Covid may level playing field for shepreneurs, make entrepreneurship accessible to women

MUMBAI: The Covid-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted women in terms of increased unemployment and greater share of domestic responsibilities, can potentially create a level playing field for female entrepreneurs going ahead through greater acceptance of remote working, acceleration in the use of digital channels and fast tracking of technology adoption. This was the view at a panel discussion on the impact of the pandemic on woman entrepreneurs in India.

“Technology can create a really level playing field for everyone,” said Sapna Chadha, the senior country marketing director for India and Southeast Asia at Google. “The digital transformation that India is undergoing right now provides new avenues for economic empowerment of women. And it can contribute greatly to gender equality. The Internet, digital platforms, mobile phones, digital financial services, these offer leapfrog opportunities. And it can help in particularly bridge the divide by giving women the possibility to earn additional income, increase their employment opportunities and access knowledge and information,” said Chadha.

A recent research by Bain & Co in collaboration with Google, to understand if Covid-19 can be a turning point for female entrepreneurs in India, showed that 73% of them had been negatively impacted by the crisis, with almost 20% witnessing the revenue of their businesses nearly wiped out.


However, the research - which reached out to about 350 solopreneurs and small business owners in urban India - also stated that despite near-term shrinkage, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the bounce back as 90% of them believe they will be able to survive the crisis. Of them, two-thirds believe they need to bring major changes to their business model and cost structure. “The underlying message was that, of course, the near term has been difficult for women entrepreneurs, but for the medium term, women have actually responded very fast,” said Megha Chawla, a partner at Bain & Co and lead author of the report.

“The nature of their business allows them to often respond very fast as they tend to have less capital-intensive businesses. Women also lend themselves better to digital delivery,” said Chawla. She feels that there were two big changes that had happened and could be beneficial for women in the long run. “One is the widespread adoption of remote interactions across the ecosystem, which has made entrepreneurship a lot more accessible to women, as the entire ecosystem suppliers, customers, funders are online,” said Chawla.