Its about women entrepreneurship and also covers their decision making roles in board rooms

1. Women Entrepreneurship
& Boardroom Diversity

2. India’s growth story has left
behind a key demographic:
women. Despite improvements
in social parameters, India’s
growth does not translate to
the economic inclusion and
development of women.
India’s growth story
& Gender Equality
Advancing women’s
equality could boost
India’s GDP by $0.7
trillion in 2025 or 16%
as compared to the
‘business as usual’.
McKinsey Global Institute, “The Power
of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality
in India,” 2015,

3. Entrepreneurship remains
critical to harness the
economic potential of
women and thus, achieve
the sustainable development
goals (SDGs) by 2030
Women
Entrepreneurship
• Today India has 13.5–15.7
million women-owned
enterprises, representing
20% of all enterprises.
• While large in absolute
numbers, these are
overwhelmingly comprised
of single person enterprises,

4. Entrepreneurship
among women has
the power to create
positive outcomes for
individuals, societies
and economies
Women
Entrepreneurship
• Economic Outcome - MSMEs are key to long-
term employment creation and women mostly
working this segment.
• Social Outcome - investing in women builds
economic and social prosperity by a multiplier
effect. Better distributive effects, active in social
areas
• Improved personal outcomes - greater
financial independence, leads to an increased
retention of women in the workforce
• More gender-responsive innovation: Women
entrepreneurs are pioneering new markets and
fulfilling untapped customer needs through
innovative businesses.

5. The Current State
Women
Entrepreneurship
• Women-owned enterprises have grown from 14% to 20% -
98% of these are micro-enterprises, 90% in informal sector
• Still large gap compared with peers- India ranked 52nd out
of the 57 surveyed countries in Index of WE,
• Women-owned enterprises are largely single-person
enterprises, so face lower returns and employment
• True entrepreneurship among women is over-represented
in numbers -10% to 30% often are not run by women.
• Active in social areas and sectors such as health, clean
energy and zero waste, education, women’s hygiene,
fashion, food and nutrition, garments & textiles, etc

6. While women entrepreneurs
at different levels face
different issues, five
common themes emerge
Women
Entrepreneurship • Strong growth ambitions - want to scale their
enterprises
• Limited access to business and technical skills
• Less integrated with formal / informal networks:
so limited access to business opportunities,
mentors and informal knowledge.
• Access to funds remains constrained
• Personal and social challenges

7. Key opportunity areas that
can unlock the potential of
women entrepreneurship at
different levels
Women
Entrepreneurship
1.Level the playing field for high-impact
entrepreneurs
2. Enable small business owners to scale by
expanding access to structured knowledge,
finance and market opportunities
3. Encourage entry by demonstrating better
outcomes for self and family, simplifying access
to opportunities and skill
4. Create more vibrant, financially viable,
attractive and hence aspirational rural
entrepreneurship models

8. Call to Action
Women
Entrepreneurship • Focused skill development: at initial level
• Integrated policy framework
• Financing awareness and Equal access to finance
• Institutional market access support
• Increased and creative access to capability development and
mentorship
• Tighter integration into formal and informal networks
• Creation and celebration of role models
• Stronger women farmer producer orgns and self-help groups
to mobilise rural entrepreneurship
• support from their families and social circles

9. By 2017, 82.8% of previously
non-compliant firms
appointed a single woman to
their board, while 13.6% of
these firms had appointed
two or more women to the
board.
Boardroom Diversity
• Significantly enlarged the pool of women serving as
directors.
• Contrary to expectations, most boards fulfilled the quota
by appointing female directors who were independent,
rather than insiders
• But they were less likely to be appointed to key board
committees such as compensation or audit.
• While complying with gender quotas they still “buffer”
their existing activities through selective committees,
• By sidelining independent female board members from
the more influential board committees, predominantly
male boards are still limiting the extent of actual
governance reform in their internal board processes.

10. While compliance to quota
regulation is fine, we must
acknowledge the importance of
accounting for not only
independence, but also the
competence of women and
their voices on the board
through committees.
Boardroom Diversity
• A study* found that companies with more women
board members reported a 42% greater return on
sales and a 53% higher return on equity
• Strong Performance on Non-financial Indicators
more sustainable practices- better risk mgmt,
better stakeholder understanding of customers,
society & CSR, - ESG metrics
• gender diverse boards display less absenteeism
and more effective functioning.
• Improved Corporate Reputation
• More Women On The Board = Safer Workplaces
For Women – Greater women participation in
workforce
*Catalyst in 2017

11. THANK YOU