Half of India’s women entrepreneurs believe that having a male co-founder makes it easier for running business

Mar 16, 2022

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Running a small business is much more difficult for women

Nearly one in two female entrepreneurs believe that a male co-founder makes it easier for running a business, a recent survey by Indifi Technologies has revealed. They also shared that the top 3 attributes that a male co-founder brought to the table in a business are — managing a team, interacting with vendors and clients, and securing capital/funds.

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The challenges women face

These were the six major challenges faced by women — securing capital and funds, managing business operations, securing credit period from vendors and suppliers, managing and procuring inventory, lack of safety and customer acquisition.

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62 percent women highlight three major issues

According to the survey, six in ten women respondents believe that raising capital, managing business operations and securing a credit period from vendors/suppliers is more difficult for them as business owners.The survey included insights from 250 female entrepreneurs to understand the challenges they face while running businesses.

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The financing gap is real too

The number of women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India has jumped from 2.15 lakh to 1.23 crore in just a decade. However, they face a finance gap of $158 billion and largely rely on informal sources, the report highlighted.

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Where do women seek loans from?

Female entrepreneurs usually seek loans from banks, online lenders, friends and family, personal savings, non banking financial corporations (NBFCs), and local money lenders. The issues with loan, however, included high interest rates, lack of collaterals, time taken and lack of documentation.

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Banks are not able to help with financial needs either

Most entrepreneurs said they still rely on banks for their financing needs; but years of business operation, insufficient credit history, and lack of property ownership are the big hurdles.

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What are the issues with digital lending?

These are the biggest barriers women face for digital lending — lack of awareness, lack of process understanding, absence of credit history, lack of documentation, lack of collaterals, and mistrust or gender bias. One in three respondents believe lack of awareness is the biggest roadblock to women exploring digital business loans.

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What is the aim of the study?

“This survey aims to decode the nuances of the unique challenges that women entrepreneurs face. We aim to leverage technology further and foster relevant lending partnerships to solve these challenges meaningfully and make positive strides bridging the abysmal credit gap from a gender lens,” Siddharth Mahanot, Cofounder of Indifi Technologies said.

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Technology is at the core of half of these women-led businesses

In Indifi’s own findings from its customer base, 50% of the loans for women SMEs come from e-commerce, travel, and restaurant segments which heavily rely on digital technology for their operations.

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