Perception And Practices Of Women Entrepreneurship In Milan Garments Based In Nepal

Background of the study

There has been rise in globalization in the entire world (Hirst, Thompson and Bromley 2015). As rightly put forwarded by Beck (2015) the main aspects of globalization are that it is gradually eliminating the borders among the countries and urging the countries of different continents to come together. According to Crane and Matten (2016), there is free exchange of trade among the countries and adaptation of culture is an integral part of globalizations. Even though, cultural differences can create various toes of issues among the countries, at times, it has been helpful in development of the countries (Pieterse 2015). Due to globalization, many under developed, developing and developed countries have come together and there has been mutual sharing of culture. The developing and the under developed countries have learnt many things from the developed countries (Dunning 2014). Many backward classes who were not being given proper attention got the attention due to the globalization and many places learnt to bring equality between men and women. The conditions of women in many parts of the world have been seen to develop. The women broke out of the traditional role of looking after the household and took up the challenge to face the world (Baum, Frese and Baron 2014). They not only came out of their houses to pursue their career, they even went out of their native area and country. Eventually, the idea of entrepreneurship got instilled among the women.

Nowadays, many young people prefer to start their own venture rather than working under any particular organization or person (Drucker 2014). They like to apply their own business ideas and take success as well as failure in their strand. For the developed nations both men and women being given the opportunity to pursue their dreams but for the developing countries and he under developed countries the situation is bit different (Kirzner 2015). The women were not being given the support that they need from their family so that they can pursue their dream of becoming an entrepreneur. They have to fight it out with the family as well as the external environment so that they could follow their dreams (García and Welter 2014). On the contrary, the developed countries are always enthusiastic in making the women learn new things and help them achieve their dreams (Vossenberg 2013).

To throw light ion the perceptions and practice of women entrepreneurship, the case tidy of Milan Garments will be taken into accent in this research along with the entrepreneurship of Ms Sharada Rijal. Hailing from Nepal, Ms Sharada Rijal faced similar issues of resistance from the family but her constant hard work and the dare to take the risk attitude helped her to reach a place where she has been. She has been so determined in her career that not only she pursued her own dream but helped other women to pursue their dreams by making Milan Garments an organization that is run by only women. As the gender disparity is quite high in Nepal, she not only helped the women from the urban areas to achieve their dream but also helped the women from the rural areas to achieve their dreams.  

Background of the organization

Milan Garments started operating in the year, 1989 with the idea of empowering women. In Nepal Milan Garments is an organization that has maximum number of women working for them. Around thirty women employees work directly for the organization, while fifty employees work from their homes. The speciality of the organization lies in the fact that they make fully hand made goods like bags, caps, slippers and hat.

The recent massive earthquake in Nepal had left the organization shaken but not shattered. None of the members who are associated with the organization has lost their lives. Even though, many of them have lost their homes. The organization may not be as big as other manufacturing companies but he members are solely depended on the organization for their earnings as a way of living their life.

Nepal is a place in the world where there is huge disparity that exists between men and women. The women are not being given the desired place in the society and they are being denied many things that the men enjoy. Some of the women do not get their basic right of education and proper health. Being dominated by the men, the women have the least say in every aspect. In such a situation, the steps taken by Ms Sharada Rijal is out of the box and that have helped the women of the society to make their presence felt. In a place where women are treated as inferior, promoting women entrepreneurship might have been a tough job for Ms Sharada Rijal.

The issues that will be mainly discussed in the research paper is the way women entrepreneurship is perceived in Nepal so that it help other Sharada Rijals to take up steps in the society and help in promoting women entrepreneurship. The practices that are adhered to, by Sharada Rijal will be helpful for the future entrepreneursto make their presence felt in the society. the research will discuss about the issues of  inequality that still exists in Nepal and throw light on the fact that there is still a  number of changes that need to be done to make Nepal better place to live for the women.

The main aim of the research is to evaluate the perception and practices of women entrepreneurship of Milan Garments based in Nepal.

The objectives of the research are:

• To evaluate the way women entrepreneurship is perceived in Milan Garments based in Nepal
• To evaluate the practices that have been put to place to develop women entrepreneurship in Milan Garments based in Nepal
• To identify the steps taken in Milan Garments based in Nepal to promote women entrepreneurship

The research questions for the project are:

• How women entrepreneurship is perceived in Milan Garments based in Nepal?
• What are the practices that have been put to place to develop women entrepreneurship in Milan Garments based in Nepal?
• What are the steps taken in Milan Garments based in Nepal to promote women entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship defines the willingness and capacity of developing, organizing and managing a business venture along with its risk towards making some profit. The most obvious instance of entrepreneurship starts with starting business. According to Carland,Carland and Stewart(2015), entrepreneurship is the act of setting up own business rather than working under someone else. The entrepreneurs must work for their specific interest. This interest later translates into specific vision for the business of the entrepreneurs. On the other hand, Baeet al. (2014) opined that the person having entrepreneurship skills always search for innovative ideas and exploits those in accepting risk and uncertainty in the enterprise.

