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The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the Indian start-up ecosystem with gruelling challenges. Bringing everything nearly to a grinding halt, almost every start-up entrepreneur has faced multiple barriers and hurdles including the lack of financial aid. However, for women that’s just one of the obstacles in their entrepreneurial journey, considering the household disruptions interrupting the work from home models. Additionally, facing socio-cultural barriers to limited access to investment opportunities, the ongoing pandemic has impacted some women entrepreneurs disproportionately.
According to the industry estimates, there is an average drop of 73 percent in business revenues, and a portion of entrepreneurs even took business loans during the lockdown, while some of them exhausted personal savings or cash reserves for business survival. This has led to enterprises face temporary or even permanent shutdown. Furthermore, the estimates also state that one in three women-led enterprises have seen a temporary and even permanent shutdown during the lockdown period.
On the contrary, the ongoing pandemic has also served as a catalyst for change in Indian women entrepreneurs. The COVID-19 pandemic has made businesses realize the success of remote working models, and the accelerated use of virtual infrastructure and digital channels that enabled women entrepreneurs to be at the forefront of entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem.
The rise in women entrepreneurship
There is no denying that the COVID-19 era has made women face extreme challenges, ranging from increased unemployment and at-home responsibilities. Having said that, many women have come forward to turn the COVID-19 crisis into entrepreneurial opportunities while sitting at home. Usually, women are burdened with social responsibilities and juggle between work and family life. Those who dropped the idea of starting something of their own or pursue the dreams of becoming an entrepreneur or self-employed have utilized the pandemic era as a period to build.
The radical shift from physical meetings to digital interactions have helped the women in leveling up the game of entrepreneurship. The transformative changes adopted by the business and start-up ecosystem have uncovered the potential of women who desired to be a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. For instance, many women have taken complete advantage of this era by recording their own videos, becoming social media influencers, lifestyle or business coach, or even starting an E-commerce store of the products they are passionate about.
Restructuring the existing business model
The impact of the ongoing pandemic on start-ups and enterprises has been extreme. Since it has been disproportionate for females than male entrepreneurs, women are seeking to restructure their business model for survival as well as sustainability. As per the industry facts, around 54 percent of the women have changed their business model in response to the crisis, and an additional 24 percent plan to make a change by December 2020. The dynamic market trends, new work models, adoption of new technologies, transformative customer behaviour, etc. have led the women to make a quick shift in their business models to maintain relevance and consistency.
For instance, many women entrepreneurs even considered the crisis as an opportunity to take a break from work and revive their skills to bounce back in the industry. Witnessing the widespread adoption of digital technologies, they learned social media and used it as a tool to re-establish, increase their outreach, and retain the existing customer base.
Furthermore, entrepreneurs have been resilient in these tough times. Learning from the crisis to adapting to uncertainty has become a new normal for many women. Thus, this has enabled the women entrepreneurs to aggressively respond to the market dynamics to protect their business from the exacerbating effect of COVID-19.
