Women entrepreneurs lag behind due to poor access to finance, market

 Kathmandu, Nov. 18

Government and private sector representatives have said that women entrepreneurs have lagging behind because of poor access to finance, technology and markets.

They said that many of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) do not get proper information about the government announced policies, discounts and financing facilities which make them less competitive in the market.

They made these remarks at a webinar on 'Entrepreneurship development for inclusive growth: Gender and diversity perspective' organised by Management Association of Nepal (MAN)’ on Wednesday.

"Access to finance and skill development are the two fundamental elements for the success of business followed by market access and research and development. But Nepali women entrepreneurs are poor in terms of all these," said Yam Kumari Khatiwada (Baskota), Secretary at Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen (MoWCSC).

According to her, lack of disaggregated data on women entrepreneurs and employees had created hurdles in planning and programmes in their support.

"Research and development is poor while identification of the sectors of competitive and comparative benefits is not done yet," she said.

Likewise, information gap in the part of women entrepreneurs is another major challenge in their development. They lack the knowledge of various financial and tax incentives announced by the government, market access, procurement of raw materials and human resource management, said Khatiwada.

"Procedural complexities are in the part of the government. There should be a seamless service provision to the investors and entrepreneurs. The federalism has also created some confusion in registration and taxation," she maintained.

Secretary Khatiwada said that the SMEs and women entrepreneurs as well as workers were badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic – 28 per cent males and 43 per cent females lost their jobs.

She said that the government had announced tax discount for 10 years for women micro-entrepreneurs through the budget of the current fiscal year. All the facilities announced for the business rehabilitation are equally applied to the women entrepreneurs as well.

Similarly, support money would be provided to the women entrepreneurs who have skill and want to start their business or expand their enterprise. Ministry is creating a profile of women entrepreneurs in the country in order to plan the support programmes in the days to come.

Silsila Acharya, Chief Executive Officer of Himalayan Climate Initiative and Co-founder at Hamri Bahini, said that the small businesses had long been neglected in terms of both policy and support.

According to her, the government tends to support the large entrepreneurs while small and cottage businesses are largely neglected. "Female, people from traditionally non-business families, people from rural areas, without access or network, and poor people are excluded in the entrepreneurship development programmes, financing and other activities," she said.

Business ethics, social values and business activities should be key elements of the entrepreneurship because we need an integrated empowerment, she said.

Acharya suggested supporting small entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship in rural economies, returnee migrants, women and other marginalised groups and increasing the access to finance.

Kiran Kumar Shrestha, president of MAN, said that participation of women in business is gradually increasing but there is a need to give it a further push.

Neeru Rayamajhi Khatri, First vice president of Federation of Women Entrepreneurs' Association of Nepal, presented poor network and lack of mentorship to women in business as major constraints in their growth.

She recommended women-friendly business and investment policies, priority to women in government announced facilities including the relief fund, support in creating market access and special attention to SMEs in the post-COVID-19 scenario.

Kamala Shrestha, chairperson of Women Entrepreneurs Development Committee at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said interaction and dialogue between the government and private sector was not satisfactory which has negatively impacted the business environment and entrepreneurship.

Modernisation of agriculture and promotion of cottage and small industry as well as the traditional skills can play an instrumental role in entrepreneurship development and employment generation.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 November 2020.