Assignment Code: BWEE-007/AST/TMA/2021-22

Course Code: BWEE-007

Assignment Name: Work and Entrepreneurship

Year: 2021-2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Note: All the questions are compulsory. Assignments with plagiarized material will not be accepted for evaluation.

(Total marks 100, 20 marks for each answer)

Part I: Attempt any Five of the following questions. Minimum word limit for each answer is 750 words.

Q2. Describe sector-specific interventions to improve the productivity of women.

Ans) The following are some sector-specific strategies to boost women's productivity:

Increasing Credit Access

To establish or maintain a company, women borrow money from relatives and friends. Few women are able to borrow from commercial banks since they often need collateral before obtaining a loan. Furthermore, commercial banks do not consider dealing with little amounts of money to be profitable. Through various sorts of self-help savings and credit schemes, women have been able to mobilise large savings from within. The programmes foster group togetherness while also assisting in the timely repayment of loans.

Many small-scale lending schemes, on the other hand, are unable to supply cash in a timely and sustainable manner. What's needed is an institutional structure that sits in between a commercial lending organisation and a non-governmental organisation or a cooperative. SHG funds can be used to handle small amounts of money in some groups. Large sums of money, on the other hand, can be made available through bank connections. Bringing bankers into management training programmes and connecting them to suitable government programmes may help to some extent.

Providing Access to a Broader Range of Markets

Access to education, skills, and finance are all useless until the market for women's products is expanded. The opportunity for expansion is limited because low-income households make up the major market and compete with one another.

Creating Long-Term Systems

It's difficult to create sustainable systems to supply services to tiny producers. Sustainability is a problem that affects not only small producers, but also social entrepreneurs' ability to provide services to them over time (e.g., their ability to recover the cost of delivering needed financial and technical assistance). This is an area where there is still a lot of room for improvement. While best practises are evolving, practitioners and social entrepreneurs alike are still grappling with the complications of creating long-term profits while assisting the needy. Earnings are a fundamental prerequisite for an enterprise's success, and long-term profits are critical to any long-term development project's success. Sustainable profits focus on people who will effect social change - individual clients and their communities – as well as the resources and market opportunities accessible to them, rather than on economic metrics.

Training for Management Personnel

Awareness and understanding of concepts such as feasibility, value chain analysis, and business planning, as well as financial management tailored to the needs of grassroots producers and the strengthening of enterprise counselling services, could help producers manage their businesses more effectively and efficiently. These may enable them to extend their operations, potentially resulting in more earnings and increased productivity.

Understanding of Government Programs

Knowledge of government programmes for obtaining loans and subsidies for capital equipment purchases.

Skill Development

This would involve:

1. Training and/or exposure visits will be used to resolve quality issues.

2. Value-adding and finishing equipment based on technology. Alternative fuel/energy sources and electricity

3. The volume of sales is increasing from modest to enormous. The idea of forming a federation of women who work in the same trade to supply and sell to distant markets (export market linkages, links to marketing agencies, wholesalers etc. and study of apex marketing agencies). This is also beneficial for advocating and gaining more clout with stakeholders in that industry.

Q.3. Explain why and how small enterprise can be established by using SWOT analysis.

Ans) The SWOT analysis is a useful tool for identifying a business opportunity. Let us now look at why and how small businesses are formed. This investigation of why and how small businesses are formed is akin to a SWOT analysis in certain ways. An examination of the variables that lead individual entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses reveals a startling degree of global similarity.

A tiny entrepreneur, the owner-manager of a small business, comes into this world for the following reasons:

1. Love for running one's own business – or being one's own boss; Small business allows for initiative, planning, and a level of flexibility that only owner-managed small units can supply.

2. Self-employment as a source of income as an alternative to wage labour; freedom in several operations, which is again possible in a small unit.

Another set of data demonstrates the following criteria in how typical small-scale units were set up after spotting an opportunity. This information is based on Indian small business. The following are the choices made by entrepreneurs:

1. Products based on their own or a partner's experience in the industry.

2. Products depending on their own expansion/diversification goals or any other ongoing business they are aware of.

3. Products that are anticipated to be in high demand, either locally or regionally.

4. Imported goods that are prohibited or regulated by the government. This component has been found to be useful in identifying opportunities in small, medium, and large-scale industrial operations.

5. Product lines guided primarily by changes in certain aspects of industrial policy, particularly changes in control and regulation of raw material or product prices.