Rationale of the research

Entrepreneurial skills are associated with innovation and risk taking capability, which assists in succeeding in an ever changing and competitively dynamic marketplace (Carland and Carland 2015). Furthermore, the objectives of regional growth, employment generation and industrial development are highly dependent on the entrepreneurial development. Entrepreneurs actually seeds for industrial development, which can provide employment opportunities, enhance per capita income, enhance standard of living and savings of individual. It can also increase the revenue to the Government through export duties, import duties, sales tax, income tax and balanced development of regions.

Entrepreneur is the person, who has very high level of aptitude towards pioneering the changes and succeeding in business. Rather than simply generating an income stream by replacing traditional employment, entrepreneurs can create substantial wealth and several million of dollars in profit. As per, Carland, Carland and Carland III(2015), entrepreneurs are highly intended to take high level of risk for generating huge level of profit. Moreover, entrepreneurs are highly capable of generating rapid wealth creation for huge profit. The creative offering from the entrepreneurs actually fosters long term economic growth both for business enterprise and regions. Apart from that, McKenzie and Woodruff(2014) opined that entrepreneurs are personally involved in building their own business and enterprise. Moreover, they must have long term vision for sustaining long term profit for their enterprise.

The traits of the entrepreneurs vary from one entrepreneur to others. However, there are some common traits for all kinds of entrepreneurs, which are quite essential for successful entrepreneurship. According to Glaeser, Kerr and Kerr (2015), entrepreneurs always involve continuous search for innovative ideas for incorporating in new business model. They always analyze and evaluate the existing business models for framing the scope of new business model. Moreover, the continuous efforts of entrepreneurs always associated with bringing synergy in their business enterprise. On the other hand, Brutonet al. (2015) opined that entrepreneurship is an economic activity, which involved formation and operation of business enterprise towards generating higher value and wealth from the business. Moreover, entrepreneurs ensure optimal utilization of scarce business resources towards generating higher business profit. Furthermore, the value creation activity of entrepreneurial business is always connected with uncertain business environment. Therefore, entrepreneurship is often regarded as dynamic business force.

Martin, McNally and Kay(2013) stated that successful entrepreneurship demonstrates the willingness towards assessing the potential risks arising out of the new and innovative business ideas. New ideas are highly tentative, but their results are not often instantaneous or positive for the business enterprises. However, high level of profit is highly associated with high level of business risk. Moreover, the entrepreneurs must have the patients towards seeing the results of the business risk. In this way, the risk taking capability leads them towards gaining sustainable success in their business enterprises. On the other hand, Chellet al. (2016) opined that the entrepreneurs are always highly passionate about their business and deterministic about the potential crisis. Therefore, they are highly adaptive in nature and try to accommodate with the changing nature of the dynamic business environment. In this way, successful entrepreneurs can better handle with the uncertain and unfortunate situation in their business operation. While considering the successful entrepreneur, Mark Zuckerberg is most successful entrepreneur, who is highly capable of adapting with dynamic business environment through his innovation (Choi and Majumdar 2014).

Research aim

Women entrepreneurship is the new and emerging concept in the contemporary business world. Over the years, the women have become highly capable of taking the responsibility of their own business and managing them towards earning more profit. In the developed countries, people are now highly concerned about women empowerment and provide them sufficient freedom. Moreover, in such countries, the women also get their own identity beyond their families. However, women entrepreneurship has been encompassed around 1/3 in the world of entrepreneurs (Sabouri,Saberiyan and Arayesh2016).

According to Henryet al. (2015), before 20^th century, the women used to operate small business with an intension to supplement their income. In most of the cases, the women were struggling to remove their poverty and replacing the income for the loss of their spouse. On the other hand, Vosta and Jalilvand(2014) opined that most of the women in the earlier days were limited only within their domestic responsibilities. However, today, women are highly concerned about their career and make their life more progressive beyond their domestic responsibilities.

As per the previous researchers, most of the women entrepreneurs start their own business as their second and third profession. Generally, the women entrepreneurs enter into the world of business later in their life, which is mostly around 40 to 60 years old. However, recently, in most of the developed and developing countries, women are overtaking the education level of their male peers (Appelstrand and Lidestav 2015). With high level of educational qualification, today’s women are more likely to understand the business acumen and participate to run their own business towards gaining more profit out of the business. As per Jacob and Athawale(2016), the average rate of self-employed women in the OECD countries is 7.2%. It is indicating the increasing rate of women entrepreneurship in the world.

A female entrepreneur is also defined through an enterprise, which is owned and controlled by woman. However, the women must have financial interest of 51% and must generate at least 51% employment to other women (Kapur2016). The awareness of democratic value has led the growth of women entrepreneurship in the contemporary business world. Moreover, the raising concern for women freedom and empowerment has fosters the scope of women entrepreneurship. Furthermore, Rey-Martí, Porcar and Mas-Tur(2015) opined that the consultancy services and financial assistance offered by financial institution have enhanced the confidence level of the women towards stepping forwardand undertaking the responsibility of entrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurship is highly capable of economic development for their families as well as community. It can also reduce the poverty level and enhance women empowerment, which ultimately contributes in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Jennings and Brush 2013).

