Micro-entrepreneurial Voices in Kalimpong Hills: An Inquiry Through Narrative

Significance of Micro Manufacturing Entrepreneurship in Eastern Himalayas with Special Reference to Kalimpong Hills

Kalimpong hills which fall under the shadow of eastern Himalayas was a contested territory between the two tiny Himalayan kingdoms like Sikkim and Bhutan, became a strategic location during the nineteenth century when colonial authorities sought to gain control of the Himalayan trading routes. The annexation of Kalimpong hills from the Bhutan kingdom under the ‘Treaty of Sinchula’ ³ in 1865 created an impetus for the colonial ruler to formulate new route policies in the Himalayan region. Their initiation towards the new direction from the eastern Himalayas, where Kalimpong and Sikkim became the main gateways with an easy access route to reach Tibet via Jalep-la Pass was not only for trading purposes but also to maintain a diplomatic political mission with Central Asia (McKay, 2007; Sir Richard Temple, 1881).

Kalimpong town was positioned at a key point in the hills between the Indian plains and the Himalayan states of Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, and it was a vivid example of a contact zone where Himalayan peoples met representatives of the British and Chinese empires and trade acted as an initiator for contact (Tagchungdarpa, 2017; Viehbeck, 2017). It soon became a major centre for British army cantonments, colonial-run missionary schools, travellers, and, more significantly, a micro-entrepreneurial heart, where traders and entrepreneurs from across the border participated in trans-Himalayan trading (Harris, 2008). The hills gained its significance soon after commercial activities began in the last decade of nineteenth century on the basis of three key factors: first, the entry of Europeans, Indians, Bhutanese, Nepalese, Tibetans and Chinese traders into the region for the exchange of trading commodities. Second, its proximity to British officials, tea planters, and the leisure capital Darjeeling Hills, which is only 50 kilometres away from town, and third, the significant tranquil access routes with two eastern Himalayan passes such as Nathu-la and Jelep-la, which led to its unprecedented exposure to Tibet (Majumder, 1994).

It grew considerably in size after the influence of the ‘Young Husband Expedition’ in 1904, which led to opening of several trade markets in Tibet for British goods and Tibetan commodities into the broader imperial trade network (Tagchungdarpa, 2017). Chinese and Tibetan traders carried barter, ponies, wool, coarse blankets, furs, yak-tails, musk, turquoise, gold dust, Chinese silk, brick tea, borax and salt for sale. And they took back the British-made broadcloth, goods and other European items, Indian tobacco, indigo, rice, sugar, madder, and other topical products; coral, pearls, glass, beads, and precious stones (Waddell, 1900). The early twentieth century is remembered as the ‘Golden Era of Lhasa-Kalimpong Trade’ (Harris, 2008, 2017). These commercial activities attracted not only trading and service enterprises, but also a variety of manufacturing enterprises that opened in the region, including Tibetan shoes, handmade papers, Tibetan incense, lace, carpets, handicrafts, bags, Buddhist religious items, food processing units, and so on. However, after independence, this glory of trading and entrepreneurial activities was considerably reduced in view of the Indo-Sino War of 1962; and consequently, Indian government had to permanently seal the main outpost at Jalep La Pass. Subsequently, many traders and micro-entrepreneurs had to shut down their enterprises and move on to other professions. Even today, no leaders or government agencies have taken any further steps to reopen the Jalep La Pass in order to resurrect Kalimpong’s old market hub (Harris, 2013, p. 94).

