PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN COIMBATORE
Dr.G. Jayammal, M.A., M.Phil., PhD.,
Reader in Economics,
Nirmala College for Women,
Coimbatore-641018
ABSTRACT

For women, entrepreneurship is a journey from poverty to prosperity, total
dependence to equality, agricultural labour to entrepreneurs in industry and in service
sectors and finally, as opportunity entrepreneurs. It has almost reached a stage where it ismore suitable a profession than getting employed in public /private organizations whichhave their own limitations. Thus the women’s journey mirrors the transformation of thenation from low to high-income countries. The economic status of the women is now
accepted as an indicator of a stage of development and therefore it becomes imperative
for the government to frame policies enhancing the rights, roles and opportunities ofwomen, for their betterment in particular and society in general.
The present research study has been conducted to study the problems of women
entrepreneurs with special reference to some selected units in Coimbatore District of thestate of Tamil Nadu .The main objective of the study has been to understand the socioeconomic back-ground of women entrepreneurs, and their problems in running theirenterprises efficiently and profitably.
All most all the women entrepreneurs irrespective of their education ,age, married andthe unmarried, caste, religion, type of organizations, ownership type, experience, amountof capital investment , fixed assets have ranked the problem of finance as first in order
followed by the problem relating to sales, competition from other sellers, purchase of raw
materials, technical problems and labour related problems.
.

PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN COIMBATORE
Dr.G. Jayammal, M.A., M.Phil., PhD.,
Reader in Economics,
Nirmala College for Women,
Coimbatore-641018
INTRODUCTION

For women, entrepreneurship is a journey from poverty to prosperity, total
dependence to equality, agricultural labour to entrepreneurs in industry and in service
sectors and finally, as opportunity entrepreneurs. It has almost reached a stage where it ismore suitable a profession than getting employed in public /private organizations whichhave their own limitations. Thus the women’s journey mirrors the transformation of thenation from low to high-income countries
The economic status of the women is now accepted as an indicator of a stage ofdevelopment and therefore it becomes imperative for the government to frame policies
enhancing the rights, roles and opportunities of women, for their betterment in particularand society in general.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:
The present study has been conducted to study the problems of women
entrepreneurs with special reference to some selected Small Scale units in Coimbatore
District of the state of Tamil Nadu .The main objective of the study has been tounderstand the socio-economic back-ground of women entrepreneurs, and their problems
in running their enterprises efficiently and profitably.
DATA COLLECTION:
Primary data was collected by the researcher through questionnaire to examinesome of the problems faced by the women entrepreneurs in the selected group in
Coimbatore district. A questionnaire comprising of eighty questions were constructed forthe purpose and administered to all the respondents. The data was collected during theperiod 2004-2005. The total respondents were from three types of industries such asservice (361), manufacturing (591), and the allied industrial units (66).
In the personal interview conducted with the respondents, the researcher has
become aware of a variety of problems faced by the women entrepreneurs. The

respondents of the study were asked to indicate if they had faced any problem in the ten
identified areas, sector wise, the number of entrepreneurs, faced problem in each of theten identified areas were ranked
METHODOLOGY:•

The Average Rank Analysis is mainly employed to identify the priority of thedifferent categories of the respondents on each aspect of the problems studied.
In this section Average Rank Analysis is employed to identify the important
problems faced by the different categories of the units under various industries
such as service, manufacturing and allied industrial units. Based on the
consolidated opinion of the respondents the average rank is calculated and thefinal rank is fixed based on the criterion “Lesser the average rank more is thePriority”.