Research objectives

                           

                                                               Figure 1: Women Entrepreneurship Rate

                                                                       (Source:Kothawale 2013)

According to Arunachalam(2014), women are to explore new prospect for developing new business enterprise and undertake the risks associated with the economic uncertainties within the business operation. Furthermore, Raid and Srivastava(2013) pointed out that women are also to incorporate innovation and uniqueness in their business enterprise for creating competitive advantage with the rivals. Apart from that, women pursuing entrepreneurship are also having effective leadership skills for effectively managing people towards fostering business success. However, Achtenhagen and Tillmar(2013) opined that women entrepreneurs often face lack of support from their family member in running their business enterprise, which can limit their ability towards achieving business success. On the other hand, Hamilton(2013) opined that women often need to be dependent of men for performing their work requiring muscular strength. Apart from that, the mobility problem can also limit the entrepreneurship skills of the women for getting high level of business success and achievement.

Milan Garment is a popular art and crafts designing company in Nepal. The company was actually established in the year 1989 (User 2017). The prime products offered by the company are bags, caps, hats, slippers and lots of accessories. Since the establishment, the company is working for its betterment and empowering women workers. Most of the employees of this organization are women. The organization effectively contributes in the cottage industry for developing the economic condition of Nepal(Mazumdar and Ahmed 2015). The organization helps in preserving handicrafts and traditional arts. There are almost 30 women, who work directly to the company and almost 50 workers, who work from home (User 2017). The company also participates in various exhibition for making their crafting and handicrafts known to the world. The products of the organization are blended with unique design of expression, moods and attitudes. The managing director of the company is SharadaRijal, who believes in women identity in the society and their empowerment through fostering their independency with jobs.

Research questions

The products of the organization are also popular in international market. The organization never compromise with the quality of the products and provide timely delivery of the products (Yousafzai, Saeed andMuffatto 2015). The organization has celebrated 27^th anniversary(User 2017). The mission of the organization is to help the underprivileged women in the society. Apart from that, the organization also contributes in social movement through assisting producers and society for promoting sustainability (Mazumdar and Ahmed 2015). Moreover, the organization also provides frequent training program to the women for enhancing the quality of the products and also for enhancing the skills level of the women employees. Moreover, the shared idea among the women workers actually directs the betterment of cottage industry in Nepal.

Women entrepreneurship has become an emerging concept in the contemporary business world. From 18^th century, women started to participate in the business. In those days, the women used to participate in the businesses like alehouses, retail shops, brothels and taverns (Azmat 2013). Most of such businesses were not perceived to have good reputation. It used to consider as shameful for the women to be in such position. However, from 19^th century, with new progressive thinking and rise of feminism, women entrepreneurship has become most widely accepted term (Moses,Olokundun,andMosunmola 2014). Since then, women are highly associated with every kinds of business and various institutions are helping them towards financial management for running their business. However, most of the women are in the early stage of entrepreneurship as compared to male entrepreneurship of established business.

                     

                                                         Figure 2: Entrepreneurial Prevalence Rate

                                                                   (Source:Rauth Bhardwaj 2014)

As per Mazumdar and Ahmed(2015), women owned the formal sector globally by 37 percent. Moreover, as per Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 126 million women have started business and 98 million people already operate established business (Yousafzai, Saeed andMuffatto 2015). Moreover, women entrepreneurs tend to be more successful because of their trusted status in the community. While considering the most famous entrepreneurship in the world, J.K Rowling is the most common name, who is the founder of Harry Porter Empire. Apart from that, SharadaRijal is also very common name as successful entrepreneur of Milan Garments, who has also earned various awards on her entrepreneurship (Kumar 2013).

Literature Review

Milan Garments in Nepal strives for empowering women and male their self-identity. The owner and managing director of the company is a woman. The name of the owner of this company is MsSharadaRijal. She takes the all the decisions regarding the company towards its growth (Watson, Gatewood and Lewis 2014). Apart from that, she has employed 100% women artisans and they are independent in their jobs towards making arts for the products of the organization. According to Johansen (2013), most of the employees of Milan Garments have come from rural areas of Nepal. They have migrated from the rural areas for better employment opportunity and getting east access to required infrastructure. On the other hand, Lyngsie and Foss(2017) opined that SharadaRijalhas expert knowledge regarding manufacturing of Nepalese Garments and handicrafts. Moreover, her passion from excellence has led her business to expand in international market.