6. Entrepreneurs have selected products based on certain specific advantages available to that product– such as reservation of product lines for small scale units, certain regions, or locations; product lines guided primarily by changes in certain aspects of industrial policy– more specifically changes in control and regulation of raw material or product prices.

What appears to be happening is the creation of an opportunity "envelope" with positive and negative, or favourable and unfavourable, variables associated with various opportunities. This "envelope" explains how an entrepreneur ultimately recognises an opportunity.

In no way, shape, or form, is the mix of components in such an envelope unique or uncommon. The major aim for gathering these elements is to identify the more relevant general characteristics–factors that appear to be universal–and another group of factors that are unique to any opportunity or opportunities.

As previously stated, the individual speaks about the 'immediate' and ‘remote' environments. Her own strengths and limitations deriving from the immediate environment in comparison to the remote environment, to be more precise. In India, this remote environment frequently comprises government policy and the product's market. It's a basic interaction between the near and remote environments that appears to explain how possibilities or project ideas are produced. It's a back-and-forth process, and the individual may be able to keep track of her own thoughts.

Q.4. Identify the duties and responsibilities of members in Self-Help Group.

Ans) Groups, like other organisations, have some sort of system in place for the individual members' duties and responsibilities. Members of a Self-Help Group have the following obligations and responsibilities:

Member's Rights and Responsibilities

Each member of the organisation has certain responsibilities and rights. For example, each member has the right to be informed about and vote on the group's activities, to attend and participate in meetings, to read and participate in the group's records, to elect its leaders, and so on.

Members' Roles are Assigned

Roles and responsibilities must be specified and distributed in any economic activity involving more than one individual. Returning to our previous scenario, Ameera and Hiran own a brick kiln. Hiran and Ameera may decide that, because Ameera is a good negotiator, she will sell as well as buy raw resources. In the meanwhile, Hiran will focus on producing the bricks and ensuring that they are of high quality. They might also hire a few workers to assist them with the business. They might, for example, engage someone to maintain track of the finances. Another individual may be in charge of ensuring that the bricks in the kiln are correctly fired. Several people could be aiding in the brick-making process.

Leaders are Elected and Rotated

Some organisations appoint leaders. Roles are assigned based on the SHG's activity. The function of the leaders in a savings and credit group, for example, is normally to operate the bank account. Some organisations select a secretary, who must be literate, to maintain track of records and accounts. Members must elect members who are dependable, self-assured, and knowledgeable.

System Requirements for Self-Help Groups to Function Effectively

Self-help organisations are similar to businesses. Every company needs specific processes and mechanisms to ensure that it can achieve its goals.

Meetings

1. Information Sharing and Decision-Making Mechanisms: There is a need to guarantee that information is shared in any business or operation that is handled by more than one individual.

2. Information Sharing in SHGs

3. Meeting time and site must be acceptable and convenient to all members in order for them to attend. One of the reasons that members that reside near together create a SHG is because of this. If members live far apart, group meetings will be sparsely attended, and the group will most likely disband.

4. Location and Timing Awareness: Some organisations like to set a permanent and consistent time and place for meetings so that there is no uncertainty. For example, groups may decide to meet once a month on full moon day on the porch of the local school. Women love full moon evenings because they can easily find their way home after the meeting, even if it is dark.

5. Participation: Even if a group meets on a regular basis, all members must actively participate in the group's discussions and decision-making. We will see that in any group, a few individuals will be more active and have a tendency to dominate. These individuals may be elected as leaders. However, as facilitators, we must ensure that all members are comfortable expressing their thoughts when necessary.

Rotation of Leadership

Several promoting agencies encourage SHGs to rotate leaders in order to maintain a balance between member confidence and knowledge.

Organization of a Cooperative Society

A Cooperative Society is a group of people who work together to achieve a common goal.

The basic idea for forming or organising a cooperative group should come from the people who are in need, not from any outside entity, including the government. The cooperative movement is mostly a voluntary movement. A cooperative society is defined as a voluntary group of people with limited resources who come together to achieve common goals, are democratically controlled, and follow universally accepted cooperative ideals.

Q.6. Identify and describe motivational factors which encourages women to become Entrepreneurs.

Ans) The word ‘motivation' comes from the Latin word 'movere,' which literally means 'to move.' Scientists have proposed a number of motivating hypotheses to explain why people behave the way they do. It is a widely held belief that all behaviour is ultimately planned and oriented toward a goal. The term "motivation" has been defined by psychologists as "a system that explains why an activity begins and what kinds of reactions lead to its termination."

