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
September 16,2024

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The Israeli regime is recruiting African asylum seekers to kill Palestinians in the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in exchange for permanent residency status, according to a report.

The report, ran by the Israeli paper Haaretz on Sunday, revealed that the project is conducted in an organized manner, with the guidance of military establishment legal advisers.  

In Gaza, the death toll passes 41,200 with close to 100,000 more injured in almost a year since the Israeli regime forces launched their genocidal war. However, the continued violence is prompting some Jewish Israelis to leave the occupied Palestinian land.

To make up for the loss, Tel Aviv is offering the incentive of permanent residency status to asylum seekers who agree to join the Israeli regime forces ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Haaretz has learned that some people have expressed objections to the practice, arguing that it exploits people who have fled their countries due to war. However, according to those sources, these voices have been silenced.

“This is a very problematic matter,” one source was quoted as saying by Haaretz.

According to the report, there are currently some 30,000 African asylum seekers living in the occupied territories, most of them young men. Around 3,500 are Sudanese citizens with temporary status granted by the court because the regime has not processed and ruled on their applications.

Unnamed sources who spoke with Haaretz also revealed that while there were some inquiries about granting status to asylum seekers who assisted in the genocidal war in Gaza, none were actually given status.

Haaretz also learned that the Interior Ministry explored the possibility of drafting the children of asylum seekers, who were educated in schools in the occupied territories, into the Israeli military.

In the past, the regime allowed the children of foreign workers to serve in the military in exchange for granting status to their immediate family members.

African refugees, who came to the occupied territories seeking asylum, were previously kept in internment camps and deported without their own consent.

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News Network
September 28,2024

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Bengaluru, Sep 28: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing charges against arrested Karnataka BJP MLA N. Munirathna Naidu, including allegations of rape, honey-trapping, and other offences, on Saturday conducted raids at his residence and 15 other locations across the city.

Sources confirmed that the raids were taking place at his Vyalikaval residence and other properties owned by the BJP MLA. The operation is being conducted by the SIT under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) led by ACP Kavitha.

The team is examining documents, electronic devices, and other materials related to the rape and honey-trapping case. The SIT is being supported by experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), with Superintendent of Police (SP) Sowmya Latha also participating in the search and inspection at Munirathna’s Vyalikaval residence.

According to sources, the raids were triggered by information provided by the victim, who alleged that Munirathna recorded footage of sexual assaults and used it to blackmail politicians and public servants, including IAS and IPS officers.

The victim reportedly revealed that she was used to entrap the woman who had lodged a rape case against a senior IFS officer. She was allegedly instructed to frame the rape victim in a drug peddling case.

The complainant told police that she was tasked with capturing compromising videos of the rape victim who had filed the case against the IFS officer. She claimed that, after several failed attempts to obtain the videos, the victim was drugged with sleeping pills, and obscene footage was recorded without her consent. Later, the IFS officer was bailed out from the charges.

Furthermore, the complainant has accused MLA Munirathna of raping her at his office within the state legislature, in his official vehicle, and at his godown. She has alleged that he recorded videos of these assaults.

Police sources also revealed that the victim in the MLA's case provided details of a plot involving sending HIV-infected women to Munirathna's targets in an attempt to ruin them politically and personally. She also disclosed the names of several politicians whom she had entrapped through honey-trapping.

The woman further claimed that Munirathna had threatened to have her son kidnapped and killed if she refused to comply with his demands. According to her, the MLA had a well-organised team dedicated to carrying out these honey-trapping operations, and she provided details about his close associates and relatives involved in the scheme.

Munirathna, who was in judicial custody following his arrest in the rape and honey-trap case, has now been taken into the custody of the SIT.

The MLA was transferred from Bengaluru Central Jail to the CID office on the night of September 24. The BJP legislator, however, has denied all the allegations, claiming they are false.

Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Suresh had alleged that Munirathna was trying to infect his adversaries with HIV and that the government should investigate the matter.

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News Network
September 20,2024

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court today sought a report from the Karnataka High Court over controversial remarks made by Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda during a recent court hearing.

Justice Srishananda, while addressing a landlord-tenant dispute, referred to a Muslim-majority area in Bengaluru as "Pakistan" and made a misogynistic comment involving a woman lawyer. 

A five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices S Khanna, B R Gavai, S Kant, and H Roy, expressed the need for establishing clear guidelines for constitutional court judges regarding their remarks in court. 

The Supreme Court bench said that when social media plays an active role in monitoring and amplifying courtroom proceedings, there is an urgency to ensure judicial commentary aligns with the decorum expected from courts of law.

"Our attention has been drawn to some comments made by Karnataka High Court judge Justice V Srishananda during the conduct of judicial proceedings. We have asked the AG and SG to assist us. We ask the registrar general of the High Court to submit a report to this court after seeking administrative directions from the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. This exercise may be carried out in 2 weeks," the top court directed.

Videos of Justice Srishanananda have gone viral on social media.

In one video, he refers to a Muslim-dominated locality in Bengaluru as "Pakistan" and on another video he was seen making objectionable comments against a woman lawyer. In the second incident, Justice Srishanananda can be heard telling the woman lawyer that she seemed to know a lot about the "opposition party", so much so that she might be able to reveal the colour of their undergarments.

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