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Investment in Indian Women Entrepreneurs
Leverages Economic Growth
August 06, 2005
New Delhi -- Around 200 Indian women
entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs gathered
in Bangalore today to discuss how women business
owners can play a significant role by growing
their companies into prominent corporations and,
in the process, leverage India’s economic growth.
The BizWomen Conference, 2005, organized by the
Small Enterprise Assistance Fund (SEAF) and
co-sponsored by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) and other
prominent international and local organizations
presented to the delegates of women entrepreneurs
practical strategies and lessons learned from
across the globe in growing businesses.
The presence of Union Minister of Finance P.
Chidambaram as the Chief Guest indicated the
importance that GOI places on job creation through
business development, and the growing role of
women in the economy. USAID India Director George
Deikun spoke at the inaugural session and Ms.
Rajshree Pathy, CMD- Rajshree Group of Companies
expressed her views in her role of the keynote
speaker.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Deikun said: “A
vibrant private sector particularly small and
medium enterprises play a significant role in a
country’s economic growth. This is as true for the
US as it is for India. The emergence of women
entrepreneurs and their significant contribution
to the economy is now visible in India and the
benefit can be seen. Families are healthier and
better fed and their income and savings go up.”
According to data from the Small Business
Administration, USA during 2000 America’s 25.5
million small businesses generated more than half of
the nation’s gross domestic product; created 80
percent of all the net new jobs in the United States
and employed 52 percent of the private sector work
force. According to the Asian Development Bank,
registered small-scale industries (SSI) in India
accounted for 40 percent of industrial output, 35
percent of export revenues and 45 percent of formal
industrial employment.These numbers may
underestimate the real significance of small
business for employment since a majority of the
small enterprises in India operate in the informal
sector. Women’s primary entrepreneurial activities
are focused on the small and medium enterprise
sector, although there are a number of firms that
have been successfully grown to medium and large
corporations by dynamic Indian women entrepreneurs.
The venture capital fund, the “India Growth
Fund”, is primed to invest in dynamic, locally owned
enterprises that would otherwise be ignored in the
equity marketplace. USAID seed capital of $5
million, combined with the SEAF’s focus on
post-investment business development, sparked the
interest of financiers and generated additional
funding from Indian banks, institutional and
individual investors as well as international
investors.
In October, 2004 Kotak Mahindra Bank and SEAF
successfully launched the fund with commitments of
over $50 million; another $70-80 million is expected
by the end of the 2005. India Growth Fund has
reviewed more than 200 projects and has selectively
invested in two small and medium size firms, with
additional plans to invest its total corpus in other
Indian corporates over the next three to four years.
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