Small, Growing Businesses and Employment

Opportunities and Challenges for a Green Economic Recovery in Odisha

This project aimed to create a decentralised action plan for the state of Odisha to facilitate a green economic recovery, through a collaborative process of stakeholder engagement. Background Odisha has been identified as one of the most vulnerable states in … Read More

Connections: How Social Interactions Shape Growth Stories of Women-led Enterprises

Aishwarya Joshi

This blog presents insights from a research study that seeks to understand how social interactions between women entrepreneurs and their business ecosystem intersect with their social and economic backgrounds, and in turn shape their business decisions and outcomes.  “Women are … Read More

Building Collaborative Philanthropy to Strengthen Women’s Entrepreneurship in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas

Sharon Buteau, Preethi Rao, Diksha Singh, Mridulya Narasimhan

Entrepreneurship development is an important pathway for enabling women’s participation in the economy and can be a catalyst for change by providing income-generating opportunities. However, India ranks 57 out of 65 countries in women entrepreneurship. While several challenges faced by … Read More

Connections: How Social Interactions Shape Growth Stories of Women-led Enterprises

Aishwarya Joshi, Mridulya Narasimhan

India has an estimated 14.9 million women-owned enterprises, which hold the promise of job creation and improved agency for the country’s working-age female population. While positive spillover effects of these women-led businesses have been documented, women own only 20.4% of … Read More

Scorecard for Women Entrepreneurship : Unlocking the Potential of Women – charcha 2022

In India’s journey to creating more than 150 million jobs by 2030, the emphasis on female entrepreneurship cannot be disregarded. Sharon Buteau, Executive Director, LEAD at Krea University, will join other policymakers & leaders to share thoughts on ‘Scorecard for … Read More

SARDI India MSME Tech Policy Fellowship Program

Background USAID through its South Asia Regional Digital Initiative (SARDI) has launched the India MSME Tech Policy Fellowship Program to conduct policy research at the interface of digitalization and MSMEs in India and facilitate sustainable change in the policy ecosystem. … Read More

Postcards from the Village Square

LEAD at Krea University

Our research and field teams occasionally run into curious and amusing situations on their data-collection missions into the hinterland. These experiences also offer insights into people’s lived experiences and the various dimensions of the problems central to our research. Here … Read More

Women and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries – Perspectives from India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh

Studies show that labour force participation rates have been declining in all economies, especially among women, reflecting the impact of the pandemic. The socio-cultural barriers faced by women entrepreneurs are common in every part of the developing world, and are … Read More

Barriers and Opportunities For Aspirational Women Entrepreneurs

Neelanjana Gupta, Preethi Rao

Historically, in India, household gender norms and restrictions on women, along with lack of education and mentorship among women, have proven to be significant obstacles to nurturing women entrepreneurs, thereby inhibiting women’s advancement. This study was undertaken by IWWAGE to … Read More

Delving Into the History of Pulicat, Its Inhabitants and Its Ecosystem

Vighnesh P, Kaavya Kumar, Sathiyan S, Siddarth M

This post on the history and socio-economic context of Pulicat was produced in collaboration with students from Ashoka University to observe World Environment Day. Pulicat or Pazhaverkadu is home to over 56 fishing communities which depend on this endangered ecosystem … Read More