Kalimpong Hills became the 21st district of West Bengal after splitting from the Darjeeling district in 2017. It is situated approximately 1300–2400 metres above sea level and consists of a municipality of 23 wards with four community development blocks comprising 42 Gram panchyats. Total population of the district was 2,51,642 as per the 2011 census. The population composition of Kalimpong is predominantly Nepali, which is a complex conglomeration of various castes and ethnic groups, with the ancestry of many of them rooted in tribal and animist traditions (Lama & Rai, 2016). Despite this, there are Lepchas, Bhutias, Sherpas, Tibetans and a small number of Marwaris, Biharis and Bengalis who mainly reside in urban areas. The district has distinct economic characteristics, with dominant farming villages, a few tea and cinchona plantation areas, forest villages, and a few urban pockets. The occupational pattern of the district is also based on the type of settlement that inhabitant possesses. No other labour-oriented major industries have existed, excluding a few tea and cinchona plantations. The hills are not as popular tourist destinations as the neighbouring Darjeeling hills and Sikkim state, but after a decade, homestay and eco-tourism have picked up with the effort of state government. Besides this, the majority of the population is still dependent on agriculture, horticultural farming, trading, and entrepreneurial activities. The Kalimpong district is behind in terms of micro-scale entrepreneurial practises as compared to other plains districts of the state as a result of its topographical conditions, poor infrastructural transport amenities, and more specifically, political instability over the last four decades. The impediment to development of micro-entrepreneurship in the region may also be a lack of political will by the authorities. Even today, there is reasonable connectivity in the region. Currently, there is a small number of micro-manufacturing entrepreneurs who produce a variety of products to fulfil the demand of local market. The cultures and customs of diverse ethnic groups serve as the foundations of micro-entrepreneurial practises in the Kalimpong hills. The majority of these entrepreneurs are running their units not only to sustain the self-employed but, more traditionally, to conserve their different disappearing material cultures. During the field visit, it was also found that some young respondents, especially those who engaged in bamboo crafts, woodcarving, knitting, ethnic dressmaking, and carpet weaving, were more fond of their cultural identity and were attempting to revive their lost material culture with new modern designs.

Narratives as Representation from Margins and Social Capital as Individual’s Feasibility: Experiences from the Hilly Micro Entrepreneurial Practises

The terms ‘narrative inquiry’ or ‘narrative analysis’ emerged as a discipline within the broader field of qualitative research in the early twentieth century (Riessman, 1993). A number of researchers have agreed that narration can be used to analyse sociological data and empirical evidence (Bertaux, 1981; Erol Isik, 2015, p. 103; Franzosi, 1998, p. 519; Poletta et al., 2011). Narrative-based discourses offer a new prospect for understanding questions and resisting inequalities. Human life is a constructed story interpreted by different people (Riessman, 2005), and it consists of human experience and action (Cruz et al., 2020). The narratives of the cases show that (a) narrative texts are stuffed with sociological information and (b) a significant portion of our empirical evidence is presented in narrative form (Franzosi, 1998, p. 519). This technique is more appropriate for studying history, culture, language, identity and emotions as long as the prominence of human involvement in building a story (Riessman, 2002; Wang, 2019), different experiences and expectations in our everyday lives, lead us to use divergent ways of telling our stories. However, these types of research are often criticized as storytelling in the absence of sound methodological and theoretical support. Prof. Indira elucidated that sociological discourse on questions of subaltern identities and the challenges encountered by persons living on the margins is inadequate without the use of narrative method. She further mentioned that the analysis of narratives could no longer be considered as a soft tool of sociological discourse because it has a large potential to combine theory with action (Indira, 2020). The implementation of narrative approach in entrepreneurship research has been comparatively sparse (Hytti, 2003; Wang, 2019). Researchers also emphasise the value of context, culture and identity when understanding entrepreneurial behaviour.

The term ‘social capital’ broadly refers to the network of social relationships, norms, and values existing between individuals (or collectives and roles) through one or more ties that facilitate cooperation and coordination among individuals in a society. It encompasses both the resources embedded in these relationships, such as information, connections, and reputation, as well as the obligations and expectations associated with them (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988). In recent years, there has been a greater focus placed upon social capital within the entrepreneurship literature (Anderson et al., 2007; Cope et al., 2007; Crowley & Barlow, 2022; Sengupta, 2010; Thornton et al., 2011) and social capital may influence economic action (Meccheri & Pelloni, 2006). Social capital in entrepreneurship may be accessed through different sources, primarily through kin groups, friends, co-workers, consultants, fellow members and business associate groups (Renzulli et al., 2000). The final benefit could be tangible or intangible, and it might include vital information, exciting ideas, or future prospects. It facilitates access to various resources, one of which is finance. For example, social capital can serve as an alternative form of collateral for those who do not have access to normal credit markets. It may also provide access to financial capital that is not available in ‘normal credit markets’ such as personal assets. In the absence of physical assets that can be used as collateral, people can rely on their social connections (Putnam, 1993). Several studies have confirmed the effectiveness of social capital in entrepreneurship as economic growth (Dasgupta, 2000), entrepreneurs with a strong network enjoying higher sales margins than those with a weak network (Minten & Fafchamps, 1999), future benefits (Chou, 2006), and trust development (Kennedy et al., 1998; Lutz, 2005; Sekhar, 2007; Zak & Knack, 2001). Recent studies have shown the positive effect of social capital on the entrepreneurial performance of small male fish traders compared to female fish traders in Kerela (Gunakar & Bhatta, 2021).