Motivational Factors Influencing Women to become Entrepreneurs

According to recent studies, a number of women are interested in becoming entrepreneurs for a variety of reasons. These reasons can be divided into three categories:

1. “Pull factors”;

2. “Push factors”; and

3. “Equality” factors

The term "pull factors" refers to the variables that motivate women to work on their own. Under the impact of these elements, women entrepreneurs see starting a business as a challenge and an adventure, as well as an opportunity to try something new. Women are compelled to start businesses in order to overcome financial challenges, and responsibility is placed upon them as a result of poor family circumstances. Equality elements emphasise women's empowerment in order to improve their living standards. While some rural women fall into the second type, the research of motivation is more interested in the third. The trainers' job is to boost the motivation of these women.

Women's entrepreneurship promotion necessitates a multifaceted strategy. Women must be encouraged to leave their traditional positions in order to participate in more difficult and gratifying economic pursuits. It is necessary to create an environment that encourages their engagement. There are numerous choices available:

1. Getting the word out to women that they have the skills they need to run a business;

2. Creating a sense that they are in charge of the entrepreneurial process and are the ultimate owners of the company;

3. Creating additional options for rural entrepreneurs to grow their businesses;

4. Providing training to women in order to help them operate their businesses more successfully;

5. Creating connections to aid in the marketing of products and services;

6. Using the audio-visual medium to effectively urge women to start businesses (showing videocassettes of successful women entrepreneurs can go a long way toward persuading additional women to start new businesses);

7. arranging for banks and other financial institutions to prioritise and lend financing to women entrepreneurs on favourable conditions;

8. Getting financing agencies to be more sensitive to women who want to start their own business;

9. Other promotional and regulatory authorities are being encouraged to be more sensitive, empathetic, and supportive to women entrepreneurs; and

10. In the event of applications submitted from women entrepreneurs, the complex licencing and government approval process associated with the foundation of a new business enterprise will be simplified.

    
    

Q.7. Identity and write about one case study on women who established their own Enterprise at the local level.

Ans) Laxmi is from the Ramnagar village. Her spouse, Naresh, works as a farmer. Their community is known for producing some of the greatest lemons in the region. On their half-acre field, Laxmi and Naresh have several lemon trees. These are carried to the weekly sale at the local haat (village market). However, they receive extremely low prices for their lemons.

Laxmi used to ponder how she could get a better deal on her lemons. She and Naresh considered selling lemons in the local town, but the transportation costs outweighed the potential profit. Laxmi was making lemon pickle for the house one day. She had a brilliant idea: why not start selling lemon pickles at the market? This could earn her more money than simply selling lemons. She asked Naresh to find out more about how they could establish a pickle-making business. Naresh dismissed the concept as a frivolous one and did nothing about it at the moment.

Laxmi, on the other hand, had firmly planted the concept of preparing pickles in her mind. She went ahead and invested some of the money she had saved and began selling lemon pickles on her own. She was cautious at first, making tiny lots since she was unsure of the market. She quickly discovered that she couldn't sell the pickle at the village haat and had to look for another market. When she travelled to a neighbouring town and spoke with the merchants, she discovered that the price they were ready to pay was well below her expectations, and that she would not be able to make a profit at that price.

Laxmi wasn't sure what she should do at first. She went to her village's Aanganwadi and approached Sharmeela, the aanganwadi supervisor in whom she had faith. Sharmeela considered the situation and told Laxmi that the only thing she could do was make a pickle that was inexpensive yet profitable.

Laxmi thought this was a realistic price point, so she experimented with other sorts of pickles, oil and no oil, cheaper varieties of lemons, and so on, until she was able to create a product that could be sold at the proper price and that she thought would also fit the customer's taste. She returned to town with this product, spoke with a number of retailers, and eventually found one who would stock her pickles.

Laxmi received several orders at first but discovered that retailers were unwilling to purchase from her again. When she inquired about the issue, she discovered that the quality of the pickles was poor, and the pickles were quickly spoiling. Sharmeela suggested that Laxmi seek information from the Food Preservation Centre, which was located in a different town. Laxmi made touch with the Center. She was shown the various scientific ways for creating pickles as well as preservation strategies. This allowed her to produce higher-quality pickles at a reduced cost.