As per Kyrgidou and Petridou(2013), the women entrepreneur of Milan Garments effectively contributes to the cottage industry of Nepal. In this way, this entrepreneur has enough contribution to the economic condition of the country. Moreover, oChristopher Weber and Geneste (2014) opined that the entrepreneur is also capable of providing ample employment opportunity to the women towards perfect entrepreneurship. One of the most important goals of this organization is to provide equal opportunity to the women. Moreover, Milan Garments also supports the women, who are willing to break traditional household roles and become independent as well as self-sustainedGundryet al. (2014). In this way, the organization is fostering further scope of entrepreneurship among the women in the society.

The owner of the company is a woman and she strives for the grant success of her organization not only in domestic country but also in international market. She came from lower middle class family and had to face sever struggle in her life stage to become a successful entrepreneur. However, her creative and innovative power guided her towards incorporating unique blend of design in their products. Bulloughet al.(2015) pointed out that SharadaRijalwas extremely passionate about her business and applied her expert knowledge about the manufacturing of Nepalese Garments and Handicrafts. On the other hand, Lyngsie and Foss(2017) opined that the motivational power of this women entrepreneur has teaches many women towards being independent and self-sustained. She has perfectly incorporated women empowerment as an important part of her business enterprise. In this way, the practice of women entrepreneurship is highly appreciated in Milan Garments.

Concept of Entrepreneurship

The entrepreneur is also highly recognized by her clients and colleagues. Such recognition has come from high degree of professional integrity, passion for excellence and motivational power for her employees. Yousafzai, Saeed andMuffatto(2015) stated that SharadaRijal has been working for the empowerment of the women since her career starts. Moreover, currently, the entrepreneur has employed 30 women employees directly and 150 women employees indirectly(Mazumdar and Ahmed,2015)Apart from that, the entrepreneurs have effectively identified the social issues in Nepal in regards to women empowerment in Nepal. As per Glaeser, Kerr and Kerr(2015) the women entrepreneur of Milan Garments has been honored with Best Felt Social Entrepreneur for her social contribution. Furthermore, Carland, Carland and Stewart(2015) opined that the entrepreneur has received Successful Woman Entrepreneur from Ministry of Industry Nepal. In this way, the organization provides perfect scope to the women towards being independent and self-sustained. Moreover, Sharada Rijal is actually enhancing the potentiality of women towards being the next entrepreneur in their own business enterprise (Brutonet al. 2015)

The fashion designer of the organization is also example, who has the potential for becoming a successful entrepreneur. This employee came from rural sides and made large impact of the success of the organization. Her expert knowledge and enthusiasm in the work has made her successful in the organization (Martinet al. 2013). Furthermore, she has got enough scope to show her creativity and innovative power for making a difference in the product line of the organization. Apart from that, the support from the company owner has also enhanced her confidence level towards incorporating future entrepreneurial skills.

The marketing manager of Milan Garments is also a woman. She has also gained enough entrepreneurial skills from the working in this organization. Moreover, she has enough intelligence and enthusiasm for dealing the clients and making the products more attractive to the customers. Furthermore, the empowerment, which this woman gets in this organization,has enhanced her confidence level and enthusiasm level towards fostering growth of the organization. Apart from that, the years of experience gained from this industry has enhanced her knowledge towards becoming an entrepreneur in future. In this way, an effective practice of women entrepreneurship can be identified in Milan Garments(Sabouri,Saberiyan and Arayesh 2016).

Milan Garments has extreme contribution in the women empowerment of the society. Moreover, the organization has employed 100% women employees for crafting and designing the products of the organization. Moreover, the organization has rescued very women from the Nepal Disaster and provided them scope for making self-identity and self-sustained. The organization has perfectly taken the steps towards making the women self-independent. Moreover, the women employed in this organization are economically independent and can contribute money to their family(Rey-Martí, Porcar and Mas-Tur 2015). Moreover, these women are much more capable of facing the social challenge easily.

Milan Government has also sufficient contribution in the cottage industry of Nepal. In this way, the organization has huge contribution to the economy of Nepal. Apart from that, the owner of the organization is also capable of creating ample job opportunities for the women in this country. In this way, the organization is actually enhancing the employment rate of the country and contributing to the overall social wellbeing of Nepal (Yousafzai, Saeed andMuffatto 2015). Furthermore, the women employed in this organization are now highly capable of providing educational facilities to their children. Therefore, the entrepreneurial practice of Milan Garments is actually increasing the literacy level of the society by enhancing the overall social wellbeing(Christopher Weber and Geneste2014).

Research philosophy assists in gathering and evaluating the data regarding the topic of the research. It facilitates in collecting most accurate information about the research topic and analyzing them properly (Lushey and Munro 2015). Different types of research philosophy are available for conducting research study namely positivism, realism and Interpretivism. Positivism philosophy facilitates in assembling factual data regarding the research topic. The information collected from this philosophy are high measurable and trustworthy. Furthermore, Interpretivism philosophy facilitates in gathering socially constructed information (Dumay and Cai 2015). In this way, such kind of information explores the social issues associated with the research area. Moreover, such information also assists in gathering real facts for understanding the research issues properly. On the other hand, Realism philosophy uses mixed approach of positivism and Interpretivism philosophy (Choy 2014). In this way, Realism philosophy provided socially constructed information along with accurate information.

