Programme coordinators think women lack the means to bring their potential to fruition; exclusively designed courses, workshops, lectures and seminars attempt to bridge the gap.
B-schools in the country have initiated programmes intended to churn out women entrepreneurs.
Indian Institute of Bangalore (IIM-B), Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai, are among the institutes offering programmes exclusively for women entrepreneurs.
The Centre for Executive Education, ISB, in partnership with the Goldman Sachs Group is launching a global corporate engagement initiative. Under this, ISB will conceptualise and conduct short-term programmes for financially weak women without a formal business education.
Kavil Ramachandran, professor and associate dean, academic programmes at the ISB, said: “There are women who have the potential to grow, but lack the means. The initiative has been launched to create managerial capabilities, support and empower women entrepreneurs. Women are usually better managers as they understand reality, respond well to challenges and the general tendency of women entrepreneurs is to employ more women.”
IIM-B runs a Management Programme for Women Entrepreneurs. The six-week programme, including two weeks of business plan presentation, is conducted at IIM-B every summer with visiting and guest faculty providing training to existing and aspiring women entrepreneurs.
Ganesh Prabhu, professor of corporate strategy and policy, IIM-B, said: “The programme was started as a follow-up to another programme called Management Programme for Trainers of Women Entrepreneurs, in association with the Oxford University in 2002-03. In 2004, we thought of running an independent programme for women entrepreneurs. The participants in the programme are provided with an option to work at our incubation centre. The programme fee is Rs 17,000 for non-residential students and Rs 25,000 for residential students.”
NMIMS has started a three-month special management programme called ‘Enterprise Training for Women’. The academic programme looks into the practicalities of starting a new business venture.
Many institutes prefer to arrange for lectures, seminars and workshops. Like the International conference on ‘Harnessing the Entrepreneurial Potential of Women for Economic Growth’, to be organised by Manipal Institute of Management jointly with Asian Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives (ASCENT) as Knowledge partner in January 2009. The conference aims to discuss and deliberate on various issues related to women entrepreneurship development.
The Centre for Development of Women at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) regularly invites eminent women personalities like Rama Bijapurkar of Infosys and Ranjana Kumar, Vigilance Commissioner, Central Vigilance Commission, to set an example for aspiring women entrepreneurs.
Janak Parikh, president, AMA, said: “We invite a lot of successful women to encourage women entrepreneurs and tell them how they manage important positions along with their family responsibilities. Things do not end at graduation or marriage for women today, as they want to seek further education, better career opportunities and want to make a mark. Entrepreneurship and business is no longer a man’s domain.”
Ahmedabad-based International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (ICECD), a pioneer in designing and implementing Entrepreneurship training programmes for women, has introduced a Post Graduate Diploma in Enterprise Management And Entrepreneurship recognised by the University of Gujarat.
Hina Shah, director, ICECD, said: “The course integrates business management with entrepreneurship. This helps in successful management of small and medium scale enterprises and family-owned businesses. It also infuses managers in the corporate sector the entrepreneurial spirit.”
So, what is it about women entrepreneurship, especially at the grassroots, that is attracting so much attention from academic institutes?
Prabhu from IIM-B said: “Women prefer to learn and patiently build their business step by step instead of facing a lot of failures. Also, women tend to come with a variety of innovative businesses. Self-employed women in the rural sector have a major impact on society. Training and educating a woman will make her independent, ensuring that her children will be educated and healthy. As an institute , we are able to reach out to people. So, the whole idea of empowering women by educational institutes is to create an overall positive impact on the society.”
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