Success stories of women were highlighted at a seminar on Empowerment of Women through Entrepreneurship organised by the Tamil Nadu National Law University, in association with the National Commission for Women, New Delhi, here on Saturday.
Madhu Saran, Director, STC Skills Pvt. Ltd., Chennai; Bharghavi Raja, Chairperson, MPR Food Products, Tiruchi; Vandhana Ramanathan, Co-Founder and CEO, WSquare; Sanjnaa Ramanan, Executive Director, Livia Polymer Bottles Pvt. Ltd.; Archana Stalin, Founder and Green Champion, MyHarvest; and Akshita Maruthavanan and Ms. Arushi Mathur, students at Miranda House, who shared their success stories also narrated the obstacles they faced to prepare the prospective entrepreneurs mentally for pursuing their ambitions with grit.
The 250 women students from Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Cauvery College for Women, Chidambaram Pillai College for Women, Department of Women’s Studies, Bharathidasan University and Bharathidasan University Constituent Arts and Science College, Navalurkuttapattu, also observed a panel discussion on entrepreneurship by Meenakshi Gupta, Member Secretary, NCW; Mini Shaji Thomas, Director, NIT Tiruchi; Deepak Kumar Srivastava, Professor, IIM Tiruchi; and N. Manimekalai, Director and Head, Department of Women Studies, Bharathidasan University.
The seminar was meant to throw light on where exactly women need help, when they require mentors, and the skills necessary for their transformation into successful entrepreneurs and creating employment, Vice-Chancellor of TNNLU Kamala Sankaran said.
The focus of the country was now on economic empowerment of women and their financial independence, Ms. Meenakshi Gupta said. Though women perform well in academics, there has been a decline in female labour participation over the last few years. “This is precisely why there is a need to develop awareness about entrepreneurship among them,” she said.
Students have to be exposed to realistic learning at the school level itself. Projects, internships and more realistic evaluation systems would attract students towards entrepreneurship, she said.
The panellists were in favour of structural changes in educational institutions to encourage women entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship was not a profession, but an expertise that was possible in all spheres, Mr. Deepak K. Srivastava said.
