Grant is much different as compared to loan. There is no obligation to repay the amount instantly in grant. It is rather a support by the authorities to boost women’s confidence in Entrepreneurship.

Women have a skewed and minuscule representation in the business technology vista. Especially in India, there are very few startup companies that have women entrepreneurs, leading at the helm, making the decisions and running the business. This is a debatable statement, which is soon witnessing a major turnaround- with equal number of women exhibiting interest and growth in this sector.

In fact, major startups like Y Combinator, a seed accelerator firm based in the United stated was co-founded by Jessica Livingston, an E-book startup called Luzme was started by Rachel Willmer and so on. Thus, it can be observed that a change is due.

In order to improve representation of women community in the business technology sphere, there are several grants and perks provided to assist their developing businesses. Grants often hold an appeal for the primary factor that they need not repay the finance debts or even investments. But considering grant as merely ‘Free Money’ is a distorted idea in itself. It carries certain prerequisites with it too.

How is a grant different from a loan? – A grant and a loan are erroneously perceived to be the same, yet a grant is capital that does not need to be paid back with interest, or paid back at all. People offering you a grant are not looking to make profit, unlike the ones offering you a loan or seeking to invest into your startup. Yet, a grant requires immense corroborative facts as to what an entrepreneur uses the capital for or how the capital is spent.

Are you entitled to receive it?  – Women startups when looking for grants must be wary of the kind of organization the grant wants to bestow its capital upon, and whether or not they are qualified for the same. It entails tedious procedure on the startup having to go through rounds of questions and interviews on how they plan to use the capital given in the grant.

Government – Government also sets aside grants that it rewards to women who start their own enterprises and/or to women self-help-groups, which are a startup of their own kind, in a minuscule manner.

Research – Women entrepreneurs must be active users of social media and be on the hunt for grants that may be issued to them. A lot of grants go unused because of lack of awareness or of people not believing in their verity.

Build a Portfolio –

A portfolio of your company which exhibits you as a startup and embraces the ideals it imparts should be built. Creating a marketing portfolio, reaching out to more businesses and diversifying one’s business works miles and leagues in getting grants for companies.

Takeaways:

• Improvement in number of women entrepreneurs is breaking the typecast of Indian Startup market of having fewer women entrepreneurs.
• Several grants and perks are being provided to boost women participation.
• Taking Grant for granted is just not cool and should be taken seriously.