Does Family Matter? Exploring the Enablers of Sustainable Indian Women Micro Entrepreneurship

The present article attempts to encapsulate the enablers of a women-led microentrepreneurship sustainable model. To fulfill this purpose, a widely used Indian microcredit women entrepreneurship financial assistance model, namely Self-Help Group (SHG)-linked micro women entrepreneurs (MWEs), who accessed a second loan from the bank individually for their business expansion, were interviewed. Responses of such 30 MWEs were content analyzed using NVIVO 12. The codes, themes, and project maps were generated to identify the enablers resulting in a microentrepreneurial sustainable development framework. The results suggest that business know-how competencies (customer excellence, networking) and personal competencies (confidence, optimism, perseverance) were identified as prominent enablers, with family support as the most critical factor. Findings further suggested that MWEs’ sustainable success depends on capabilities of balancing the support provided from family to business and vice versa (family-to-business support), as well as leveraging the skills and experiences learned in the family for managing the business or vice versa (family-to-business enrichment). Positive spillover of the family-to-business interface was key to their business growth, unlike previous studies where the family was considered to be the biggest challenge for women entrepreneurship. A change in societal mindset and a shift toward gender parity was observed.