A customised study reveals the biggest hurdles that hold back home-makers from pursuing their dreams of starting their own ventures. By Team Viva
India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and many experts believe that the country’s women hold the key to unlocking its full growth potential. The question is, do the country’s nearly 600 million women want to step outside their homes and pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and if yes, what holds them back?
A food products corporation has found through its first ever Britannia Marie Gold Indian Women Entrepreneurship survey report that homemakers do, in fact, hold aspirations of embarking on an entrepreneurial journey and finding financial independence, however, there are many barriers that they must cross to get there. The survey was conducted by Nielsen, among 1,267 non-working housewives in cities of Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Asansol, Chennai, and Coimbatore in the age group of 25-45 years.
It reveals that 69 per cent find the lack of sufficient funds as the biggest barrier for prospective women entrepreneurs while home responsibilities largely come in the way of 63 per cent as these take up most of their time and 36 per cent reported that it’s a mere lack in confidence.
According to the report, nearly half (48 per cent) of Indian homemakers had dreams and aspirations to start a business or pursue a hobby to make money when they were young.
Out of the homemakers who have aspirations to start their own ventures, the top businesses that they would like to launch were — tailoring (36 per cent), beauty parlours (28 per cent) and 26 per cent housewives said that starting a boutique or a shop would be a great option for them where as 20 per cent said yes to working as home tutors.
Among homemakers with dreams, 64 per cent said the reason was to gain financial independence, while 54 per cent said they wanted to create their own identity. Fifty-one per cent said self-confidence is what they would need the most for starting their own ventures.
Significantly, nearly all, 92 per cent of Indian homemakers said that it would make them happy to see their daughters and the next generation of women run their own businesses.
And they had varied reasons for this. Sixty-one per cent said that it was because it would give them more self-esteem, 64 per cent said because it would help them gain financial independence and 62 per cent said because it would help them create their own identities.
Ali Harris Shere, VP, Marketing, Britannia Industries, said, “Homemakers are constantly caught up in the daily responsibilities of looking after family and too often their own ambitions fall by the wayside. The new generation of homemakers, however, seek to ensure their personal interests so that they do not take a back seat.
“This research study proves our observations and identifies barriers — financial support, guidance and confidence, that we want to help address. My initiative aims to homemakers who have the ability to find reserves within them to do more and be more.’ It fuels them to go ahead and launch their own ventures, contributing to their families and to the overall economy,” Ali added.