WOMEN ENTREPRENUERS IN COIMBATORE DISTRICT
Coimbatore District is the second most industrialized district in the state, also
known as the “Manchester of South India” for its development in the textile Industry.
Industrialization in this district started at an early time; traced back to the early 1920’s.
Coimbatore District is, one among the industrially developed and commercially vibrantdistricts of TamilNadu. It has got a high concentration of Small Scale, Medium andLarge-scale industries. It is an important inland district lying in the North Western part ofTamilNadu and is the fore- runners in TamilNadu as far as SSI are concerned.
In Coimbatore District, women while establishing firm foothold in literary and social
status seem yet to identify their role in entrepreneurship. District Industrial Center (DIC)
data shows that as of 2005 the number of enterprises managed by women entrepreneurs
was 5270, where the female population of the district being 20.96 lakhs in number, thepercentage of women entrepreneur’s are found to be very low.
Today, we find women of Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu in a variety ofindustries, traditional as well as non-traditional, such as engineering, readymade
garments, fabrics, eateries, handicrafts, doll making, Poultry, diary farming, chemicalindustry, knitting, jewelers designing and the like. The motivation behind these women
entrepreneurs has been an aspiration for a career in business.

PROBLEMS

FACED

BY

WOMEN

ENTREPRENEURSOFCOIMBATORE:

Women not only face problems as entrepreneurs but as women themselves andtherefore compared to men the problems of women entrepreneurs are numerous. The
problems range from mobilizing various resources including problem of capital,
marketing, raw material, sales, labour, technical, competition, new technology, problemof land/ Shed/ water/ power/ taxes, lack of family support as well as lack of government
support and the like.

Hence their problems arise both from within and outside and also differ fromenterprise to enterprise. Some of these problems are many and similar to all, where as forsome others it is more specific and related to the line of activity of the enterprise. Somehave the problem of the external environment; what ever be the problem there is noprescribed formula to deal with them. The problems have to be dealt with them by theentrepreneurs themselves otherwise it would affect the working of the enterprise it self.
Efficient and timely handling of the problems leads to their success.

SOME OF THE PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPERNEURS:•

Socio personal problems: Wrong attitude of the society against women due tolack of proper education and information, economic backwardness and low risk
bearing capacity.

•

Managerial problems: Which is due to lack of enough knowledge of generalmanagement and experience, lack of skilled labour, absenteeism and low labour
turnover, lack of clear cut objectives, transportation problem as women.

•

Production problem: Such as inadequate availability of land, plots, andpremises, irregular supply of enough inputs, inadequate technical support ofproduction identification, and lack of up gradation of technology research anddevelopment and quality control, poor inventory management.

•Marketing Problem: Difficulty in marketing their products due to lack of enoughknowledge of how to market their products and also relaying on local markets;
heavy competition from big enterprises, exploitation by middlemen, difficulties in
the collection of dues, inadequate sales promotion avenues and lack of export
market support.

TABLE NO. 1

Difficulty in Marketing
Service

Manufacturing

AlliedOverall
Percentage

No. ofwomen.

Percentage

No. ofwomen.

Percentage

marketing

No. ofwomen.

No. ofwomen.

Difficulty inPercentage

Type of Industry

Yes

165

52.22

285

48.22

36

54.55

486

49.95

No

151

47.78

306

51.78

30

45.45

487

50.05

316

100

591

100

66

100

973

100

Total

Source: Compiled from Primary Questionnaire Enquiry

The Table no.1 shows that 52.22 % of the service industries 48.22% of the
manufacturing units, 54.55% of the respondents of the allied units face the difficulty ofmarketing their produce. While 47.78% of service industry; 51.78% of the manufacturingindustries; 50.05% of the allied industries are not having any problem of marketing.
Hence it can be concluded that the entrepreneurs who do not have any problem inmarketing are mostly due to the nature of marketing skills since 78.31% of the industry
sell their products only in the local market.

Marketing management: Most of the women entrepreneurs have begun toappreciate the importance of marketing management, which can be seen from table no 2,
that they have not adopted the modern marketing techniques due to their limitations likesmall size of their enterprise, limited area of the market of their products and the like.
This can be seen from the table No 2.