Nanglo a Kitchen Utensil

Nanglo ⁴ is one of the essential item for daily use in every Nepali household for multiple purposes. It represents a traditional material culture unique to the regions of Darjeeling, Dooars and Sikkim. Since its inception, Nanglo has been used to separate dust particles from paddy, rice and winnow grains, as well as cover beans, dried beans, green vegetables, fruits, and other foods in the sun. Apart from this, it is also used on many occasions and festivals for carrying different religious items. The 17 households of a remote village in Gorubathan block under Kalimpong district have been engaged in producing Nanglo for 40 years. There are a total of 25 households in the village, which is located around 80 kilometres away from Kalimpong town. Some households share a common platform for doing their everyday tasks, where both husband and wife work together. They create a temporary manufacturing workshop shed out of tarpaulins in a field near their house, where they spend six to seven hours together every day. A woman weaving a bamboo tray says,

I felt better working together, where I not only produce Nanglo but also interact and share my everyday experiences with other colleagues, instead of working alone at home. Here, we work as like the members of a same family. While, regarding the work activities, we usually start our day at 9.30 a.m. after having a heavy breakfast (rice, dal, and edible curry) and usually finish by 4 p.m. with a tea break at noon, though this varies depending on the workload and season.

Generally, the manufacturing season begins every September and lasts until May of the next year. The two reasons for the seasonality of work in this industry are to avoid the damp weather of rainy season from June to August, which causes fungus on finished products and can potentially damage the products. Another reason is to protect the new bamboo shoots, which sprout during this season. If not protected, it can cause damage to the harvest, and eventually create a shortage for the next session. During these three months, either, they have to remain unemployed or go to other villages in search of jobs like labour.

The division of labour has been found based on gender within the family, where a male member does harder work as compared to a female. Earlier, the males commonly used to go to the forest to carry the raw bamboo, but being too busy making it at present, they buy it from agents of another village. Mostly, husbandʼs work is to prepare the Bhata ⁵ and Choya, ⁶ which are being used to weave Nanglo. As a male respondent said, Choya, which is used to weave Nanglo.

Sarkey Rai, ⁷ a 45-year-old Nanglo Maker has shared his experiences of entrepreneurial activities since his 17 year to sustain his family. After dropping out of school at the age of fifteen, he began to join hands with his fatherʼs business, as his father was a professional Nanglo maker. Within five years, he learned everything related to weaving from his father and took over the business after marriage at the age of 20. Sarkey used to manage all the entrepreneurial activities (manufacturing, managing, marketing and financing) while his wife assisted him in weaving the thin bamboo pieces into a Nanglo. He encountered numerous challenges related to the profession he claimed,

[A]fter completing each of 100 items, I would have to go out for marketing and sell across the hills, including Terai, Dooars, and Sikkim. The location of my next sale would be based on my previous travel records. It took me around four to five days to sell all the items. This is the most challenging task, which always compelled me to leave the family for four to five days in every fortnight. Throughout these selling weeks, I must deal with a slew of issues, including food, lodging, physical and mental exhaustion, financial management, dealing, selling, etc. My initial experience in this profession was more humiliating, like visiting unknown villages with a bundle of Nanglo carried on the shoulder, asking for shelter at a stranger’s home in an unfamiliar village, dealing with anonymous people, being scared of government agents and local scoundrels, and so on.

Sarkey’s statement highlights his experiences of challenges that exist in micro-entrepreneurial field, what theoretical knowledge should be essential is completely anonymous to him; however, he always tries to maintain a good relationship with customers, and people meet during business hours. His actual price of an item is ₹250 per piece, but it could vary according to the distance covered by him when carrying charges from home. For example, if he visits Sikkim, he must pay an entry fee at the border check post, a taxi fare, a carrying charge, food, lodging, and so on. Sometimes the forest department guard takes bribes in exchange for selling forest products; however, this is dependent on the official’s behaviour. Sarkay further remarks on his income,

See, I could produce around sixty trays per week and earn more income but, while living in society, sometimes I am bound to assist and attend social ceremonies and rituals in the village; in addition, during illness or family urgency

His net monthly income is approximately 30,000 rupees per month although it may vary with time and situation, and he takes five to six days off every month. Besides these, the prolonged political unrest, the competitive market with imported machine-made plastic items and the recent pandemic are other major challenges experienced by him.

