Urgent need to increase sales, marketing channels for women entrepreneurs in Bengaluru to scale up their businesses: Study

News Network
August 22, 2020

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Bengaluru, Aug 22: There is an urgent need "to increase sales and marketing channels" for women entrepreneurs in Bengaluru to run and scale up their businesses, and make them finance ready so that they can access capital, according to a study.

The study report released by Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and consulting firm Sattva also noted that there has been a sharp decline in their revenues due to COVID-19.

"The study finds that for women entrepreneurs in Bengaluru, to run and scale their businesses, there is an urgent need "to increase sales & marketing channels and make them finance ready" so that they can access capital. While women entrepreneurs in the region face formidable challenges, the combination of new market platforms, peer-support networks, capital will make women entrepreneurs a force to reckon with before the end of the decade," read the release by GAME.

The majority of the research participants were middle-aged, educated women entrepreneurs from lower-to-middle income households.

The purpose of the study across priority sectors like food, apparel, health and wellness and education in Bengaluru is to build a nuanced understanding of women-owned small businesses and to ensure that efforts made to enable growth are mapped to the differing needs of the segment.

At a time when COVID-19 has disrupted businesses across the world, women entrepreneurs in Bengaluru bear the brunt too as their revenues dipped by 60-80 per cent due to the pandemic, the study pointed out.

For all entrepreneurs, COVID has reduced their revenues by 60-80 per cent, the report highlighted. The study identified them into Solopreneurs (64 per cent) and Nanopreneurs (36 per cent). Solopreneurs are entrepreneurs who run their businesses on their own i.e. they do not hire paid employees or workers while Nanopreneurs employed at least 1 worker apart from themselves.

Of the interviewed entrepreneur pool, Strivers (Nanopreneurs earning less than Rs 60,000 a month and having grown their teams for business expansion) had an 80 per cent decline in revenue due to reduced customer footfall, the report underlined.

As per the study, 53 per cent of the participants had their monthly household income below Rs 50,000, 84 per cent women entrepreneurs use personal savings for capital needs and also tend to rely on friends and family, 97 per cent of the women entrepreneurs hired less than 5 paid employees/workers and 67 per cent entrepreneurs had been running their businesses for under 5 years.

Formalization is higher among nanopreneurs with 78 per cent of them having registered businesses versus 27 per cent solopreneurs.

The study pointed out that with limited financial literacy, 80 per cent of Seekers either maintain rough books of accounts or do not maintain any books while 46 per cent of Aspirants were able to make pivots in their business post-COVID by working on strengthening their online presence during this time.

"Nanopreneurs sub-segments - Strivers who employ between 1-5 people with business monthly revenue of less than Rs 60000 and Achievers with business monthly revenue between than Rs 60,000 and Rs 2,00,000. Nanopreneurs sub-segments - Strivers who employ between 1-5 people with business monthly revenue of less than Rs 60000 and Achievers with business monthly revenue between than Rs 60,000 and Rs 2,00,000," read the release.

A few findings of the Study have helped understand that there is a need to immediately help women entrepreneurs transition from building businesses using personal savings/borrowings to small sized affordable finance to expand the reach of their business, read the release.

Talking about the study, M Srinivas Rao, CEO, GAME said, "GAME's mission is to catalyse 10 million mass entrepreneurs in India by 2030, half of whom will be women. Our study in Bengaluru focused on the four sectors of Food, Apparel, Healthcare and Education that typically have more women entrepreneurs compared to other sectors."

"Noticeably, even across these four sectors, only 15% are women-owned and of these only, 4% employ greater than 5 people. This shows that we have a long way to go. The Study reinforces the sentiment that while women in Bengaluru have many opportunities to build entrepreneurial ventures, the ecosystem lacks in supplementing them with the adequate resources, infrastructure and freedom," he said.

Dr Rajeswari Ranganathan, President, Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka (AWAKE) said that Financial Literacy and Awareness, Technology and Digital Literacy and Nurturing of an entrepreneurial mindset are key areas of support for all categories of women entrepreneurs.

