More Power to Women The unleashing of women entrepreneurship lies in better access to more human, financial & social capital

Every initiative is towards changing the world for the better. Any country can vastly improve the outcomes of its development efforts and bring greater prosperity and stability if a country agrees to invest more in female entrepreneurs and c-suite professionals. An analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that if women and men around the world participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could ultimately rise by approximately 3% to 6%, boosting the global economy by $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion. Women entrepreneurs have a profound power to change the world. Closing the gender gap in entrepreneurship and fuelling the growth of women-owned enterprises will unleash new ideas, services, and products into markets around the world.

In the last few years, a lot of initiatives have been underway to provide more access to capital for women. Today there are at least five Indian funds that are only focussed on women-owned ventures and there are more than two dozen such international funds. Our interaction with Jesse Draper in this issue illustrates the impact of women-based funds. At the same time, there are many new activities to help women upskill themselves for career growth, particularly for women in professional roles. But one area that possibly could be more helpful to grow women is networking. Women by design and the nature of our family system have both less time and less willingness to network. For bigger success, women need better access to social capital to build sustainable enterprise and also to find their place in C-level roles.

Our Shepreneurs annual issue highlights the women who are breaking the glass ceiling and talks about what women can achieve after they come out of the cocoon. More and more young women are keen to take the plunge leaving aside societal norms and pressure to make their own mark. From manufacturing to aviation and from finance to healthcare, these women truly outshine the world once considered to be a man's domain.

Our next issue is a special on the new Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands and Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) businesses that are beginning to grow and a new industry is beginning to blossom. We are recognizing them as "The Makers Co" in our May 2021 issue. If you are an up and coming consumer brand, you can write to us at editor@ entrepreneurindia.com

(This article was first published in the March 2021 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)