There are many inspiring stories of women successfully exploring their entrepreneurship by using digital platforms during the testing time of confinement to home on account of the coronavirus pandemic. Some felt the need to supplement the family income that saw a drastic cut on the main bread earners' pay packages or even retrenchment. Others were not prompted by such a dire necessity but made good use of the idle time doing something creative and positive and to their surprise discovered immense potential for extending their business skills. What is particularly remarkable is, as a report carried in an English contemporary claims, that women led men during the pandemic to use social sites for exploring uncharted territories of business. Quite a few of the women entrepreneurs have extended their businesses not only to all corners of the country but also pushed the limit beyond the border.
No, none of them has shined like the world's youngest woman billionaire Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of an online dating company Bramble in the United States of America. The trick in her case was going public for the second-biggest online dating company. What is important is to think out-of-the-box and painstakingly develop the idea to discover new frontier of business. Here innovation matters but the kind of innovation is fundamentally different from the scientific variety. Business models have to be developed that suit digital information and are reliable and ensure prompt delivery of services. It is gratifying that women have learnt to adapt themselves to the technological intricacies and the managerial skills to serve their clientele. A notable feature of such businesses is confidence which in quite a number of cases was shattered because fraudsters ---the majority of whom were men ---infiltrated the domain. The intelligence service and law enforcers busted bastions of some of these gangs.
Operating business from home is no mean task. Those women who started home delivery of some genuine products had to confirm that their sources or producers deliver the right type of goods in demand and that too on time. The lockdown was in their favour because transportation of goods was faster in time when traffic on roads and highways was thin. Also, the producers were looking for such an assured supply of goods during the sluggish demand. Thus the arrangement served both parties and consequently the consumers also benefited in terms of quality of goods and service at their doorsteps.
With the opening up of business, many such entrepreneurs have been facing fresh challenges. One of this is surely the timely service delivery because of the increasingly crowded traffic on roads and highways. Business models will definitely need readjustment and improvement in order to cope with the emerging challenges. As for women entrepreneurs who have banked solely on innovative ideas like Whitney Herd, no such problem will bother them. Even those who have found a market of their products abroad will least bother about such transportation problem because they will strike deals for delivery of products with enough time in their hands to do so. Let women entrepreneurs pursue their ground-breaking business both at home and abroad. This will ensure further empowerment of women.
