7 key areas where women entrepreneurs need specialised technology assistance for growth.

The pandemic has facilitated a lot of people to turn entrepreneurs, including women, who are already making their presence felt as successful and innovative disruptors. However, they are faced with double the challenges than their male counterparts. And while there is an increasing number of industry bodies, banks, NGOs, and women empowerment councils that are working towards enabling and encouraging women entrepreneurs, the help is generally limited to providing them better access to funding, networking, and mentorship for business skills. However, there is little support for women entrepreneurs when it comes to digital literacy and technology adoption. 

Even as businesses and supporting infrastructure are increasingly adopting digitization, smaller entrepreneurs, especially women, continue to face challenges with technology. Be it from accessing banking services to adopting digital transformation services to enhance and optimize their business efficiency, women entrepreneurs face more challenges. The worst hit are women business owners in inner cities and rural areas who also must fight societal gender barriers. These women entrepreneurs need specialized tech assistance in areas like.

Specialized assistance in financial technology like integration with payment gateways, app-based payments and links, cyber security, and data protection. Not many company owners have the good fortune to have a financier or investor for their enterprise. Some have to raise money on their own, use credit cards, or bootstrap their businesses. Women-owned firms rank among the most common enterprises that receive little funding. Due to cultural and gender prejudices, women are frequently rejected loans—many institutions prefer to support male-owned firms.