Few centuries ago, India was called ‘Vishwaguru’ The expression Vishwaguru is a Sanskrit phrase which translates as global teacher, the Guru of World. Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses the phrase in all his speeches globally during his visits to foreign countries such as Germany, Denmark and France, Italy, UK, Japan etc. The Prime Minister expects positive effects in terms of advancing ‘Make in India’ initiatives, free trade agreement discussions, and making India’s positioning in world stronger.

So why does Narendra Modi keep calling India Vishwa Guru? Education in the Indian subcontinent began with teaching of traditional elements such as Indian religions, Indian mathematics, Indian logic at early Hindu and Buddhist centres of learning such as ancient Takshashila (in modern-day Pakistan) and Nalanda (Bihar, India) where those days 10,000-15,000 students studied and most came from other countries.

Travellers from various regions having different climates and cultures began to visit parts of India from early times. To them, India was a land of wonder! The fame of Indian culture, wealth, religions, philosophies, art, architecture, as well as its educational practices had spread far and wide. The education system of ancient times was regarded as a source for the knowledge, traditions and practices that guided and encouraged humanity.

From the time of Rigveda, our ancient education system evolved over the period and focused on the holistic development of the individual by taking care of both the inner and the outer self. The ancient system of education was the education of the Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanishads and Dharmasutras. Some of the great scholars such as Aryabhata and Baudhayan (mathematicians) Panini (philosopher and grammarian) Katyayana (mathematician and grammarian) Patanjali (Yoga), Charaka and Sushruta (medicine and surgery) and many more scholars had made ancient India in true sense Vishwa Guru. 

To add to it, ancient South Indian temples to the finest Mughal ruins, Indian architecture is as old as civilization itself. The earliest traces of recognizable building activity in India can be traced back to the settlements of the Indus Valley. India is home to a myriad of temples, ornamental, and modernistic structures that tell the stories of their era. UNESCO lists 830 World Heritage Sites consists of 40 Indian heritage sites.

Becoming a Vishwaguru again is a sentiment of the present Government’s ambition and there is nothing wrong about it. To rub it off or to believe that India is incapable of pursuing this aspiration is an injustice to our past, present and future too. From our traditional occupation of agricultural to advancements in nuclear and space technology, from ensuring affordable healthcare to setting up world-class educational institutions, from ayurveda to biotechnology, from giant steel plants to becoming an IT power and having the third-biggest start-up ecosystem in the world, what we have achieved in our post-Independence journey is highly creditable.

Our ancient civilisational culture has provided us with a strong philosophical foundation that has several unique features. Our strong spiritual foundation cannot be unwiped. Back in the 17th century, India, a key player in the world economy, was a leading exporter of spices, sugar, textiles, handicrafts, and much more. It was also one of the first countries to adopt a money-based trade.

Education is the most powerful tool to change mindset from an older setting to new one. It has the power to change the way people think and execute. Progressive nations in the world invest in education of teachers and youth to empower a new generation of leaders. Nelson Mandela said that ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’ Education is not all about studying to get good marks. It is a medium to discover new things. It helps us understand new concepts; new skills, new meaning, and new vocabulary thus increase our awareness. An educated person has the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. It is the most primary responsibility of a society to educate its citizens.

Our county’s education system needs to be remodelled as per the necessities and ambitions of today’s world, instead of taking it back to the old ages. However, in India the education system has evolved in a completely different manner. Our education emphasizes on rote learning. We don’t train young minds to focus on critical thinking, expressing new ideas and debating and writing critically on any issue. We don’t emphasize on entrepreneurship, instead we motivate students to become clerks with basic understanding of the language and mathematics, to support their administrative system. Today our education system has tuned into only cramming degrees.

We lag behind in the research domain. Our universities and colleges lack a multi-disciplinary approach to stimulate inquiring skills among students. Our education system has failed to develop industry linkages with academia to promote research, it limits the faculty and students to work in this area.

