For women, the lack of strong female role models and women in leadership positions makes it much harder for them to get the guidance, coaching and mentorship they need. This report features a number of mentorship programmes for women entrepreneurs in India.

1. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
MENTORSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR INDIAN
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
www.naaree.com
Page 1

2. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
India has emerged as the best place for women entrepreneurs to start
business with high level of optimism on various factors that are important to
judge business growth, according to computer company, Dell.
Nearly 25 lakh of India’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are
presently managed by women. According to Ela Bhatt of SEWA, women at top
levels focus on jobs and not just turnover. Their emphasis is on productive
workforce and happier lives rather than on profits.
Women, in general, aspire and work for a ‘gentler and caring economy’. Also
assets are much safer in the hands of women, as compared to those of men.
A survey by Women’s Web found that 57 percent of all women entrepreneurs
started their businesses alone, while 35 percent had a co-founder and just
eight percent were part of teams that involved more than two co-founders.
The majority of women-owned businesses are micro-enterprises or
small/mid-sized businesses, with 73 percent reporting a revenue of under
INR 10 lakh in the 2011-12 financial year.
Women entrepreneurs in the four southern states (Kerala, TN, Karnataka, AP)
and Maharashtra account for over 50% of all women-led small-scale industrial
units in India. Women in India also prefer Bangalore over the National Capital
Region to do business from.
www.naaree.com
Page 2

3. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
WHAT HOLDS WOMEN BACK IN GROWING THEIR
BUSINESS?
The top hurdles women entrepreneurs face are :




Arrangement of finances
Shortage of raw materials
Lack of technical know-how and education
Family problems
Other issues include :
 Need for harmony
Women are not encouraged to question the status quo, to think out of the box.
Entrepreneurship is disruptive, but women are encouraged to be submissive
and to maintain harmony.
 Depending on their savings
Women across geographies struggle to get funding for their business, and few
women entrepreneurs in India seek big-ticket funding from financial
institutions. They depend instead on their savings, limiting the potential to
scale their businesses. Six out of 10 women entrepreneurs started their
business with a capital of under INR 1 lakh, a majority of which used personal
funds and savings were used to start the business.
 Unwilling to relinquish control
They may also be reluctant to get seed funding from outside, where the
control moves out from your own hands to being answerable to someone else.
 Lack of financial literacy
www.naaree.com
Page 3

4. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
Lack of financial literacy is a big problem for women entrepreneurs. They
need to acquire the ability to read cash flow and P&L (profit and loss)
statements, and to learn to speak the language of bankers and investors.
 Lack of marketing skills
Learning how to create and promote your web presence online, how to
advertise online, generate leads, conduct sales conversations, convert visitors
– all these tasks need some amount of technical knowledge and expertise.
Women entrepreneurs should attend workshops on digital marketing, so that
even if they hire someone to do it eventually, the fundamentals are clear to
them.
www.naaree.com
Page 4

5. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
5 QUALITIES THAT WOMEN NEED TO SUCCEED
The unique challenges of women in leadership are not always easy to
overcome. Here are the 5 essential factors that women need to succeed as
leaders.
1.
SELF-ESTEEM
This is simple enough to understand. In a world where women are
encouraged to follow feminine pursuits and treated as less capable than men,
lack of self-esteem is almost an epidemic in women.
“Women systematically underestimate their own abilities,” says Facebook
COO, Sheryl Sandberg in her TED Talk. “Men attribute their success to
themselves while women attribute it to other factors.”
Even high-achieving women lack self-esteem in one or more areas of their
lives. This belief about oneself causes us to self-sabotage at crucial points in
our lives, resulting in lost opportunities, abandoned plans and
underachievement.
2.
SELF-WORTH
Self-worth is the belief that you deserve the best that life has to offer. Many
cultures teach women that it is virtuous to be self-sacrificing and give up our
own needs to support the needs of our spouses and children.
Our lack of self-worth shows up in many ways – in how we abuse our bodies,
allow our needs to be undermined and ultimately, in giving up the choice of
having the career or business of our dreams.
3.
ASSERTIVENESS
www.naaree.com
Page 5

6. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
A woman’s lack of assertiveness comes from being brought up to be “nice” and
“non-argumentative.” We teach our daughters that it is inappropriate to speak
their minds or ask for what they need.
“Women do not negotiate for themselves in the workforce,” says Facebook
COO, Sheryl Sandberg. This makes it hard for women to ask for a raise or a
promotion when she starts a career, and makes her reluctant to ask for bigger
fees or charge higher prices in her business.
4.
MENTORS
No one can grow in business or a career without having mentors or role
models. The “old boys club” ensures that men get the mentorship they need in
and out of the boardroom.
For women, however, the lack of strong female role models and women in
leadership positions makes it much harder for them to get the guidance,
coaching and mentorship they need within the organization.
5.
SUPPORT
Although women are earning high salaries, many of them are still expected to
manage the roles of wife, mother, cook and maid when they get home. Few
spouses or families are supportive of their need to work long hours or travel
on business.
“Women do three times the amount of childcare than men. As a society, we
put more pressure on our boys to succeed than our girls,” says Facebook COO,
Sheryl Sandberg.
The lack of support at home results in many women giving up their
aspirations to grow in their careers, forcing them to underachieve.
www.naaree.com
Page 6

7. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
MENTORING PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS.
BANK OF AMERICA’S GLOBAL AMBASSADORS PROGRAM
Bank of America’s Global Ambassadors Program a Vital Voices and Bank of
America partnership, is designed to provide mentorship opportunities for
emerging women leaders.
Fellows join an online learning platform that connects them to a global
network of peers. Fellows receive technical trainings designed around their
needs on topics including personal leadership, strategic communications and
fundraising.
Leaders may be engaged in this change through work in a variety of fields
including business, non-profit/non-governmental organization, public
office/government (elected or appointed), advocacy initiative or communitybased organization.
http://globalambassadors.vitalvoices.org/
GOLDMAN SACHS 10,000 WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS CERTIFICATE
PROGRAMME
Covers Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. Goldman Sachs and
the ISB provide world class education that helps the participants unleash their
full potential, think big, and grow their businesses.
http://10kwomen.isb.edu/
www.naaree.com
Page 7

8. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
TIE (THE INDUS ENTREPRENEURS) STREE-SHAKTI
TiE Stree Shakti (TSS), a movement that aims to connect and enable
enterprising women from different socio-economic strata through a series of
on-ground focus activities that are driven by TiE’s core philosophy of
mentoring, education,inspiration and networking.
The key initiatives undertaken to enable women entrepreneur are On-ground
focused activities for Women Entrepreneurs across various TiE Chapters viz.
‘Chat over Chai’ – a monthly chat with a Women leader/entrepreneur, ‘Can I
Dream Big’ –a series of workshops focused on scaling women enterprise,
‘Business Guidance Camps’ and ‘Group Mentoring Programs’ and ‘Business
Guidance Hotline’ to mentor women entrepreneurs.
http://www.tiestreeshakti.org/
FICCI LADIES ORGANISATION (FLO)
FLO is a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI). It has chapters in Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hydrabad,
Jaipur, Guwahati and Kolkata with its head office in Delhi.
FLO runs a Business Consultancy Cell in Delhi for potential women and men
entrepreneurs to provide consultancy services and extend help in setting up
their units and also provide appropriate guidance during the running of their
units.
FLO also takes and receives delegations abroad to promote bilateral trade,
internationalism and fellowship among women.
http://www.ficciflo.com/
www.naaree.com
Page 8

9. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
GOOGLE’S WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ON THE WEB
Women Entrepreneurs on the Web (WeOW) is an initiative aimed at helping
women-owned businesses grow their online presence. As part of the program,
women entrepreneurs will to learn to build their online presence, collaborate
effectively, connect with their customers, promote their organization, and
track & optimize their efforts. Pilot programs have been launched in India,
Russia and Singapore.
http://www.womenentrepreneursontheweb.com/
CHERIE BLAIR FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN
Mentoring Women in Business Programme matches women in developing and
emerging countries with male and female mentors around the world. The
mentoring in this programme is done online using their specially-designed
platform, which allows for great flexibility and cross-border networking and
learning.
Mentees and mentors meet online at least two hours a month over the course
of the year and work one-on-one to achieve key business goals. Participants
build their business skills and digital literacy through their trainings.
http://www.cherieblairfoundation.org/mentoring/
BIZDIVAS
Founded and headquartered in Delhi NCR, Biz Divas has a growing presence
across the country in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Gurgaon.
www.naaree.com
Page 9

10. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
Biz Divas Mentoring Leadership Program connects talented, emerging women
leaders from all over India with members of Biz Divas’ Powerful Leaders for a
six month-long mentoring program. Biz Divas provide mentoring, training,
support networks & visibility via public forums.
http://bizdivas.in/
MONEYCHAT.IN
Pune-based mentoring services for women entrepreneurs. Helps with queries
about pricing, business plans, social media, funding, marketing, technology,
competition analysis.
http://www.moneychat.in/
WECONNECT INTERNATIONAL
The WEConnect Indian initiative aims to connect women owned enterprises
to corporations under their "Supplier Diversity and Inclusion" programs.
WEConnect is working with Ernst & Young on the development of a national
certification process.
Certification assures corporate buyers they are purchasing from a female
supplier. The Initiative leverages strategic relationships with leading India
organizations: NASSCOM, CII, SEWA, eMERG and MAWE.
Their partners help to promote the concept of inclusive sourcing in India and
they work together to encourage women-owned businesses to think big and
compete for larger contracts.
http://weconnectinternational.org/india
www.naaree.com
Page 10

11. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
ONE MILLION BY ONE MILLION
Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant Sramana Mitra founded
1M/1M to create a framework for Capitalism 2.0, which she envisions as
distributed, democratic capitalism. They offer a case-study-based online
educational program, video lectures, lean, capital-efficient methodology
guidance, online strategy consulting at public and private roundtables, as well
as introductions to customers, channel partners and investors (pre-seed, seed,
angel, VC, bank, alternative financing).
The public roundtable is a free program accessible from anywhere in the
world. The rest of the services are for our paying members only. Nonrefundable $1000 annual membership fee for unlimited usage. They focus on
business strategy and execution; capital is optional, and may or may not be
appropriate for your particular business. Less than 1% of businesses that seek
funding are actually fundable.
The core curriculum includes modules on Bootstrapping, Positioning,
Validation, Market Sizing, Customer Acquisition, Team Building, and
Financing. In addition, there are elective modules that address industry
specific topics. In addition, there will be private roundtables on a regular basis
where you will get to discuss your strategy with Sramana.
http://1mby1m.com
ASCENT
This Harsh Mariwala social initiative is a platform for entrepreneurs to learn,
share and collaborate through each other's experiences and knowledge. Form
non-competitive groups of select entrepreneurs, who will "self-guide"
themselves with active engagement from ASCENT Initiators and Trainers.
www.naaree.com
Page 11

12. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
Business should have an annual turnover beyond a minimum threshold of
products/manufacturing - Rs. 2.50 crs or above. Services - Rs. 50 lacs or
above.
http://www.ascentfoundation.in
www.naaree.com
Page 12

13. Mentorship Programmes for Indian Women Entrepreneurs
For more such reports and articles on women and entrepreneurship, visit
www.naaree.com
www.naaree.com
Page 13