How Women From Marginalised Class Doing In Entrepreneurial Space?

India has a diverse and complex social system where many communities like Dalit women have strived harder than the rest of the population to make their presence felt in society. The fundamental cause of their suffering has been their financial dependency due to societal norms and legacy practices. 

Entrepreneurship is one way that turned around the lives of many Dalit women across the country. However, the figures of women belonging to the marginalised section in the entrepreneurial space are still not so impressive. 

In an interaction with BW Businessworld, Ravi Kumar Narra, National President, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) talked about various dimensions related to the entrepreneurship of Dalit women in India. 

What do you think, How much has Dalit women entrepreneurship evolved in India, and how much it needs to be evolved?

Yes, If you compare the average participation of general men and women with the women of the marginalised section in the entrepreneurship landscape, it is still low. Still, now many Dalit women are coming forward and initiating to start their businesses throughout the country.

We have many success stories of Dalit women who commenced their own companies, like Varuna, president of the Telangana chapter and leading a plastic recycling business. They are showing the number of factories since its inception. Vanajakshi is another woman who is conducting a business in scavenging machines. There are several other success stories of women heading their ventures successfully across the country. 

What factors do you think have resisted Dalit women from coming up and starting their businesses?

Before coming to less participation of Dalit women in this space, we need to understand the Indian social system in which the role of women was confined to household chores and women were not allowed to participate in any economic activity. 

However, after independence, the situation started to get better through reforms, and Indian families began to acknowledge women’s capability, resulting in an increased number of women entrepreneurs from the upper caste. 

When general women themselves are having problems coming upfront, Dalit women face most of it. They do not have finance, mentorship or family support which stops them from becoming economically independent. 

How is DICCI working in order to fulfill the entrepreneurial aspirations of Dalit women?

DICCI is trying to address all the challenges these women face. We are also talking to all the policymakers to create an extra support system for Dalit woman entrepreneurship. We are pursuing the government to earmark a separate procurement policy and provide the finances without collateral security to the Dalit women. 

And also, we are discussing extending the subsidy facility like investment subsidies, interest subsidies, power tariff concessions and priority in land allotment. We have a target to make 5,000 women entrepreneurs annually. 

How do you see the expansion of Dalit women's entrepreneurship in the next ten years?

As a woman, by birth, have very excellent entrepreneurial capabilities; they run a domestic space—they inherit such qualities in them. We are maintaining the complete data of the women entrepreneurs who are emerging now. 

In the next ten years, India will have a minimum of 50,000 Dalit entrepreneurs across the country. We want to demonstrate exclusively to the country by organising a Dalit Women Expo. So, the products manufactured by Dalit women entrepreneurs will be displayed and showcased. India will host the next summit of G20, which is a year-long program in India. 

We will work on subjects like environmental sustainability, political peace, business, etc. In the next summit of G20, we aspire that our country would focus on the financial inclusion of women in a marginalised society.