We give too much importance to marks; instead of focusing the evaluation on a three-hour exam, the focus of evaluation should be classroom participation by a student, live projects conducted by them, communication skills and leadership skills and extra-curricular activities. Teachers play the most important role in schools and colleges. They should be given the best of class training. After all, they are shaping the future of the nation, the children.

I conclude my article by saying education is most important for mental, physical and spiritual democracy. India must regain its intellectual leadership and once again emerge as a global hub of learning and innovation. It is possible and it is the destiny of India. And, to do this, we need strong will of the Government, Universities and Industry. Alongside the change in curriculum, businesses have an increasingly key role to play in providing extracurricular support for education. The initial role of universities is to provide education to individuals and basic research. It’s like a Linear Model of Innovations; universities are supposed to provide the research on which industry builds commercial goods. The other interactions take place through the involvement of industry managers and university faculty in both sectors. A university flourishes because of research, and industry grows on research in universities.

We need universities with a core mission of producing the educated population that’s needed to build, run and work for flourishing an economy. Today in India how many universities have been able to connect their activities to society and the nation’s economy? Hope the present Government takes keen interest in regaining the ‘Vishwaguru’ title back for the nation.

Business Incubation is a unique and highly flexible combination of business development processes, infrastructure and people, designed to nurture and grow new and small businesses by supporting them through the early stages of business progress. Though in the initial phase of business new entrepreneurs do bootstrapping – which is building a company from the scratch with nothing but personal savings and, waiting for the cash coming in from the first sales. In the initial phases of businesses entrepreneurs depend a lot on other’s help in areas such as management of funds, marketing and sales, networking, hiring the right people, maintenance of day to day expenses and accounting etc.

Incubators provide numerous benefits to owners of startup businesses. Their office and manufacturing space is offered at a low cost, almost below market rate, and their staff supplies advice and much-needed expertise in developing business and marketing plans as well as helping to fund, helping the businesses to grow. In India, startups typically spend an average of two years in a business incubator, during which time they often share telephone, secretarial backup, office, and production equipment expenses with other startup companies. This helps them to reduce the overhead and operational costs. While there are some independent incubators, there are many run by venture capital firms, angel investors, government, some major corporations, universities, educational institutions such as IITs and IIMs, and some renowned B Schools. Some incubators have an application process, but others only work with companies and ideas that they come in contact with through trusted partners. A good example of an incubator is Idealab.

Idealab was founded by Bill T. Gross in March 1996. Prior to Idealab, Gross founded GNP Loudspeakers, an audio equipment manufacturer. It got acquired by Lotus Software and Knowledge Adventure an educational software company, later it was acquired by Cendant. Idealab has historically hired many alumni of California Institute of Technology from where Gross passed out. Gross now sits on the Institute’s board of trustees. Idealab has created, invested in, and spun off a diverse array of companies such as AirWave Wireless, vendor of wireless network management software acquired by Aruba Networks in 2008, Answer.com, Aptera Motors, electric car manufacturer, Blastoff.com, CarsDirect, Citysearch, acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp, Commission Junction etc.

Business incubation programs are often sponsored by private companies or government entities and public institutions, such as colleges and universities. Their goal is to help create and grow young businesses by providing them with necessary support and financial and technical services. There are approximately 150 business incubators nationwide in India, according to the National Business Incubation Association.

Not all business incubators are alike. An entrepreneur must however choose a suitable incubator to suit his/her business idea. For example, the Amity Innovation Incubator is a pioneering concept in the context of Indian Universities. Supported by DST (Ministry of Science & Technology) GOI, in a very short time of its existence it has earned desirable position for itself with start-ups which have regularly been on top of the innovation curve and have been recognized on platforms like ‘The Power of ideas’, Red Herring Global winner, Tata NEN and NASSCOM Innovation Awards to name a few. It is located in Noida and founded in 2008. Its focus area is Rural Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, Information and communication Technologies (to include Social media and ecommerce, Mobile computing and technologies, Analytics, Cloud computing and Big Data), Education and Education Technologies, Food and allied Technologies, Biotechnology and Life Sciences, Nanotechnology and Material Sciences. It funds up to INR 1 Cr. Some of its notable startup projects are ApnaCircle.com which provides opportunities for careers and social networking. Anduril Technologies which specializes in the business domains of Payments, Microfinance, Telecom and ERP.