TABLE No.2
Difficulties faced in marketing

Percentage

No. ofwomen

Percentage

Overall

111

67.28

96

33.68

21

58.33

228

46.91

Price competition

35

21.21

124

43.51

10

27.77

169

34.78

Very long time to recover
money

5

3.03

31

10.88

1

2.78

37

7.61

Advertisement war by large
units

5

3.03

10

3.51

2

5.56

17

3.49

Customers for known brands bylarger industrial units

9

5.45

24

8.42

2

5.56

35

7.21

Total

165

100

285

100

36

100

486

100

Percentage

No. ofwomen

AlliedThough competition in themarketDifficulties in marketing

No. ofwomen

Manufacturing
Percentage

No. ofwomen

Service

Source: Compiled from Primary Questionnaire Enquiry

The Table no. 2 shows that the respondents of service industry that is 67.28 % of them
faced very tough competition in the sales of the product, followed by 21.21% of pricecompetition in the same category. 43.51% of the respondents of manufacturing industry
places price competition as the highest difficulty in the market. The pricing policy undergoes changes as the interpreters develop entrepreneurs in assessing the market forces andplaced sales competition in the 2 nd place i.e. 33.68%; 10.88% of them face the problem
of very long time to recover cash in return for the sale of the produce. In the case of allied
units 58.33% of them faced tough competition in sales and 27.27% of them faced pricecompetition.
The respondents of food manufacturing industry report that during festival andmarriage season they do have very high demand for sweets and snacks while the demandis less during off-season. The tailoring units of the service industry report the same
situation.
Financial problems: Financial problem is a major problem faced by all respondents.
They face this problem at the time of starting as well as during operation of their businessenterprises, problem of getting loan and subsidy, insistence of collateral security andmargin money requirement, time taken to process loan, tight repayment schedule, poor
financial management and maintenance of accounts.
Problems in Availing Financial Assistance
Financing the enterprise is another problem faced by the women entrepreneurs. Most of
the entrepreneurs rely on family finance or at the maximum on partners and friends. Evenamong the few who sought financing from external sources it was found that it is a major
problem. Table No.3 shows the problem of availing financial assistance.

Table No. 3.
Problems in availing Financial Assistance
Service

Manufacturing

AlliedOverall

Percentage

No. of

52.28

32

48.48

503

51.70

Yes

154

48.73

282

47.72

34

51.52

470

48.30

Total

316

100

591

100

66

100

973

100

women.

No. of309

women.

Percentage

51.27

women.

No. of162

women.

No

Problems

No. of

Percentage

industry

Percentage

Type of

Source: Compiled from Primary Questionnaire Enquiry

The table no. 3 observes that the entrepreneurs under the study face financial problems.
48.30 %of the respondents face huge problems in getting financial assistance fromorganized financial institutions. Nearly 525 respondents undergo little training before
they start their industry. The concerned training institutions help them to get financial
assistance and also guide them in following the procedures and rules and regulations of
the financial institutions. Hence 503 respondents have no in problem getting financial
assistance while 470 respondents face problems in getting financial assistance.
It was observed that the respondents in general are aware of the institutional
financial services in Coimbatore region and most of the enterprises also avail the same.
Majority of the respondents inform that the time taken for sanctioning the loan is very
long. Apart from this there are lot more problems in getting financial assistance from thefinancial institutions. This can be seen from the table no. 4.

Table no. 4.
Problems in getting financial assistance
AlliedPercentage

17

50

237

50.43

Unnecessary document

21

13.64

38

13.47

4

11.76

63

13.40

Not sufficient amount of assistance

7

4.55

13

4.61

1

2.94

21

4.46

Officers are not helpful

3

1.95

4

1.42

0

0.00

7

1.49

High interest rate

31

20.12

69

24.46

3

8.82

103

21.92

Difficult to go re-finance

4

2.60

8

2.84

4

11.76

16

3.40

4

2.59

9

3.20

5

14.72

18

3.84

Others

3

1.95

2

0.71

0

0.00

5

1.06

Total

154

100

282

100

34

100

470

100

women.

49.29

No. of139

Waste of time energy and money in

Percentage

52.60

women.

No. of81

women.

Very long procedure

women.