Positivism research philosophy has been chosen for this research study. This philosophy has facilitated in acquiring most authentic information about the research study. Moreover, the positivism philosophy has also facilitated in gathering factual information, which has actual enhanced the quality of the research outcome.

Research approach assists in gaining effective knowledge regarding the topic of the research. The selection of research approach is highly dependent on research variables and research topic (Vamsi Krishna Jasti and Kodali 2014). Two main types of research approaches are used in conducting the research study namely Inductive and Deductive Approach. Inductive approach allows in constructing new theories and models towards collecting authentic information about the research study (Farooq and O’Brien 2015). This approach uses the generalization from specific to general. The information is collected after constructing the theory. On the other hand, deductive approach facilitates in using existing theories and models towards collecting authentic information (Lather and St. Pierre 2013). In this approach, generalization is occurred from general to specific.

Deductive research approach has been considered for conducting this research study. Inductive approach is highly timely consuming and complex process (Gummesson 2014). Hence, this process can be very time consuming for the research study. It can also be highly expensive for the research study for creating new models and theories. On the other hand, deductive approach assists in applying existing models and theories towards gathering most accurate information about the research topic (Isaacs 2014). In this way, deductive approach can also reduce the time and budget limitation for the research study. Hence, deduction approach has been chosen for conducting this research study.

Effective research outcome can only be get from proper understanding research topic. Moreover, effective understanding of the research topic facilitates in gathering more information regarding the research variables (Beckman 2014). Effective and specific research purpose facilitates in emphasizing the understanding the topic of the research study. There are three prime types of research purpose for conducting the research study namely exploratory, explanatory and descriptive. Explanatory purpose is effective for identifying the relationship between various research variables (King and Mackey 2016). This purpose leads to perfect linking between different research variables. Furthermore, exploratory purpose facilitates in evaluating the background of the research study. Moreover, it also helps in identifying social causes behind the research study, which assists in understanding the background of the research area (Guthrie 2015). It also assists in recognizing the current issues regarding the topic of the research area. On the other hand, descriptive purpose facilitates in proper explanation of the research area, which provides actual purpose of the research study.

Accurate result of the research is highly dependent on proper understanding of the research topic. Therefore, it needs to get proper explanation of the research topic (Ostrowski,Helfert and Gama 2014). Hence, descriptive purpose has been selected for conducting this research. It has also assisted in framing effective research objectives and questions for gathering proper information about the research topic.

Research strategy can be defined as an effective tool for assembling accurate and relevant information about the research areas (Hooper and Gunn 2014). Various types of research strategies are available for conducting the research study. Focus group is considered in case of secondary research study. In case of primary data collection, case study, interview and survey strategy can be selected for gathering accurate information regarding the topic of the research study. Case study strategy assists in gathering specific information regarding from specific case studies related to the research areas (Kimet al. 2015). On the other hand, survey strategy is conducted by distributing research questionnaires among the selected respondents. Furthermore, interview strategy is applied by constructing unstructured questionnaires and asking them those questions to the organizational heads of the organization (Pearson, Albon and Hubball 2015).

This research study has been based on primary data collection process. Case study strategy has been selected for collecting important information regarding the specific context of the research topic. Apart from that, Interview strategy has also been selected for collecting organization specific information from the organization heads. In case study method, the study has typically utilized most relevant cases for demonstrating the existing situation of the organization. Moreover, the study has aggregated huge information collected from several cases studies of the organization on the specific topic. Apart from that, the data based on critical case studies of the organization has provided most authentic information about the women entrepreneurship (Ostrowski,Helfert and Gama 2014). Furthermore, this method has facilitated towards narrowing down the broad field of research into specific researchable topic. Therefore, the method was quite helpful in gathering most specific information regarding the women entrepreneurship in Milan Garments.

Data Collection is extremely vital activity in conducting research study. Both primary and secondary data collection method are important for collecting authentic information regarding the research topic(Kimet al. 2015). Secondary data sources assist in framing the literature review of the research study (Friedman 2014). Secondary data sources are available from the authentic journals, books and websites. On the other hand, primary data collection facilitates in gathering first hand data regarding the topic of the research study. Moreover, in primary method, two types of data collection techniques are available. These two types of data collection techniques are qualitative technique and quantitative technique. In quantitative technique, survey questionnaires are distributed among the chosen same size for the research study.  The respondents are asked to answer to the questionnaires distributed to them from their point of view(OstrowskiHelfert and Gama 2014). On the other hand, in qualitative method, the information is collected from the interviewing the organizational heads of the concerned organization. In research study is based on primary method of data collection (Kimet al. 2015). Moreover, qualitative method of data collection has been selected for conducting this research study. Interview data collection process has been chosen for collecting specific information regarding the specific information regarding the women entrepreneurship in Milan Garments. It has helped in collecting most specific organizational specific information from Milan Garments regarding their women entrepreneurship practice.