It is advisable for new entrepreneurs to visit National Business Incubation Association Website to find the incubator that best suits their requirements. You can find an incubator in your state, also you can visit economic development agency, located in the phone book under the listing for your state government. You can also call the information offices of your local colleges and universities to see whether they have any business incubation programs.

AnglePrime is another business incubator located in Bangalore which is focused on startups in the middle that need seed capital (initial capital required for a business) it invest in not more than 3-4 companies a year. Angle Prime was founded in 2011 and its focus area is Mobile internet, ecommerce and tablet/mobile app. It funds up to 2 lakhs to 6 lakhs; some of its notable startups are: Ezetap which is a universal payment platform and Hacker Earth which provides enterprise software solutions that help organizations with their innovation management and technical recruitment needs.

Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) was setup by IIM Ahmedabad with support from the Government of India and Gujarat Government it operates through an autonomous not-for-profit entity. CIIE comprises of IIMA faculty, alumni and other individuals and partners with like-minded organizations to foster entrepreneurship through incubation, ecosystem development and academic initiatives. It is located in IIM Campus in Ahmadabad; it was founded as a research institute in 2002 and was turned into a full-fledged incubation centre in 2007. Its focus area is Information Communication Technology, and Social Entrepreneurship. It funds up to INR 20 lakhs. Its notable startups are Travelyaari, which is largest online bus booking portal headquartered at Bangalore; Innoz, is a young and exciting venture on mobile & wireless innovation which was founded in 2008; Thrillophilia is India’s biggest online platform for adventure tourism for discovering and booking travel experiences.

If an incubation program seems interesting to you, be prepared to submit a well prepared and detailed business plan. The plan will be reviewed by a screening committee to determine whether or not you meet the criteria for admission. Incubators carefully screen potential businesses because their space, equipment, and finances are limited, and they want to be sure about their choosing to nurture businesses with the best possible chance for success.

Through running a business initially in incubation entrepreneurs can:

Share basic operating costs: Tenants in a business incubator share a wide range of overhead costs, including utilities, office equipment, computer services, conference rooms, laboratories, and receptionist services. In addition, basic rent costs are usually below normal for the region in which the new business is operating, which allows entrepreneurs to realize additional savings. It is worth noting, however, that incubators do not allow tenants to remain in the program for long; most lease agreements at incubator facilities run for two to three years.

Get consulting and administrative assistance: Incubator managers and staff members can often provide insightful advice and/or information on a broad business spectrum of business issues, from marketing to business expansion financing. Small business owners should remember that the people that are responsible for overseeing the incubator program are usually quite knowledgeable about various aspects of the business world. They are resourceful.

Access to capital is easy: Business incubators provide entrepreneurs with access to the kind of early-stage capital that emerging companies desperately need. According to a recent survey of National Business Incubation Association members, 83 percent of incubator owners and directors provide access to seed capital.

Respect and credibility comes easily: Many entrepreneurs have stated that when their start-up businesses are accepted into business incubator programs, the rewards include an aura of legitimacy and credibility among both vendors and customers. The fact that a business has been accepted into an incubator offers due diligence value to potential investors because incubators allow only diligent business plans.

It develops comradeship with fellow entrepreneurs: The presence of fellow entrepreneurs’ works as motivating factor. You see another business going through different stages; you witness ups and downs in other businesses as well as yours.  Incubators by gathering entrepreneurs together under one roof, create a dynamic climate wherein business owners can provide encouragement to one another in their endeavors; share information on business-related subjects; and establish networks of communication that can serve them well for years to come.

All over world incubators run on common idea: The concept of incubation works in all communities, practically all industries, all demographics on a particular strength of an ability to aid companies that fulfill specific needs, technology transfer, stimulating mankind and creating jobs.

