New Delhi: In India’s dynamic economy, women-led micro and nano enterprises are emerging as powerful engines of growth. They create income where opportunities are scarce, build confidence where choices are limited, and challenge gender norms simply by existing. Despite their resilience and the collective efforts of ecosystem players to support, strengthen, and celebrate these enterprises through innovative programs and interventions, these businesses remain vulnerable. An illness, a family crisis, a poor market season, societal pressure, or lack of awareness can unravel years of hard work. This fragility persists because the ecosystem surrounding women entrepreneurs is still incomplete.
We often focus on isolated inputs – investment in training, digital access, or loan disbursement. But the true enablers of sustainability, the factors that determine whether a woman persists or drops out, often remain invisible, unbudgeted, and undervalued. There is an urgent need to move beyond surface-level interventions and build a holistic support system that addresses these unseen gaps.
To build a Viksit Bharat and create truly resilient entrepreneurial pathways, we must acknowledge these silent pillars. At Tata Communications, this belief shapes our strategy. The strategy must go beyond the usual and place well-being, technology, disaster risk management, and environmental sustainability at the core of all our initiatives.
Here’s what I believe is the need of the hour:
- Tech Well-being: Moving Beyond Digital Access
Digital inclusion is often seen as binary: access or no access. But access alone is not empowerment. For women running micro-enterprises, technology can be both a catalyst and a source of stress. Many possess low-end smartphones, use shared devices, have patchy connectivity, and there’s always a fear of online fraud.
True digital empowerment requires patient handholding, interfaces designed for low-literacy users, multilingual content, and safe online spaces. When women feel confident with digital tools, they don’t just participate in the digital economy; they thrive in it. At Tata Communications, through cybersecurity courses and conversations around safe use of technology, we are taking steps to not just empower our project participants but also leverage our expertise to support their journeys.
- Mental Well-being: The Emotional Labour No One Measures
Women juggle multiple roles – caregiver, breadwinner, homemaker, mother – often with limited support. Entrepreneurship adds another layer of emotional labour that frequently goes unnoticed. Creating safe spaces like Tata Communications’ Zehn ki Lehar, where women can articulate their challenges, seek support, and access resources such as legal aid or counselling, has proven critical.
A woman who feels overwhelmed may scale back her enterprise; a woman who feels supported pushes forward. Mental well-being must be recognised as core infrastructure, not a peripheral concern.
- Financial Resilience: Stability Beyond Credit
Financial resilience is not only about access to formal credit; it’s about building the capacity of grassroots entrepreneurs to navigate uncertainty, absorb setbacks, and sustain their enterprises over time. Women entrepreneurs often operate in informal settings, where micro-savings, community-based finance, and simple digital tools like UPI become lifelines. Strengthening financial literacy, enabling digital transactions, and supporting informal safety nets help women make confident decisions, invest in their businesses, and stabilise their households.
- Social Capital: The Power of Peer Support
Women entrepreneurs don’t rely only on markets; they rely on each other. Peer groups, informal mentors, community networks, and shared experiences act as powerful accelerators. Trust within these networks enables women to explore new markets, learn from failures, and negotiate better.
Through different projects and initiatives, we have built networks of self-help groups, enabled them with life skills programmes, and worked towards embedding the simple yet powerful concept of sisterhood. Strong peer ecosystems reduce risk, boost confidence, and create collective resilience. Yet few programmes are intentionally designed with this in mind.
- Policy Navigation: Access Without Usability Changes Nothing
India offers numerous schemes for women entrepreneurs- subsidies, insurance, training, and procurement opportunities. But the road from eligibility to benefit is complex. Empowerment is not just about availability; it’s about usability. Policy navigation must become a core component of entrepreneurship support.
The future of women-led enterprises depends on more than credit and connectivity. It depends on holistic resilience, mental, financial, social, and technological support. At Tata Communications, we are committed to building this foundation because when women thrive, economies transform. As the country pursues inclusive growth, acknowledging these structural needs is vital. The real inflexion point will come when we start treating resilience not as a social aspiration, but as a strategic economic investment.
This article is authored by Mukul Kumar, Vice President (EOHS & Sustainability), Tata Communications.
At charcha 2025, India’s largest collaborative convening, a multitude of industry experts and partners converged to explore various topics. With 40+ sessions spanning across 6 immersive, livelihood-intersecting themes, supported by 30+ sector-leading co-hosts, charcha convened to collaborate towards the shared goal of Viksit and Inclusive Bharat by 2047.
charcha 2025, an initiative by the*spark forum, was held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, from November 12–14, 2025. To know more, visit: charcha25.thespark.org.in
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