Carpets a Floor Mats

In the eastern Himalayan region, Tibetan carpets have found popularity in the residences of middle-income groups as flooring and seating. Traditionally, it was spread out as a symbol of prosperity and hospitality for guests. Tibetans pride themselves on their long history of fine quality artisanship and are extremely conscious of its influences on other communities like Indians, Nepalese, Bhutanese and some Westerners. Several research reports indicate that the Tibetan carpet became popular after the Tibetan settled in India and Nepal, where they began to rely on their traditional handicrafts, including hand-woven carpets, as a source of income. Some Nepali women from Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills have also learned this skill nowadays to earn their livelihood. According to a female respondent, the weaving process takes two to six months to complete because of its several processing steps, such as wool herding, weaving, trimming, washing, stretching and final shaping. Traditionally, the designs on the carpet were made up of Buddhist symbols such as pictorial languages, dragons, snow lions, phoenix designs, chrysanthemum designs, flower designs, etc., but nowadays the design has changed because of the influences of modern arts and alien cultures.

Kala Rai, a 47-year-old second-generation carpet weaver from a village under Block II, has been involved in this profession for 15 years. She came to this village after marrying a village boy named Raju in 2003 from a village in the Illam district of Nepal. She learned this weaving skill from her mother at home; she also worked as a carpet-weaving trainer for a government institution from 1998 to 2001, where she had to visit the different rural villages of Nepal to teach these skills to the young unemployed women. Later, she decided to get married to Raju from India and wanted to continue her career in India as well. Consequently, after one year of marriage, she could establish a new workshop at Rajus’s home and weave the carpets in similar designs, which are available in Nepal. Kala mentioned that her enthusiastic spirit of entrepreneurship made her produce more items, and she soon got a positive response from many orders from across the region. She argued that her pattern of carpet design was distinct in contrast to carpets available in the local market. Later, she could also provide employment for the two women to assist her and teach them the weaving skills. Her plan was to expand the business on a large scale; however, the sudden wave of political agitation in 2007 began to affect her entrepreneurial practices. Subsequently, in 2010, she faced the worst financial crisis because of the low marketing of her products. She stated,

In that situation, I went to the district industrial centre to take a loan of rupees two lakhs from the government scheme, but the efforts were fruitless after understanding the complexities of banking provisions associated with such schemes, which made me more frustrated and disappointed with the government agencies for their lack of cooperation. Finally, in 2011, I had to shut down the workshop with a four-time foiled project proposal submitted to the bank, which made my all-aspiring dream of entrepreneurship abandonable. In comparison to India, I found that government agencies in Nepal played a significant role in protecting and supporting micro-entrepreneurs in terms of financial or marketing issues.

Kala’s statement encapsulates how a regional issue affected the local micro-entrepreneurial voices in the hills and how a landlocked nation like Nepal played a key role in protecting their micro-entrepreneurs from breakdown in contrast to India. These statements also highlighted that due to the process of structural inequality that existed in the institutional agencies, complex banking procedures, and employee behaviour, Indian micro-entrepreneurs face a collateral problem when attempting to obtain credit from a public bank (Khan & Fatima, 2017). She further stated that,

To rely on my carpenter husband was the only choice in such a situation as on one hand, I was experiencing significant losses of investment for the first time in my life and on the other hand, I was pregnant for seven months with my second child.

In most cases, researchers discovered that women entrepreneurs must perform multiple roles in addition to entrepreneurial activities, such as prioritising family responsibilities, challenging traditional gender roles, and disrupting society’s subordinate position (Cardella et al., 2020; Henry et al., 2021; Welter, 2004). A powerful argument in female entrepreneurship literature shows that patriarchal household responsibilities are the key factors behind the low percentage of success for female entrepreneurs when compared to their male counterparts (Marlow & McAdam, 2013). Kala thought that the revival of the sub-national movement (Gorkhaland) in 2007 and its hegemonic political agitation and activities, including spontaneous strikes, and the constituency leader’s pressure to require compulsory attendance from each household at political party’s rallies and meetings had taken her attention away from the professional network groups. The political parties have provided space for local rowdies in Darjeeling’s politics for the last four decades, whose main intention is to create or spread fear among the common people (Chettri, 2018). Moreover, gender stereotyping in entrepreneurship is another vital factor experienced by Kala, like overcoming cultural barriers, low access to financial support, a lack of social capital, etc., which are some of the genuine issues interlinked to weaken her entrepreneurial enthusiasm.