India’s largest incubator for startups is T-Hub also known as Telangana Hub. On 5 November 2015 the first phase of T-Hub was set in operation by E. S. L. Narasimhan, Governor of Telangana and Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, and Telangana IT & Panchayat Raj Minister K. T. Rama Rao. It is spread in a 70,000 square foot building called CatalysT, it is entirely dedicated to entrepreneurship. It is a partnership between the private sector and the Government of Telangana along with three of India’s leading academic institutes – IIIT-Hyderabad, ISB and National Academy of Legal Studies and Research.

Angel investors, banks, incubators, and other financial institutions are flooded with thousands of applications, quite of few of these large numbers may not be serious contenders but they send their applications and block chances of serious aspirants. Smaller capital requirements are over looked by venture capitalists and many investors, capital requirements from 2-5 crores range are mostly entertained. There are quite a few ventures with smaller requirements of seed capital. They are not entertained because of their smaller requirements. Where do they go?

Who is an Angel Investor? An angel investor who is also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-ups, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Many times Angel investors are amid known people of the entrepreneur’s family and friends. The capital angel investors provide may be a one-time investment to help the business propel or an ongoing injection of money to support and carry the company through its difficult early stages. Sometimes angel investors prefer investing through crowd-funding platform in a business.

Angel investors provide more favourable terms compared to other lenders, since they usually invest in the entrepreneur starting the business rather than the viability of the business. Angel investors are focused on helping start-ups take their first steps, rather than the possible profit they may get from the business. Essentially, angel investors are the contrary of venture capitalists. Venture capitalists look for a strong management team, a large potential market and a unique product or service with a strong competitive advantage. They also look for opportunities in industries that they are familiar with, and the chance to own a large percentage of the company so that they can influence its direction.

Origins of Angel Investors: The term “angel” came from the Broadway theatre, when wealthy individuals gave money to propel theatrical productions. The term “angel investor” was first used by the University of New Hampshire’s William Wetzel, founder of the Centre for Venture Research. Wetzel completed a study on how entrepreneurs gathered capital.

Who Can Be Angel Investors: People who meet the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) standards for accredited investors can become angel investors. To become an angel investor, one must have a minimum net worth of $1 million and an annual income of $200,000.

Source of Funding: Angel investors typically use their own money, unlike venture capitalists that take care of pooled money from many other investors and place them in a strategically managed fund. Though angel investors usually represent individuals, the entity that actually provides the fund may be a limited liability company, a business, a trust or an investment fund, among many other kinds of vehicles.

Angel investors who seed start-ups that fail during their early stages lose their investments completely. This is why professional angel investors look for opportunities for a defined exit strategy, acquisitions or initial public offering (IPO).

The effective internal rate of returns for a successful portfolio for angel investors ranges from 20 to 30%. Though this may look good for investors and seem too expensive for entrepreneurs with early-stage businesses, cheaper sources of financing such as banks are not usually available for such business ventures. This makes angel investments perfect for entrepreneurs who are still financially struggling during the start-up phase of their business.

Globally some of the famous angel investors are Jeff Bezos, Paul Buchheit, Jeff Clavie, David Lee, Benjamin Ling, Dave Morin, Keith Rabois and Aydin Senkat.

Some famous Indian angel investors are:

Anupam Gopal Mittal: Founder and CEO of People Group, which owns matrimonial portal shaadi.com, realty portal makaan.com, and mobile media company Mauj Mobile, Mittal is an angel investor in over 50 startups. He was among the most active angels in India in 2015, investing in 12 start-ups. Anupam likes to back businesses that have huge market potential backed by a strong, knowledgeable core team.

Sanjay Mehta: An active member of four prolific investment groups—Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, B2B 1K Ventures, and Venture Nursery—Mehta has a portfolio of over 40 startups. His investments are mostly in big data, marketing automation, and consumer services.

Zishaan Hayath: A serial entrepreneur (someone who starts and leads one business after another or, multiple businesses at the same time), Hayath began making angel investments in 2011 with Ola, Uber’s competitor in India. He now holds over 30 start-up investments and runs an angel investment group called Powai Lake Ventures.

