Impact of Access to Finance on Women Entrepreneurs’ Contributions to Self, Family, Society and Economy

Abstract

Women entrepreneurs make significant contributions to their economies. In developed countries women entrepreneurs are found to start businesses at a faster rate than men and are making significant contributions to job creation and economic growth (OECD 2003; IFC 2010). The family and society at large suffers from a variety of misconceptions, apprehensions and suspicions about women entrepreneurs. This is because of inadequate studies about Indian women in business and society. There is also a stereotypical image of women entrepreneurs as engaged in producing papad, pickle and ready-made garments, knitting and tailoring, florists, beauticians and trading. They are mostly home-based and self-funded. This stereotyping image has disadvantaged the genuine women SMEs in accessing finance and other resources. This study is intended to enrich the literature on women in business in India and thus, create greater awareness of their capabilities, achievements and contributions in order to create a supportive ecosystem for them in the state of Karnataka. The study is exploratory and descriptive nature. The contributions of women entrepreneurs to selfdevelopment, family development, society and economy were measured using 5 point Likert scale. Mann Whitney test was used to determine the statistical association between contributions of the two groups (i.e. those who availed bank finance and those who did not avail bank finance) and access to bank finance. The impact of access to bank finance on women entrepreneurs’ contributions to self-development, family development, societal development and economic growth was studied. The results showed that there is no statistically significant association between access to bank finance and women’s contribution to selfdevelopment, but her contribution towards family was found to be significant and her contribution to society and economy were statistically highly significant.