Women entrepreneurs tread gingerly

They might have broken all barriers, are conquering all bastions, and also know the mantra of winning.

In some cases, women have also made it to the top. But when it comes to the area of entrepreneurship, there are still very few takers and women continue to be a bit skeptical on venturing into entrepreneurship.

This trend was clearly visible at the recently concluded TiE-ISB Connect 2005, a forum that connected budding entrepreneurs to venture capitalists (VCs). Of the 56 business plans that the event received, the contribution of women was just two.

Says S Subramonia Sarma, director ( entrepr-eneurship development) at the Indian School of Business, "There are cultural issues in India like work timings which act as a bottleneck in the path of a woman entrepreneur. We have not yet reached a stage wherein a man can say that he will look after the house and the woman will earn for the family. Besides, when a man risks a huge amount to start a business and fails, he gets a less hasher response from various quarters, as compared to a woman who is forced to face a lot of rebuke."

Incidentally, ISB will be organising an event in November wherein it will be inviting Indian women entrepreneurs to share their experiences with an all-woman audience. "We will be inviting only first-generation female entrepreneurs so that their progress path is an inspiration to other aspiring entrepreneurs," Sarma adds.

Sandeep Singhal, managing director of WestBridge Capital Partners, while agreeing to the wide gender gap in the entrepreneurship sector, says that things are, however, changing now. "We do not look at the gender of an entrepreneur while funding an enterprise. Of the 18 companies that we have funded so far, four of them have women in their senior management team."

Rupali Modi, one of the lady entrepreneurs who submitted her business plan at the event, feels that when it comes to taking risk, women are a bit guarded. Probably men have better risk-taking capacity than women and therefore the divide, she reasons.

Sadhana Seelam, the only woman venture capitalist at the event, says that India incidentally has a better work atmosphere for women to start new ventures as compared to the US and they should therefore make use of the opportunities. "In the US, a woman is paid less than a man for the same job. Indian women need to realise this fact," she adds.

Seelam has had more than a decade of experience in the Silicon Valley. Most recently, she managed KPMG's Venture Capital and is now a partner in Spark VC.

"It is heartening to see that there are at least two first generation women entrepreneurs among the total 56. In due course, I'm sure that there will be more participation from our breed," she says.