The data regarding women entrepreneurship in Milan Garment has been collected from qualitative data collection method. Moreover, case study method has been adopted for gathering required information regarding the women entrepreneurship in the organization. It is an intensive study based on the specific context of women entrepreneurship in Milan Garments. Empirical inquiries regarding the real-life context of the organization helped in exploring the real context of women entrepreneurship in the organization (Hooper and Gunn 2014). It has provided insights into the specific context of this study and assisted to gain most useful and real information.

In order to conduct this research study, 3 organizational heads of Milan Garments have been selected. These 3 organizational heads have been interviewed regarding the collecting the information about women entrepreneurship in their organization.

Data analysis is an extremely vital activity in getting accurate outcome of the research study. It can convert the general information of the research to specific information(King and Mackey 2016). This research study is based on qualitative data collected from case studies and interview strategies. Therefore, survey method cannot be applied for analyzing the collected data. Moreover, for analyzing the qualitative data observation method has been chosen. The views of the organizational heads of Milan Garments have been observed for analyzing the trends and patterns of their response. In this way, the actual meaning and results of the qualitative data has been interpreted.

Successful completion of the research study is highly dependent on its compliance with ethical consideration. It is not right to force any participants to participate in the data collection process (Ostrowski, Helfert and Gama 2014). Moreover, such practice has been perfectly maintained in this research study. The respondents have not been forced to participate in the data collection process. Moreover, the respondents were allowed to tale voluntary participation in the data collection process. In this practice, the respondents were allowed to quite their name any time after enrolling their name in data collection process(Pearson, Albon and Hubball 2015). It was also ensured that the participants were not harmed in anyway either physically not mentally. Apart from that, it was also ensured that the information collected for the research study was only for personal use and not for any commercial purpose(Hooper and Gunn 2014). The respondents were not also forced and influenced in any way for answering the questionnaires. Moreover, the data collected was protected from any kind of leakage. The data was protected through maintaining data protection act.

The research has been done based on the business of Milan garments. The best part of Milan Garments is that the organization is mainly based on the entrepreneurship of women in the organization. It has been famous for placing the women in the organization in different types of roles

What has inspired in becoming an entrepreneur? What are the hurdles that you have faced while carrying out the business?

The business Milan Garments is the brain child of Ms Sharada Rijal is the idea that she wanted do something of her own. She could not start her career as an entrepreneur at a young age due to the pressure from the family and she started working as a school teacher. However, she got the support from her husband for her choice of career. He supported her she took out $100  from her provident fund for her business by buying two sewing machines to start the work. she portrayed her never giving up attitude that helped her to tock to her dreams.  

Since the beginning of the business, she had to struggle not only with the external environment but also with her family. As narrated by Ms Sharada Rijal, not only she but entire Milan Garments has to struggle to reach a position where she has been. As pointed put by Ms Sharada Rijal in the initial days, she used work in the school in the morning  and worked at Milan Garments in the evening. She said that she had mainly faced monetary issues. She  borrowed money not only for her husband  but from her friends and her relatives.

After few year of struggle, Ms Rijal finally got an international client from Switzerland specializing in hats. This contact opened door to new arena and her business started to bloom. A major success came when she got a huge international order to supply crazy hats for 1998 FIFA World cup.

She was the only women entrepreneur from Nepal who supplied hat to the World cup and therefore an international magazine named her the ‘Hat Lady’.  Later the garment industry in Nepal was struck down by the decade long civil war and political instability. Through one of her old staff, she got the idea to diversify her business into self-products. Uncertain of this new field of handicrafts, she started this from her dining table with just one employee. She made the change at the right time and now her business is internationally recognized.

Today Milan Garments has become an example of women empowerment as the company employs more than 30 women artisans.

Ms Rijal has acquired 25 years of experience as a business owner and entrepreneur. She has expertise in areas ranging from business operations to marketing of handicrafts and Nepalese garments worldwide. She has established three companies: Milan Garments, United Nepal Felt Industries and Lalit Handicrafts.  Having the expert knowledge in manufacturing of Nepalese garments and handicraft, currently she is exporting her products in countries like Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Korean, United Kingdom and many more. She feels that are dedication and interest toward her work has helped her to achieving her dream. She believes, if a woman is determined to bring the change then nobody can stop her in achieving so. This determination toward betterment of the women has lead to achieving various awards and honors.

Her industry works on certain principles, one of which is that they strongly discourage child labor. They support and protect proclaimed human rights and give equal opportunities to every capable woman. At the same time, they are concerned about saving the environment and therefore, take precautions so that their work does not cause harm to the environment. They are even concerned about the health, safety and interest of their employees. The employees work no more than eight hours a day. Due to huge amount of public holidays in Nepal, a Milan garment has fifteen plus twelve additional paid vacations. On the top of that, they understand the situation of the employees and grants leave for family reason and even sick leave. The industry even provides an additional remuneration with the monthly salary, which is similar to the 13^th salary in European countries. The employees are paid prior to the big holiday season in October to facilitate the families for preparation of prayers, feast and present.

