her business with the help of other women who lived in her colony.

Furthermore, micro businesses suffer due to limited access to the market. It is imperative to change this narrative and understand how market access can increase participation of women in the MSME sector. Taking this point forward Mr Anurag Awasthi, Head -Training and Product Manager, Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Inclusive Products, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) said “Within GeM, the Womaniya platform caters to gender specific financial products and services. Special care has been taken to take feedback from users and continuously update the requirements. He shared that since the women only platform had started in 2016, 1.20 lakh women sellers and service providers have been onboarded and 3.75 lakh orders have been received and Rs 6,780 cr worth of goods have been sold.”

Professor (Dr.) Rihan Khan Suri, Pro VC, Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU) shared that access to markets and safe transportation are some of the key aspects to ensure women entrepreneurs, micro or otherwise, will succeed.

The webinar highlighted the need for making visible the role of the micro entrepreneurs, training for 21 st century skills, access to market, and targeted policy support for greater participation and success of women in running micro enterprises.