Monday, December 19, 2011:
The internet has emerged as an equalizer, providing a catalyst for entrepreneurship amongst women in India. Site analytics on Alibaba.com recently showed that the female membership base on the site saw a healthy growth of 71% Y-O-Y. Women entrepreneurs in India registered on Alibaba.com represent a diverse set of industries from hair & beauty to gems & jewellery, machinery to food processing. This demonstrates how e-commerce has the potential to provide Indian businesswomen a flexible, accessible and cost-effective platform to overcome traditional male-dominated boundaries and explore business prospects beyond conventional channels.
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Shanaya Modi, Director Mazda Ltd, is in the business of food processing and conducts her business almost entirely on the Internet.“The most critical benefit that I have derived from the Internet and e-commerce is that it removes gender bias as the online medium gives us a layer of invisibility. With such platforms, we can break the socio-economic barriers prevalent in our society,” she says “Through e-commerce, our division has grown phenomenally, with customers from Russia, U.K., UAE, Saudi Arabia and The U.S. There’s really no need to use any other promotional channel.”
“Women entrepreneurs in India are faced with the dichotomy of managing both the home and their business. This may generally leave them with much less time for business development. With e-commerce, women entrepreneurs can save time in every step of their business cycle, including identifying business opportunities, purchasing raw-materials and even finding sale leads online,” pointed out Mr. Sandeep Deshpande, Country Manager, Alibaba.com India. “Now with the growing use of e-commerce, women entrepreneurs can access information at the click of a mouse, build and sustain business networks are made far easier. Online platforms, like Alibaba.com, offer aspiring women entrepreneurs virtual workplaces and digitally mobile lifestyles thereby providing the needed flexibility to achieve their business objectives.”
With more than 72 million members around the world, female entrepreneurs form a significant proportion of Alibaba.com’s registered user base globally. For instance, the strength of women entrepreneurs in developed economies such as the U.S. and Australia is more than 25% of the respective user base. Similarly, South East Asian nations such as Malaysia (27%) and Vietnam (20%) also have a sizeable representation of female members.
“At Alibaba.com, our mission is ‘to make it easy to do business anywhere.’ It is our responsibility to uphold that mission and we make it accessible for all small business owners to reach a global audience for global trade, regardless of gender,” concluded Sandeep.
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Integrated Congress of Women Entrepreneurs is providing complete guidance to women entrepreneurs right from the selection of the product to its manufacturing followed by its marketing. Any one who needs our FREE help may contactpresident.icwe@yahoo.com