Ms Rijal believes the employees are integral and important part of her company, without them it is impossible for her to gain success. Therefore, it is essential to have a employee-friendly working environment which will encourage the employees, and in turn help boosting her business.

In order to achieve success it is important to set certain goals and strive to achieve those. Same is the case with Milan garments, the main goal of her industry is to bring women in the mainstream of business and economy by creating employment opportunities while maintaining quality of the products and prompt delivery for the clients. With this, they emphasize cost effectiveness and quality for greatest customer satisfaction. They try to remain flexible with changing attitudes of the customers, demands and other environmental influences.  They strive to provide employment to the under-privileged section of the society, particularly to the women. Milan garments employs 100% women artisans. Most of them come from rural areas of Nepal or surrounding villages to the capital for better employment opportunities, education for their children and access to infrastructure. Many of the employees are Maoist victims who were forced to flee their villages and move to city.  The pride of her industry lies in the employees who are breaking the traditional household roles and becoming independent and as well as self-sustained. One of the important objectives of the industry is that they utilize locally available resources and workforce in the production and operation process.

Milan garments is the place where it has given opportunities to the women from various parts and especially the rural women. The fashion designer of the organization is rural women and following is an excerpt of her journey from where she was been and the place where she is today

When the fashion designer was asked about her journey, she presented a picture of rural Nepal where the status of the women in rather poor as compared to other countries of the world. She pointed out that being born in a rural family of Nepal; her father and her husband have dominated most of her life before she joined Milan Garments. Her parents married of her at an early age without even a choice of accepting or rejecting her marriage. Her father was the one who decided the person who she will marry.

Unlike other girls who have accepted the fact about marriage, the fashion designer of Milan Garments was  bit different. Quite similar to Rijal, she wanted to do something where she can earn independently. As a child, he had the interest of art and craft but she never got to practice her talent in a fully fledged manner as the society where she lived never allowed her to do so. Being a rural women her contribution towards the development of the people in the house was considered negligible and her other qualities ere never considered to be something that could be put to practice.

She pointed out other grievous factors that she and other rural women of Nepal has to go through. The health of women in the rural areas is generally overlooked. The women are not given proper education and their participation are never considered to be something important. The men in the household are the decision-makers and they have the women have the last say when it comes to government or household. The fashion designer of Milan Garments pointed out that the insurgency that has been going on between the state and the rebel in Nepal is the main contributor of the disparity. The rural population of Nepal never got to understand modernity and hence, the gap in the society between men and woman kept on widening.

The fashion designer does not have any children but her ordeal with child bearing is something to think about. She was married of at the age of 15 and she was asked to bear child at the age of 16. At an age when she wanted to complete her education and ant to pursue her passion on deigning, she was left with no other choice but to start family. She got pregnant at the age of 16 and within first three months of her pregnancy she suffered a miscarriage. The doctors pointed out that she was not matured enough to bear a child. She even pointed out that she have seen death of many women due to child birth. At a young age they are unable to bear the weight of the child and their poor health conditions result in such grievous issues.

After going through the ordeal of pregnancy at an early age, she decided to fight back. She had heard of Milan Garments and its unique concept of women only organization. She found to be a way to change her life than staying at her place and bear the torture that is given to her in the name of traditions. As the family was against the idea of working, she left her home without telling anyone and came to Milan Garments. Rijal instantly appreciated her art and she was got to training by the organization. She has been working in the organization for more than five years and has become one of the senior designers of the organization. She is thankful to Rijal as well as Milan Garments for giving her the platform to show case her talent and the way it has helped her to empower. The women who are working at Milan garments come from normal as well as adverse situations and their experience give the fashion designer the energy to fight back. Rijal is her role model and her future goal is to become an entrepreneur herself. she said that if she becomes an entrepreneur herself, she will still always be thankful to Rijal and Milan Garments and continue serve the organization as long as she can. She is thankful to Milan Garments for changing her life for the good.

Milan garment has kept no stone unturned to serve the society as well as the women who are living in the society. It has supported women is every aspect of their life. Another group of people, especially the women who have been supported by Milan Garments are the Maoist victims. The women who became Maoists at an early age due to the demands of the situation, now wants to come back to the normal life. However, the society is not very welcoming for them. The marketing executive of Milan garment has faced one such issue.

When she was asked about her journey in Milan Garments the first thing she pointed out is the inequality that exists in Nepal. The female Maoist combatants take up a considerable amount of population in the society. She pointed out the data by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) where it has been said that one in every three soldiers were women. The women were being taken as child soldiers during the war. The marketing executive who works for Milan garment is among the many that have been rescued by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). While she was in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), she was treated equally as men but the main issue that she faced is family. She was grief stricken as she as treated well by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) but her family did not accept her. While she was young, she went to the war as it was being conveyed to her that she is fighting for the nation

The marketing executive of Milan Garments pointed out that she was only a teenager when she joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to take part in the war but now she is not been accepted by her family. As she has been discharged from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and her family is not ready to accept her she was left with no known face and place to stay, she was had no clue where to go.