Fings a Tibetan Food Recipe

Fings, ⁸ is one of the rare food industries of Kalimpong Hills. These industries arose in the region during the colonial period, when Kalimpong served as an imperative commercial hub for trans-Himalayan nations. In East Asian countries (China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong), fings are known by different names, such as glass noodles, silver noodles, cellophane noodles, harusame or fensi. It looks like glass with transparency when it has been cooked, which is why it is called glass noodles or cellophane noodles. It is prepared by mixing moong bean starch, sweet potato starch, and soya bean starch with water. Typically sold dried, it is soaked to reconstitute before being used in soups, stir-fried dishes, or spring rolls. After independence, the number of Tibetan food industries and Buddhist religious crafts has immensely increased in the region due to the settlement of Tibetans in different parts of the country (Subba, 1990; Thondup & Thurston, 2015). Fings has now become a popular food recipe for the entire Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayan communities, who use it as one of the most precious food items (the fings mushroom mixed recipe) on every special occasion. As per a local newspaper, around 90 per cent of its production is manufactured in the Kalimpong hills because of suitable weather conditions, whereas the remaining 10 per cent is manufactured in Sikkim and other areas. At present, there are around twenty households in the hills who are directly involved in this production process.

Arun Pradhan, a Fings entrepreneur from 12 miles near Kalimpong town has been engaged in this industry for twenty years. His intention to enter this profession was to become self-employed in his early twenties. Arun established the unit by investing ₹20,000 and employing two skilled workers at his home. He claimed to have had several sweet and bitter experiences over the last twenty years. His unit could produce more than 1500 packets per week on sunny days, while during the rainy season, the number reduced to only 500 packets per week. Currently, 10 of the workers in his industry are migrants from the Jhapa district of Nepal. He highlights the labour issues in the region, which he mentioned,

In this type of industry, one has to be loyal in terms of labour management since I have lost my amount numerous times during the peak season due to misunderstandings/conflicts with labour. I have had several bitter experiences where skilled labourers fled at night without informing me. The unavailability of skilled labour is one of a key problem in this industry, as the local labourers are not reliable and assiduous in contrast to migrant labourers from Nepal.

Arun faced the issue of unavailability of skilled labour in fings industry compelled him to rely on migrant labour of Nepal. He argued that the locals are not as reliable as labourers because of their absence at each of the tiny events organized in the area, like, political meetings, social ceremonies, festivals, and sports tournaments. Apart from this, the stinking waste products that come out from the industry is another difficulty, he stated,

For solving this problem, I have already invested more than one lakh rupees in making a drain and digging the safety tank for refining this smell, but it has not been fruitful. My neighbour is repeatedly advising me to leave this industry and shift to another career.

In the hills, most of the entrepreneurs are running their enterprises for the sustainability of their families’ survival because of poor marketing environments. Arun’s narration also highlights that his enterprise not only broke his relationships with the neighbours but also made him isolated in the village. Besides this, a common view amongst respondents of all micro-entrepreneurship was that the exploitative role of intermediaries (especially the old players of the local market, like, Marwaris and Tibetans), who make a profit without providing hard labour for their products. A respondent of Loley Gram Panchayat, Anish Subba 50 years old stated that,

As per my fifteen years of experiences in this industry why I could not able to expand my industry, you know why? It is the intermediaries, who always took more profit than I did, they never allowed me to expand the business and for this, I could do nothing instead of relying on them. They have a good number of customers from Sikkim, Dharamsala, Mysore, Tawang and Bhutan, where these products have decent demand on account of the large Tibetan hamlets.

Anish’s statement shows that the exploitative role of intermediaries and their intervention has affected every micro industry in hills. According to Singh (2010), in India’s agricultural and MSME sectors, intermediaries made double the profit that the actual owners earned, and even the role of the government in mitigating this is dismal. Anish further alleged this to his hill’s fellow noodles producers, who had yet to form an association and protect their rights from intermediaries. He argued that many other noodle producers are still unaware of their right to fix the market price and end the exploitative role of intermediaries. Currently, both of them are running the industry under certain circumstances with several challenges. However, the frequent political agitation, seasonality of production, marginal profit, high raw material and labour costs, harsh competition, repeated complaints by neighbours about the stinking waste products, etc. are some of the key hurdles behind the marginalization of their entrepreneurial spirits.