Problems

Percentage

OverallNo. of

Manufacturing

Percentage

ServiceNo. of

Type of industry

getting the assistanceSource: Compiled from Primary Questionnaire Enquiry

The Table no. 4 shows the various problems of 470 respondents of this study. The
respondents of the service industry reported that 52.59% of them were not happy with thelong procedures of the banks, which resulted in wastage of their time. 20.31% of the
respondents felt that the changed rate of interest was very high and hence beyond theirfinancial ability to repay them. Requirement of large number of documents has
dissatisfied 13.64% of women entrepreneur from the service industry. Respondents of the
manufacturing industry highlighted the same problem also, that is 49.29% for very longprocedure, 24.46 % for high rate of interest. In the allied industrial units 50% of them forvery long procedure, 11.76% for unnecessary documents, 11.76% for getting refinancefacilities, 14.72% disappointed over waste of time, money and energy in getting financial
assistance. The other category here includes the commission taken by the middlemen,partiality of the officials and the like.
To conclude, by analyzing the multiple problems of the respondents in getting
financial assistance, the long procedure of the financial institution only ranked high. The

analysis reveals that the small entrepreneur in the manufacturing sector 60.74%; and5.63% service sector 69.7% the allied sector used their own funds for their investment.
Thus nearly one half of the women entrepreneurs depend on their own funds and theother finally depend on finance from banks and other financial institutions

Problem of government assistance: Both central and State governments are
implementing various assistance, schemes, for the promotion of women entrepreneurship.
But in practice the respondents face many difficulties in obtaining government assistancedue redtapism at various levels, exploitative advisors, problems due to dishonest officials,
complicated and time consuming long procedures in getting the assistance etc.

Problem of Labour: In the course of this study, it has been observed that the women
entrepreneurs in the selected group face various labour problems in their units.
Table No. 5 show the number of units that face labour problems.
Table No. 5.

Labour problems
Type ofService

Manufacturing

AlliedOverall

Percentage

No. of women.

Percentage

No. of women.

Percentage

No. of women.

Percentage

Yes / No

No. of women.

industry

Yes

133

42.09

289

48.9

41

62.12

463

47.58

No

183

57.91

302

51.10

25

37.88

510

52.42

Total

316

100

591

100

66

100

973

100

Source: Compiled from Primary Questionnaire Enquiry

Table no. 5 reveals that 52.42% of the respondents state that they do not have any labour
problems. But 47.58% of the respondents encounter labour problems in many ways.
Moreover small size units have to maintain informal relations with their workers. This
would enable the grievances and complaints of the workers to be redressed on mutual

basis. The informal employee-employer relations go a long way in solving many labour
problems.
Type of Labour Problems Faced: The human resource of an organization is the mostimportant resources for a firm. The amount of work done, talent, skills and drive,
competent and dedicated performance on the part of the labour force goes a long way forthe successful accomplishment of the objectives of the industrial units. The various typesof labour problems definitely hinder their success. This can be seen from the table no. 6.

Table no. 6
Type of labour problems faced

Percentage

43.95

10

24.39

205

44.28

Bonus

8

6.02

8

2.76

0

0.00

16

3.46

Working hours

33

24.82

57

19.72

14

34.15

104

22.46

Leave

15

11.28

77

26.64

10

24.39

102

22.03

Right / benefit

1

0.75

1

0.35

0

0.00

2

0.43

Behavior

1

0.75

1

0.35

0

0.00

2

0.43

Turnover

6

4.51

17

5.88

7

17.07

30

6.48

Incentives

0

0.00

0

0.00

0

0.00

0

0.00

Others

1

0.75

1

0.35

0

0.00

2

0.43

Total

133

100

289

100

41

100

463

100

women.

No. of127

women.

51.12

women.

68

Problems

women.

SalaryNo. of

Percentage

OverallNo. ofAlliedPercentage

Manufacturing

No. ofService
Percentage

Type of industry

Source: Compiled from Primary Questionnaire Enquiry

During the course of the study it has been observed that the respondents facevarious types of labour problems in their units. The Table no. 6 shows the major type oflabour problems faced by the respondents. An informal discussion with the respondents
revealed the following facts. Nearly 52.42% of them do not face any problems. The
overall analysis provides the data that 44.28 %of the respondents face salary problem.
Apart from this, 22.46 % and 22.03 % of the respondents face problem of working hours

and problem of leave, 6.48 % respondents have problem of turnover. Very often laborers’
takes leave and never returns to work at all.
It can be concluded that the problem of payment of salary is very acute in service
industry and in the manufacturing units. In the allied sector labour turn over and bonus
poses a great problem. In the units under study, generally wages are paid on monthly
basis. None of the units under the study have adopted any incentive wage system in asystematic and scientific manner.