Milan garments helped this type of women and she found the place of her last retort. The story of the marketing executive of the organization has thrown light on the fact of  UN Population Fund (UNFPA) they the women who are the war victims are facilities as compared to men. As per the marketing executive of Milan Garments the situation is even worse for the Maoist victims. Not only the external environment family members were ready to accept them for a mistake that they might have done without even understanding the steps that they were taking. The inequality between the men and the women in the society in Nepal starts at an early age. The girls who did not like the inequality joined the Maoist. They thought that joining the war might help will help them to come out of the inequality that is being practiced in the society. The marketing executive of Milan Garments was one of them. she wanted to break out of the disparity that is happening in the society and joined the Maoist clan as they treat the boys and the girls equally. Little did she know that she will end up in one of the most gruesome acts and will finally end up losing her family forever. Even though she got the help from the army but while in war  she ended up for being responsible for a huge population losing their life. When she had no hope for herself and Milan garments helped her.

At Milan garments, she was given the training to talk to people, about the products and help the organization to grow. The marketing executive should know all the aspects of the job and should  be ready to take up any challenging role for promoting the products of of Milan garments. Moreover, she was taught about the way to promote the products to the people and talk to them so that they like Milan garments. She is enjoying her new life out from the bloodshed and the mass destructions. She is happy to work with an organization where they are looking after the women and also helping them, to make their presence felt in the society.

As of now, she is brushing her skills in the designations that has been given to her and she has been working with the organization for the past 7 years. After so many years of service, the organization has become her family. She is not planning to start her individual business as that will take time according to her. She also helps Rijal in her decision and also suggests that Milan garments should not stay confined to Nepal. She is all praise for Rijal for her steps towards women empowerment and aspires to become like her in future.

Conclusion and recommendations

• To evaluate the way women entrepreneurship is perceived in Milan Garments based in Nepal

At Milan garments, women entrepreneurship is being the utmost priority. The organization is a women only organization and it shows that the organization believes in development of the women in all respect. The interview of Rijal showed that she is not a woman who would not easily give up on her dreams and passion. She not only thinks about her own dreams but also helps in development of the dreams of the women who were present in the country. She believes that every woman has the right to earn for her living and be independent in her life. The organization helps in the development of the women no matter from whatever background she comes from.

• To evaluate the practices that have been put to place to develop women entrepreneurship in Milan Garments based in Nepal

The interview of the employees of the organization throws light on the fact that a number of practices are taken care by the organization to help the women grow. The fashion designer is from the rural background who as married off at an early age. The marketing executive is a Maoist victim who is being not accepted by her family after she returned home. Milan Garments help those women in dispute and helped them to achieve their drams. As said by the fashion designer she wanted to make her own living and had an interest towards arts and crafts. Even though, her family did not supported her, she got spurt form Milan Garments. The organization helped her by giving her training and currently she is one of the senior designers. Helping the rural women, dreams in one of the best actions that could be taken by Milan Garments. Josie women who are not supported by their family is being support by Milan Garments.

• To identify the steps taken in Milan Garments based in Nepal to promote women entrepreneurship

After going through the actions of Milan Garments, it can be said that empowerment of women is key success towards women entrepreneurship. The women who have been interviewed for the research are being empowered by Milan Garments. They have the capability to do their job but lack of resources stopped them from achieving their dreams. the marketing executive might not have dreamt of working in that field but it has the steps of Milan Garments has helped the person to get a job when she did not have any retort thus, it has been seen that all the steps taken by Milan Garments is directed towards empowerment. The women who did not have any idea of doing business is thinking of taking up the field after seeing Rijal and her dedication.

Milan Garments is already working for the development of the society and especially for the development of the women of Nepal. The steps taken by Milan Garments is commendable as it has given the women who have not being able to get desired opportunities in their life. However, it can be recommended to Milan Garments that they can take their business outside  Nepal and work for the development of women in different countries in this world. Many countries are still fight for the development of women. If Milan Garments spread their business in those countries will not only be helpful for the organization but also be helpful for the women in the society. The women for different parts of the world will get proper exposure and the international business of Milan Garments will help them get better opportunities in future.

The main limitation of the research is that is confined to one organization and one place. The women are being dominate by men at many places in this world and there is minimum facilities for them. Many other organizations might have worked for the development of women and have gone through many different situations. The issue faced by those women and the steps taken by other organization might have been able to throw different light to the situation, which has not being done in this case.

The student or the researcher who will be doing similar types of study can use the present paper as their secondary sources of research. They can take the interviews of the employees and Ms Sharada Rijal to get an idea about the practices and perceptions of women entrepreneurship.

The organization who have not thought of any type of actions that has been taken by Milan Garments can think of implementing such actions that will help the organization to develop and prosper. The steps taken by Milan Garments can also be taken by other organizations to help the women of the respective countries develop.

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