Urban Women and Entrepreneurial Venture: A Few Cases of Women Entrepreneurs of Kolhapur Maharashtra

Women are the nuclei of a nation. They are the real builders and moulders of a nation's destiny. The position and status of women in any society is an index of its civilization and progress. A women entrepreneur is a person who  is an enterprising individual with an eye for opportunities and an uncanny vision, commercial acumen with tremendous perseverance and above all a person who is willing to take risk with the unknown because of the adventurous spirit she possess. Women are competent in running business but due to hurdles in the form of social, cultural and economic reasons, they lack behind.In spite of women empowerment movement in the country, there is the lack of entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In spite of having the potential and talent, women is deprived of opportunities, information and education.Today business is built around human capital and women are one of the valuable factor. Many of the enterprise run by the women are able to create a successful business out of something as mundane as cooking. Despite being untrained, they are able to make their business a success because of their discipline and commitment; but the potentiality and talent among the women is not identified adequately.

At this critical juncture when the job market is down; these aspiring women entrepreneurs can be encouraged to set up enterprises so that, apart from being independent they can also employ people in their workforce. In the long run, these women can be the backbone of the regional as well as national economy.

The cases mentioned below are of women entrepreneurs from Kolhapur, Maharashtra. The researcher aims to identify and highlight the potentialities of women entrepreneurs and make them a source of motivation for other women to take up entrepreneurship