Problem of Raw-Materials: For an uninterrupted production, there is an urgent need forregular and continual supply of raw-materials, sufficient backup of stock of raw- material
in times of anticipated changes in price, time consuming procedure of procurement ofraw- material, variations in the prices of raw material at different places. Uncertainty inall these and also lack of marketing experience, competition from established and large
units in the purchase of raw material, non- availability of raw material are all constraints
to the entrepreneurs especially at the initial stages. The difficulty in the processing of raw
materials is very much felt by the women entrepreneurs. Since the allied industry depends
on agriculture during off seasons the supply of raw material is not sufficient and is very
difficult to get them at reasonable prices.

Specific Problem as Women in the Business: “A woman is an adult, innovative anddynamic person willing to organize, own and run an enterprise especially commercial
one, often at personal financial risk. Due to orthodox and traditional socio-culturalenvironment women entrepreneurs face various problems in the process of establishing,developing and running their enterprises”

In caste ridden and traditional bound society, women entrepreneurial development isbeset with a number of difficulties. As an individual woman face tremendous problem
and the society is the one which hinders her development shown in the table no. 7.

TABLE NO.7
Specific problem as women in the business

24

36.36

414

42.55

Yes

190

60.13

327

55.33

42

63.64

559

57.45

l

316

100

591

100

66

100

973

100

No. of

Percentage

44.67

women.

264

women.

39.87

No. of126

Problems

women.

No

Specific

women.

No. ofOverall

Percentage

AlliedPercentage

Manufacturing

No. ofService

Percentage

Type of Industry

Source: Compiled from Primary Questionnaire Enquiry

57.45% of the respondents felt that it is very difficult to be an entrepreneur and they
positively responded to the question, that it is very difficult to start and mange thebusiness venture as a women independently. In the service industry 60.13% of the
respondents; in the manufacturing units 55.33%; and in the allied units 63.64 % of the
respondents faced few specific problem as women. The respondents reported that many
government schemes and subsidies only remain on paper without being passed to thewomen entrepreneurs.
The performance of formal financial institutions particularly in their lending to the poor
women entrepreneurs in Coimbatore has been unsatisfactory.

CONCLUSION
From the study for all the three types of industries and overall industrial setup it
can be summed up that:•All most all the women entrepreneurs irrespective of their education ,age, married
and the unmarried, caste, religion, type of organizations, ownership type,
experience, amount of capital investment , fixed assets find it very difficult toarrange and get financial assistance as and when they want, hence have ranked the
problem of finance as first in order followed by the problem relating to sales,

competition from other sellers, purchase of raw materials, technical problems andlabour related problems.
•

The most formidable problem that women normally faced is the problem ofentrepreneurship among them is resistance, apathy, shyness, inhibitions,conservatism, poor response-all governed by cultural traditional, value system andsocial sanction.

SUGGESTIONS•In Coimbatore District for effective sustainable development and technology
transfer for women entrepreneurs proper training based on scientific inputs,
suitable product ideas, product identification, market survey, project formulationand necessary approvals from the government at the right time with less legal
formalities, soft recovery rules are of utmost importance.

•

At the district level, a separate women’s organization can be formed so as to help
women entrepreneurs in fulfilling their requirements of financial assistance,
marketing aid, obtaining subsides, concessions, technical know-how, raw material
assistance, conduct of market surveys to asses the feasibility counseling, follow
up guidance etc..

•

Finance should be made available to women entrepreneurs at a reduced rate ofinterest. Collateral security should be done away with in the case of women
applicant of small-scale industry. Margin money for women entrepreneurs should
not be more than ten percent. The procedures and formalities of bank should be
simplified and the required documents should be minimized. Moreover all the
documents shall be in the regional language.
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