Challenges and Experiences of the Micro-entrepreneurial Activities in Kalimpong Hills

A new horizon of neo-liberal thoughts has emerged across the world since 1990s, and digital notion of marketing has existed for a decade, consequently, it has reproduced the new ideas of economic and political strategies and changed the structural pattern of occupation at the global as well as local levels. It provides a big opportunity for a large section of people, consisting of all genders, to earn a living by incorporating their innovative entrepreneurial ideas into commercial activities. It particularly assisted several women across the globe to break the stereotype and brought about a new trend of perception towards their traditional status in society (Klyver et al., 2017).

In the context of Kalimpong Hills, the environment of micro-entrepreneurship is different in contrast to other regions for several grounds. The hills have witnessed the suffering of a long social movement for last four decades; subsequently, it affected several institutions such as arts, skills, culture, music, etc. (Van Dyke & Taylor, 2018), of which the entrepreneurial sector is one has had the worst performance and function. During the field interview, many respondents shared their similar experiences regarding these prolonged political upheavals, which always confine them from progressive opportunities. In addition to surviving in this neo-liberal era, they have faced enormous barriers to not only upgrading their digitalization skills but also competing with mainstream e-commerce competitors, who have emerged as a vibrant alternative path of buying and selling goods through the internet and have seized more beneficial opportunities. The reason behind the disappearance of some popular traditional industries in the region, like the Tibetan shoe industry, the lace industry, and the state handloom industry, might be a direct impact of this policy. Moreover, the remaining entrepreneurs have been under tremendous pressure to compete with their domestic and international partners. Other challenges include the poor marketing structure, which has affected growth opportunities, lack of infrastructure, exploitative role of intermediaries, high cost of labour, lack of social capital, low understanding of entrepreneurial skills, reliance on traditional approaches; poor support system and so on. Perhaps the most striking finding of the study is the issue of land rights that has been faced by plantations and forest village entrepreneurs, who have always been restricted from accessing all the governmental schemes.

Nonetheless, some younger respondents who were involved in traditional enterprises did not look upon this entrepreneurship as an economic activity but as a source of conserving their culture through traditional crafts, even if they could make a marginal profit. Later, it was also found that those who were engaged in the making of traditional crafts had received several awards from different organizations for preserving their materialist culture. The reason behind the affection of culture towards the younger generation might be two main factors; first, the cultural awakening activities initiated by the regional political party during the second phase of the Gorkhaland movement since 2007, where all hill College students had to wear their traditional dress twice a week while entering the college premises. Second, the formation of sixteen state-funded ‘Development and Cultural Boards’ of different ethnic groups registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act of 1961 in the last 10 years.

Several studies have also proven that social capital is the most significant instrument in entrepreneurial activities, though it may be micro or macro (Collier, 1998). It includes having a family business background, membership in a business circle, work experiences, entrepreneurial skills, etc. which are the key exploring indicators to measure social capital (Davidsson & Honig, 2003), it enhances trust in one another in credit or material exchanges, to circulate information, (Gunakar & Bhatta, 2021). Furthermore, Caulkins and Peters (2002) revealed that to access social capital, some specific criteria are required, such as individual ethnic identity, residence patterns, attendance at social events, retention of native language, dependence on group assistance, self-sacrifice for group success, role differentiation based on sex, class hierarchies based on differential access to power roles, resistance to acculturation, conflict resolution mechanisms, etc. The social capital that has largely impediment micro-entrepreneurs of hills, forces them to rely on intermediaries who seize this opportunity to marginalise them. The Hills manufacturing micro-entrepreneurs are bearing additional expenses for negotiating, monitoring, litigation, and enforcement of a formal agreement owing to the absence of social capital.

Being a woman entrepreneur is not an easy task in contrast to being a man, as women have additional responsibilities for domestic work than professional work. Women have to balance family life and work life substantially. The burden of family and career obligations, patriarchal norms, mobility constraints, problems of working with male competitors, negligence by financial institutions, a lack of self-confidence, a low ability to bear risk, and a lack of interaction with successful businesspersons are the key challenges faced by Indian women’s entrepreneurs (Kumbhar, 2013). The majority of women entrepreneurs who are involved in the traditional micro industry belong to marginalized groups and remain underprivileged on account of a lack of access to skills and an ignorance of several governmental policies for improving their entrepreneurial potential and encouraging empowerment (Samantroy & Tomar, 2018). A woman carpet weaver in the above case study has been struggling with a similar situation as she practises entrepreneurship.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 1.

Source:

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 2.

Source:

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 3.

Source: