Women Entrepreneurship-Innovation and Management with Reference to Kerala and Karnataka

An entrepreneur is the one who conceives ideas for improvement in quality and quantity of business. She continuously remains informed about innovations and tries to apply them whenever wherever possible. Women entrepreneurs, mainly as a result of culture, religion and family background have been found to have traits different from their male counterparts and yet they stand with similar business issues including the need to continuously change and innovate. It is therefore striking that very little is known about the innovative practices of women entrepreneurs, especially those in states like Kerala and Karnataka.

Innovating is a process of creating, changing, experimenting, transforming and revolutionizing. Innovation is one of the key distinguishing characteristics of entrepreneurial activity. The passionate drive and intense hunger of entrepreneurs to forge new directions products and processes and to take risks set in motion a series of decisions that lead to the innovations that are important for economic vitality. Without these new ideas, economic, technological, and social progress would be slow indeed. The "creative destruction" process of innovating leads to technological changes and employment growth. Entrepreneurial firms act as these "agents of change " by providing an essential source of new and unique ideas that might otherwise go.

This paper examines the female entrepreneurial activity and provides tips from successful women entrepreneurs who tell how they have been using new technologies - and social media in particular - to excel in their careers and balance their professional and family lives.