For once, tourism, which is invariably the showpiece sector of the Union Territory, is playing a second fiddle in a road show hosted by the administration.
The Puducherry pavilion at the Indian International Trade Fair happening at the Pragati Maidan in Delhi is flaunting women’s power in the region, though as a small allowance, some space has been reserved for tourism hardsell.
In fact, ‘women entrepreneurs’ is the focal theme of the 34th edition of the fair organised by the India Trade Promotion Organisation which this year features more participants and bigger exhibition space than previous shows.
The fair has been designed as a B2B affair till November 18 after which it switches to B2C mode until it concludes on November 27.
“The uniqueness of the region has always appealed to others. We are seeing the pull of Brand Puducherry at this fair too. We expect more footfalls at the pavilion, once the show is thrown open to the public,” said a top honcho of the administration who is now camping in Delhi.
A Puducherry Day at the event also came in handy to project the cultural richness and diversity of the region.
Puducherry, which prides itself on a thriving tradition of women entrepreneurship, is pitching its success stories, especially in the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector. The enterprises women have engaged in range across poultry products, handicrafts, candle-making, jam and pickle preparations and doll-making.
“It’s heartening to see a lot of women in the region take the important first step towards becoming independent by setting up their own enterprise and also turning job-providers,” says Anu Sriram, Chairperson of the Puduchery chapter of the Indian Women Network (IWN), a networking platform for women under the Confederation of Indian Industry.
The IWN has been seeing not just larger numbers of women entrepreneurs but also diversity in the businesses, which range from modest ventures such as laundry unit or school canteens to supply of packaging materials to home appliance makers and organic cotton exports. Some are independently run by women, others managed jointly with spouse.
“Importantly, entrepreneurship has given the women the flexibility to maintain work-life balance,” said Ms. Sriram.
There are downsides too with most women still reluctant to interact with bureaucracy or bank officials or push clearances through. They also lack mentoring in scaling up their business units.
The IWN has been trying to organise experience-sharing sessions with successful entrepreneurs from other places to motivate the women in the region to overcome challenges or scale up their enterprises, Ms. Sriram said.
The most outstanding women entrepreneurs are also periodically chosen for the IWN woman exemplar awards.
