Impact of Demonetization on Social Entrepreneurial Effectiveness

“To awaken the people, it is women, who must be awakened; once she is on the move, the family moves, the village moves and the nation moves”- Pandita Jawaharlal Nehru Empowerment of women is a potential tool to serve as... [ view full abstract ]

“To awaken the people, it is women, who must be awakened; once she is on the move, the family moves, the village moves and the nation moves”- Pandita Jawaharlal Nehru

Empowerment of women is a potential tool to serve as an essential input to any nation’s development.Social entrepreneurship is considered as a significant strategy of empowering women. When women as a group are engaged in productive pursuits there is increased awareness, empowerment and a decent standard of living. Social entrepreneurship gives exposure, enthusiasm, avenues for expression and exploration of potential and the confidence to face the world. Being a successful entrepreneur positively affects family income supplement, respect from family members and society, and moving towards achieving gender equality. Women empowerment and social entrepreneurship are powerful measures for poverty alleviation, economic development, nation’s development and achievement of Millennium Development Goals.

Women entrepreneurs encompass approximately one third of all entrepreneurs worldwide. Across the world, the most dynamic individuals, in early stage of entrepreneurial activity are in the age group of 25-35 years. The role of Government and financial institutions is significant in social  entrepreneurship development. Financial institutions for women entrepreneurs may be classified as Formal institutions, Semi-formal institutions and Informal institutions.

Several studies on Social entrepreneurship emphasize on its  positive impact. Malathilatha.P (2011) in her study titled “The Empowerment of Women Through Self Help Groups: A study of Kamalapur Village in Karimnagar District of Andhra Pradesh” found that the Self Help Groups’ activities, on the whole not only created awareness among the women folk but also empowered them economically. The improvement of education among women improved their standard of living. Bhavani. S., and Vijayalakshmi in their study on “Role of Financial Institutions for the Empowerment of Women” discussed the meaning of women empowerment as having decision-making power, access to information and resources for taking proper decision, having range of options for choice, ability to exercise assertiveness in collective decision making, involving in the growth process and changes that is never ending and self-initiated, increasing one’s positive self-image and overcoming stigma. Their findings reveal that more than two third (65%) of the respondents belong to the age group of 30 -40 years. A high majority (90%) of them were poor and assetless. Linkage of the financial institutions and Self Help Groups has reduced the incidence of poverty through increase in income and also enabled the poor to build assets and thereby reduce their vulnerabilities. It has empowered women by enhancing their contribution to household income, increasing the value of their assets and generally by giving them better control over decisions that affect their lives contributed to the reduced dependency on informal money lenders and other non-institutional sources. A vast majority (85%) of the respondents were satisfied with the financial services. The problems of women were difficulty in working with the financial institutions and gender discrimination in access to financial services.

This study aimed to study women social entrepreneurs, their competencies, effectiveness and the impact of demonetisation on Social entrepreneurship.  This study was a quantitative study with descriptive research design. This study was undertaken with the following objectives

• To assess the socio - economic status of the respondents.
• To study the micro entrepreneurial activities of the respondents.
• To find out the level of empowerment of respondents.
• To find the level of entrepreneurial effectiveness of the respondents.
• To find the impact of demonetization on social entrepreneurship. 
• To make suitable recommendations based on the findings of the study.

The study is based on the empowerment model. According to the conceptual framework socio economic status of the women entrepreneur leads to empowerment and empowerment leads to entrepreneurial effectiveness. 

The researcher developed and used the 'interview schedule' as the major tool for data collection. The interview schedule had seven parts: the first part had questions relating to demographic factors, the second part had questions relating entrepreneurship, the third part had questions relating to socio economic status, the fourth part had questions on empowerment, fifth part had questions relating to entrepreneurial profile of the respondents, the sixth part had questions relating to entrepreneurial effectiveness and the seventh part had questions relating to impact of demonetization. 

The results revealed that social entrepreneurship makes a particularly strong contribution to empowerment, the economic well-being of the family and communities. Finance Institutions play a significant role in encouraging entrepreneurship among women. Demonetization has a significant positive and negative  impact on social entrepreneurship.

Reference

• Ayub Khan Dawood. (2000). Entrepreneurship and Management of Small Business University of Madras, Chennai.
• Balu,V.(2000). Entrepreneurship and Management of Small Business, Sri Venkateswara Publications, Chennai.
• Sobha Rani, B., & Koteshwar Rao, D. (2008), Perspectives of Women Entrepreneurship Social Welfare, Central Social Welfare Board, July- August, 2008, P-43.  
• Khan. (1997). Management of Small Scale Industries, Sultan Chand Publication, New      Delhi. 
• Tamilnadu Small and Tiny Industries Corporation, (2012). Entrepreneurs Encyclopedia, TANSTIA, Chennai.