Aarti Mohan, Co-founder and Partner at Sattva Consulting said that COVID's impact has made lack of access to affordable credit, more so for women entrepreneurs, a central issue.

"Gendered factors in access impede these women entrepreneurs from applying to formal credit. The need of the hour is to bring them under a formal and affordable credit system to help them scale their business," she said.

"With COVID severely affecting businesses, women entrepreneurs need to relook at their business models. As an immediate recourse keeping in line with the new normal, they should be looking at online channels like social media and eCommerce platforms to sustain business. In the mid-to longer term, women need to access more government schemes and stimulus including financial assistance to recover from their negative cash flow," she added.

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News Network
May 13,2025

Udupi, May 12: A tragic incident unfolded at a wedding in Nandikur, Udupi district, when a four-year-old boy, Vasudeva, drowned in a temple pond near the venue.

According to a police complaint filed by Satyanarayana, 38, a resident of Kurkalu village in Kaup, the child had accompanied his mother, Soumya, and siblings—Vaishnavi (10) and Vishnu Priya (1)—to attend a wedding at the Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple Hall in Nandikur.

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Soumya was feeding her infant daughter inside the hall while Vasudeva remained nearby. After tending to the baby, she stepped away briefly to wash her hands, during which time she noticed that Vasudeva was missing.

A frantic search ensued involving family members and others at the venue. About 15 minutes later, at around 2:15 p.m., Vasudeva was found unresponsive in the temple pond adjacent to the hall. Bystanders pulled him from the water and attempted resuscitation.

He was immediately rushed to a private hospital in Udupi, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Despite this, the family sought further medical assistance at a hospital in Manipal, but physicians there also confirmed that he had passed away.

The Padubidri police have registered a case and are investigating the incident.

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News Network
May 13,2025

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Srinagar: Following an unprecedented episode of intense cross-border shelling by the Pakistan Army that directly targeted the towns of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian government is moving to construct community bunkers in these towns and other vulnerable areas along the Line of Control (LoC).

While the government has, over the past decade, supported the construction of both individual and community bunkers along the LoC and the International Border (IB), towns like Rajouri and Poonch had been excluded from such initiatives. These towns were considered safe, as previous shelling incidents were largely restricted to forward villages closer to the border.

Officials now say the latest shelling marks a dangerous shift in the pattern of cross-border hostilities.

“The nature and intensity of the attack marked a significant departure from past ceasefire violations. For the first time in years, heavily populated towns like Rajouri and Poonch were directly hit,” a senior official said.

Caught unprepared, residents in both towns had little access to protective infrastructure as long-range mortar shells struck deep inside civilian areas.

“People weren’t expecting this—these towns had never been targeted before. Without bunkers, many had nowhere to go for safety,” the official added.

In response, the government now plans to build community bunkers at strategic locations throughout Rajouri and Poonch. These reinforced shelters will offer immediate protection to civilians during any future shelling incidents.

“In areas where individual bunkers aren't viable, community shelters become essential. These will provide residents with quick access to safety in emergencies,” the official noted.

The attacks have left local communities rattled.

“This is the first time shells landed so close to our homes in Poonch town,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident. “We never thought this would happen here.”

The sudden escalation has disrupted the fragile calm along the LoC, raising concerns over a potential return to more violent confrontations in the region.

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Agencies
May 9,2025

New Delhi: The Indian Premier League (IPL) was on Friday suspended indefinitely due to the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

A cloud of uncertainty had loomed over the future of the ongoing edition since the cancellation of Thursday's match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala midway following air raid alerts in neighbouring cities of Jammu and Pathankot.

"It does not look nice that cricket goes on while the country is at war," a BCCI official told PTI, confirming the suspension of the league, which was to wind up on May 25 in Kolkata.

India launched missile attacks on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir a fortnight after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.

On Thursday, a blackout was enforced in several districts including Pathankot, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Mohali in Punjab and Union Territory Chandigarh amid air raid alarms and reports of explosion-like sounds in Jammu.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Super League was moved to the UAE.

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