Family is the Biggest Motivator for 78% of Women Entrepreneurs in Tier II, III Cities: Finds Tide’s Survey

Tide in India, the business financial platform, is launching the first Bharat Women Aspiration Index (BWAI) to champion women-led small businesses in India. The index highlights the motivations, aspirations, and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in India’s tier II and beyond cities.

According to the findings of the first report, 63% of women said that they benefited from mentorship while building their businesses.

As per the official release, Tide India surveyed over 1,200 new and existing business owners across age groups of 18–55 years of age from tier II and cities for its first BWAI.

Key findings from the first edition of BWAI

1. Family is the biggest driver and support for women pursuing entrepreneurs: Around 31% women want a better future for their family and 28% wish to support their family with ‘additional income’. 78% rank family as the most important factor when starting a business. The majority, 77%, say that family has been the ‘key factor’ behind their success.
2. Access to credit exists, but with a high degree of informal borrowing: About 52% of women entrepreneurs have access to financial credit, indicating that 1 in 2 entrepreneurs has access to finance, while 47% said they face challenges. Nearly all, 95%, of women say they are unaware of existing government financial schemes or initiatives to leverage for their businesses. This indicates women are turning to the informal sector for access to credit. Interestingly, 80% of women agree that tailored financial programmes can make their entrepreneurial journey easy.
3. Peer group fast-tracks entrepreneurial journeys and successes, though structured mentoring is missing: Around 63% women claim to have access to mentorship to guide them in their businesses. However, 90% cite the names of relatives, close friends, or family members as ‘peers’, indicating a lack of structured programmes for women to network and upskill with business know-how.
4. Atmanirbhar women business owners think digital literacy is a must have : Around 80% of women recognize that digital literacy is an important enabler. Around 51%, or 1 in 2, business owners face hurdles in accessing digital tools for business.
5. Women entrepreneurs are vocal for local: With family and community at the heart of the aspirations of women in business, entrepreneurs from Bharat are keen on building their businesses locally. Around 38% of women feel that accessing the customer is easier, while 31% feel that the first mover advantage in the local market gives them a competitive edge in business and talent hunting.
6. Cultural barriers in Bharat are disappearing, work life balance is a major challenge: Only 13% of women reported cultural barriers to their entrepreneurial pursuits, indicating a dramatic shift in societal support for women to become ‘earning members’. The much talked about urban gripe of poor work-life balance resonates with women entrepreneurs from smaller cities, with 72% wanting better support systems.

Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO, Tide India, said, “BWAI’s findings have highlighted the aspirations, motivations, and challenges women in smaller cities face. The findings have inspired us to be a key partner in their success stories. Access to funding, mentors, and digital tools for doing business are tightly interwoven and interdependent.”

“While women entrepreneurs from small towns report that they have access to credit, a large gap in their understanding of financial systems points to the presence of informal money lending channels that may not be in their best interest. Tide’s customised digital tools help women entrepreneurs become part of the formal economy, providing them with structured solutions for payments, administration, taxation, credit, and more,” he added.

Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, Tide is a business financial platform in the UK. The platform claims that it helps SMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services but also a comprehensive set of highly usable and connected administrative solutions, from invoicing to accounting.

More than 225,000 SMEs are members of it in India, and it has 590,000 SME members in the UK (more than 10% of the market).

Almost 1,800 Tideans work for it globally.

BWAI is a unique initiative as it sets out to understand the aspirations of women business owners from smaller towns and cities instead of their counterparts from metropolitan and entrepreneurial centres such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.