Women Entrepreneurs: 76% Want to Start Businesses - Survey

Mumbai, Mar 5 (PTI) A large number of working women are keen to become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses, finds a survey.

A survey among more than 10,000 working women aged 24-55 across the metros, tier 1 and 2 cities has found that as many as 76 per cent of them expressed a desire to start their own businesses, according to Indialends, which is an online marketplace to provide data on personal loans and credit cards.

As much as 86 per cent of the working women surveyed expressed a desire to learn and upskill themselves in areas like budgeting, investing, saving and other financial instruments.

The survey also reveals stories of women entrepreneurs taking charge and 68 per cent of the women entrepreneurs surveyed said they manage their company accounts independently, and only 32 per cent of them are dependent on their professionals/ husbands/family members for this.

When it comes to their investing behaviour, it has been found that 68.7 per cent of businesswomen/entrepreneurs invest their money, and when it comes to salaried women, only 51 per cent invest their money. And for those women investing their money, as much as 79 per cent of them invest themselves, while the remaining 21 per cent get help from their partners or parents.

A quarter of women who are not making investment decisions themselves do so due to a lack of confidence, and 29 per cent do not do so because they have a limited understanding of financial instruments.

As many as 33.6 per cent of the survey respondents are in the 25-34 age group, followed by 35-44-year-olds at 25.6 per cent, 22.3 per cent in the 18-24 bracket and 18.5 per cent above 45.

In terms of professions, 44.5 per cent are salaried, followed by self-employed at 31.3 per cent, homemakers at 12.3 per cent of the sample, and professional individuals such as CAs and lawyers at 4.4 per cent.

The majority of respondents are married at 67.2 per cent, followed by singles at 20.5 per cent.