Angel investors are in demand: We need many more angel investors. Investing in start-ups can yield good return on capital when they understand the dynamics of the asset class, yet only few individuals have become angel investors in India. Experienced entrepreneurs, successful businessmen and senior professionals have the ability to invest modest sums in start-ups. Ideally, they should co-invest small sums in start-ups.

We need to create some forums to help bring more individuals into the angel-investing arena. We need to invest time to create platforms to educate potential angel investors and guide them about angel investing. One big glaring fact is India and many developing countries need to encourage entrepreneurship, which is indeed need of the hour. We need more and more entrepreneurial ventures. We need innovations to make our life simpler, fill the gaps in development of the country in areas like infrastructure, energy, education and healthcare. And, unless we are able to provide seed-capital to deserving entrepreneurs, we will have 1000s of frustrated individuals, who could have otherwise created large businesses, millions of jobs and overall help the country to prosper.

Small budding entrepreneurial enterprises need not wait any longer for want of the endless procedures for raising funds any longer. All that is required is a good, workable idea and there are people known and unknown who are ready to back a venture. This practice is called crowdfunding. One can raise money from a large number of people, usually through social media – via the Internet.

In India, filmmaker Srinivas Sunderrajan raised Rs. 5,26,000 from 79 supporters for the post-production of his film Greater Elephant. Student filmmakers Aniket Dasgupta and Swathy Sethumadhavan raised Rs. 1,01,000 from 49 supporters for the pre-production of their documentary The Other Way on the indie film movement in India while 21-year-old Vanshaj Kapur raised Rs. 1,15,000 from 32 contributors for completing his film through Wishberry.  Vasudha Sharma’s raised Rs. 5,65,000 from 119 supporters for her music album. So, things are changing fast. There are people out there who would like to support a good idea, a good movement, a good workable business.

Traditionally, if you want to raise capital to start a business, you need to work out your business plan, for which you need to knock on doors of market research companies and consultants, prepare prototypes, and then shop your idea around to a limited pool or wealthy individuals or institutions. These funding sources included banks, angel investors, venture capital firms, non banking finance companies NBFCs were just few options to whom you would go for funding. And, you would experience frustration losing time, energy and money to get the funds required to start your enterprise.

But, with crowdfunding you can think of this fundraising approach as a channel tapping into wide audience and investors all over the world. Crowdfunding platforms give you, a single platform to build, showcase, and share your resources. This approach noticeably outsmarts the traditional model of fundraising. In the older method where you would spend months examining your personal network, selecting potential investors, and spending your own time and money to get in front of them, in crowdfunding, it’s much easier for you to get your opportunity in front of more interested parties and give them more ways to help grow your business. It’s worth a mention here that there are a plethora of crowdfunding platforms available today. There are industry-specific general platform; so you can go to one in which your startup fits the best. This will also enable investors who are willing to invest in specific sector. This will also enable you to get some tips and advises from other entrepreneurs who have used crowdfunding.

From tapping into a wider investor pool by enjoying more flexible fundraising options, there are some other benefits to crowdfunding over traditional methods.

Wider Reach: Through crowdfunding, you have access to thousands of accredited investors whom you can see, interact with, and share your fundraising campaign. Through this platform, you can present the precious process of looking at your business in a wholesome manner; its history, grip in terms of workability, offerings, market, value proposition, and much more. All this can be presented in a polished easily digestible manner.

Sales & Marketing: Right from launch, you can share and promote your business and ideas through social media, email, and cloud computing and other online marketing tactics. As your marketing campaign progresses, your business gets more noticed allowing you to grow faster. Also, your concept gets validation from the masses. As potential investors begin to express interest and ask questions, you can swiftly see if there’s something missing that would make them more likely to buy in.

Effective impact: One of the best things about online crowdfunding is its capacity to centralize and streamline your fundraising efforts by just building a single, comprehensive profile to which you can pull all your prospective and potential investors. You need not follow each of them individually. This process eliminates duplication of printing documents, compiling binders, and manually updating each one. You can present everything online in a much more accessible format, leaving you with more time to run your business instead of fundraising.

There are three general categories crowdfunding. They are Equity, Donation, and Debt.

Equity-based: Equity–based crowdfunding is asking a crowd to donate to your business or project in exchange for equity. Equity crowdfunding is a method that enables broad groups of investors to fund startup companies and small businesses. Investors give money to a business and receive ownership of a small piece of that business. If the business succeeds, then its value goes up; just like the value of a share in that business. Coverage of equity crowdfunding indicates that its potential is greatest with startup businesses that are seeking smaller investments to achieve establishment, while follow-on funding required for rapid growth. The funds might come from many sources.

Donation-based: Donation-based crowd-funding is a way to source money for a project by asking a large number of donors to donate small amounts to it. In return, the donors may receive token rewards. The tokens might be pre-sale item, some small gifts. The donors contribute their monies for the idea or concepts of the business. Sometimes donation crowdfunding is also referred to as rewards crowdfunding. Donation-based crowdfunding can also be used in an effort to raise funds for charitable causes. Because this type of crowd funding is based on donations, funders do not obtain any ownership or rights to the project, nor do they become creditors to the project.

Debt-based: This type of crowdfunding is asking a crowd to provide funds to your business in exchange for financial return and/or interest at a future date. In the U.S. debt-based crowd funding from non-banks became more prominent as a form of crowd funding in 2012, with the launch of the lending clubs which use technology to operate a credit marketplace at a lower cost than traditional bank loan programs, passing the savings on to borrowers in the form of lower rates and to investors in the form of solid returns. In U.S lending clubs have distributed more than US$500 million in loans via its website by April 2012. Prospective borrowers of the Lending Club first submit their requirements, and are then matched with pools of investors who are willing to accept the credit terms. Platforms such as the Lending Club gained popularity, as banks increased interest rates or reduced their level of lending activity.

Crowdfunding is useful for a variety of opportunities; fundraising for disaster-relief, creative projects, creating a salable product, or creating a start-up. Crowdfunding platforms allow you to market your project, generate interest, and receive funds. Because it works on social media platform it can provide useful feedback about a project. Once your business idea and concept gets a support, there is no looking back. Crowdfunding is not limited to certain kind of project, there is no discrimination, only great ideas. The more creativity and fun you have, the more likely you’ll get funded.

There is also a bad side to it. Your project can be copied by potential copycats. There are some delays here also. It just doesn’t happen in jiffy. Crowdfunding platforms often limit the amount of funds you expect to receive. Crowdfunding regulations and taxation can be difficult to work with.

Last piece of advice to all those young budding entrepreneurs is that you are lucky to raise a large amount of money from crowd but that does not give you assurance that your startup will run successfully; you have to still run your business by putting in hard efforts on daily basis. There is still no substitute to working hard. And, the future of crowdfunding largely depends on how successfully startups use it to build their companies and repay the investors. The startups need creative and workable ideas and of course smart strategies. I wish to list few leading crowd-funding platforms for the reader’s choice.

RocketHub: Initially launched with the arts in mind, it expanded to include science, education, business and social good projects. It gained footing in the sciences with its annual SciFund Challenge, an online effort to fund science projects. It also launched a partnership with A&E Networks through which some select projects will be chosen to receive extra support from the joint initiative.

Peerbackers: Recognized as one of the top crowdfunding websites in the industry, peerbackers, focuses on funding entrepreneurs and innovators. The platform has hosted thousands of creative, civic and entrepreneurial projects from around the world. Recently it has extended its arm to young entrepreneurs who are aged 13 to 17 through partnerships with student organizations.

MicroVentures: Calls itself an “investment bank for startups.” It carries out  due diligence on startups and then, if approved, helps raise capital from angel investors via its SEC-approved online platform, giving angel investors the ability to invest small amounts of capital to crowdfund a startup.

Crowdfunding in India is still in its nascent stages. However, the potential is incredibly high for Indian crowdfunding; 50% nation is youthful, educated, and restless with big dreams. There are lakhs of dynamic and fascinating independent projects breaking boundaries. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has proposed new norms for ‘crowdfunding’ or collection funds through web-based platforms and social networking sites; a move that would help start-up companies raise capital and also check misuse of such avenues. Under the proposed norms, crowdfunding platforms can be provided by only SEBI-registered entities, while companies can raise up to Rs.10 crore in a year through this route. Given the high-level of risks associated with this new way of fund-raising activity, SEBI has also proposed that only ‘accredited investors’ be allowed to participate in crowdfunding activities.

Women are crucial for economic growth. If we decisively take measures to empower women in supporting their full participation in society, business, and knowledge management and at all levels we will find lasting solutions for many of the pressing problems we face in our world. Major challenges such as poverty, disparity, violence against women and girls, and insecurity will be addressed significantly. Compared to men, women spend the majority of their income on the well-being of their children, their siblings, parents and family.  Raising women’s participation increases economic growth. By ending enforced paucity of women in decision making, we will sustainably and significantly reduce acute poverty worldwide.

Businesses across the world are fostered and nurtured with lot of inter-woven laws, structures and policies. They are based upon cultures, societal norms, educational standards, training and development which are deeply ingrained in the society. Are men and women treated same while implementing policies in a state? Does a woman get equal chances as her male counterpart from credit institutions, from government when she runs her own business? Are both men and women on even footing? Are we ready to treat women entrepreneurs equally to male entrepreneurs, if we are not; we are knowingly stopping our economic growth. Economically empowering women may be one of the most impactful sets of development interventions, both in terms of growth and job creation. 

We are seeing this in our surrounding that women have been starting businesses at a higher rate than men. They are opting for home-based micro (less than 5 employees) and small businesses. What started as a way for women to keep them occupied and earn a small amounts though home-grown businesses has become a source of establishing their self-identity. Now, more women aim to express themselves creatively.

Women see the world through a different lens; they are more responsive and aware of problems from the grass root level, therefore they do things differently. They are gifted with the natural instinct of rearing and nurturing therefore they can solve problems differently without destroying much. If we are able to encourage even a fraction more women to turn their experiences and ideas into reality, I think many of the pressing issues such as climate change, environmental issues, pollution, inequality in distribution of financial resources, population growth, nuclear weapons, genocides, terrorism, racism, sexism, fundamentalism, water shortage, power shortage etc. could be dissolved faster. Today there is a greater need than ever before for green businesses and innovations all around the world, we need more women to clutch these sorts of opportunities.

Women have had to overcome barriers from beginning of history; whether in political life or the business sector and these obstacles will not disappear overnight. Women have a strong historical record when it comes to sustainability; we need to see that women get ahead. We need to see more creative solutions to encourage women entrepreneurship – it is indeed need of hour.

There are some countries which are taking faster steps in this direction. Recently, The Vancouver Board of Trade’s President and CEO Iain Black strongly recommended investigating ways to increase the involvement of women on boards and in senior management positions. In order to arrive at learned recommendations, The Vancouver Board of Trade’s Women Leadership Circle solicited input from local business leaders who have extensive corporate management and board experience and particular insight into how to address gender diversity issues in Canadian workplaces.

In 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched the Center for Women in Business (CWB) with the belief that putting more women in leadership roles will bring companies a host of valuable benefits, including more active boards, improved financial performance, and greater diversity of thought. In March 2012, CWB hosted a number of companies and business leaders for a conference to share insights on why women are not making it to the very top. CWB brought together stakeholders and allies not only to share insights but also to hear from the assembled audience about the areas and best practices that merited better understanding and appreciation. Women currently hold just 4.2% of CEO positions in Fortune 1000 companies. At the same time, there are companies that defy this trend. These companies are actively advancing women to the highest levels of leadership, and as a result, they have more engaged boards and greater diversity of talent and ideas, for example Coca-Cola. McKinsey & Co is already conducting a research of Fortune companies in world that practice putting women in the top positions and reaping good fortune. They are partnered with Wall Street Journal for this yeoman issue.

In India, the new company’s Act 2013 requires at least one woman director on its board;under the rules notified by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, every listed company and those public firms having paid up share capital of Rs 100 crore or more should have at least one woman director on their board. It will be also applicable to entities with a minimum turnover of Rs 300 crore.

The International Finance Corp announced via a press release that women-owned enterprises are experiencing an estimated $300 billion credit gap. This needs to be filled immediately. So on Women’s Day this year Google took an initiative with their “Google for Entrepreneurs” it aims at finding new ways to give female entrepreneurs the boost they need in order to play a more active role in the business world. As a result, the tech giant has committed $1 million to 40 startup-focused organizations. With this project, Google is set to promote women’s participation in the technology space.

The World Bank’s program infused $600 million to support economic opportunities for women by kicking off a global project of honoring female entrepreneurs. The gift came right in the middle of celebrating Women’s Day 2014 and it has been accompanied by the IFC, which also invested $100 million and expects to collect $468 million from private and public investors and Goldman Sachs Foundation’s “10,000 Women” programme, which offered $32 million. Goldman Sachs, the powerful Wall Street investment bank, said the partnership deepens the commitment of its 10,000 Women educational program that promotes female entrepreneurship.

Today policy makers in the world are recognizing that they need to advance equal opportunities for women by removing structural barriers. And, once those are removed it will reduce inequality and spur inclusive economic growth. By supporting women’s equal representation in leadership positions in peacemaking, in communities, in politics, in business and in religious institutions, we will build a more just, peaceful and protected world.

We cannot afford to go slow on women empowerment; if we do so, the progress will remain    uneven and we will see a further down fall in progress. No country in the world has achieved equality between women and men and girls and boys. All those violations of the rights of women and girls are infuriating. Let us understand this right – we can no longer afford to hold back half the world’s population, we cannot suppress their positive energies any further. The 21st century has to be different for every woman and girl in the world. She must know that to be born a girl is not the start of a life of hardship and disadvantages forever. Together we must make sure that:  SHE is safe and secure from gender-based violence, she has Human Rights that are respected, including reproductive rights.  She must be empowered economically and in every way through education, she must be given same opportunity as her brother, she must be included in partaking and leadership.

To begin with on home front we must train our daughters to choose the right life partner; an unsupportive spouse is a liability for her creative instinct.  We should ingrain in her to be self sufficient while enjoying each day of her life. She has to learn to enjoy her presence as a woman. Educate her – let her study as much as she wants. Help her build her own network. Tell her the importance of entrepreneurship, mould her to be one. Encourage her to take decisions of her own. She must never limit her own skills. Women are naturally good at multitasking. They should be trained to do one thing at a time. Starting and stopping in the middle of things to concentrate on something else is frustrating. Let us liberate the girl(s) in our family to begin with.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, there are 126 million women operating new businesses and another 98 million at the helm of established ones. Yet we face a huge equality gap. In only seven countries—Panama, Thailand, Ghana, Ecuador, Nigeria, Mexico and Uganda do women take part in business at rates equal to men’s; in some countries, like Pakistan, they barely take part at all. Even when women are active business owners, they do not utilize their probable capacity. Women own almost three in ten American firms, yet employ only 6% of the country’s workforce and account for barely 4% of business revenues.

Lets us start supporting women entrepreneurs, women farmers, women in households, and young women. Sectors with a high potential for wealth creation such as food security, or export promotion can offer particular opportunities for generating or expanding entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for women. For example, creative industries include a broad spectrum of subsectors; art, crafts, design, textiles, leather, furniture, perfumes and beauty products, food, and even community-based tourism related services that allow for innovative and expanded opportunities for income generation. UNIDO (United Nation Industrial Development Organization) projects in Bolivia, China, Pakistan, Panama and Peru have proven that creative industries can be a means for women to harness cultural knowledge and assets to generate wealth and income. Let us enhance women entrepreneurship and women’s participation in governance for a better and safer world.