Bhubaneswar, Sept. 1: Women entrepreneurs involved in micro enterprises are grappling with lack of enabling environment and support services, which is hindering their growth.

Meenakshi Prusty, a 54-year-old woman from Gope in Puri district, runs a unit that produces utility products using organic fabrics. She and 35 women from the area manufacture around 50 items such as jute folders, school bags and home décor products.

Apart from supplying items to various educational institutions, a few government departments also procure products from her.

But the entrepreneur said her workers had no work to do for around 15 days a month because of lack of assignments. "We do not have access to markets and that is a big reason why most people still do not know about our products, all of which are very environment friendly," she said.

Sanjukta Bhutia, another entrepreneur, based in Khurda district, produces food supplements such as sugar-free sattu. She explained why women in micro enterprises did not get sufficient access to the market. "There are various factors that limit women's access to markets. Many a time, we are unable to reach out to the markets because of family responsibilities or cultural hierarchies."

Another problem faced by the entrepreneurs is lack of cooperation from nationalised banks.

"I sought loan of Rs 25 lakh for my jute manufacturing and stitching unit, but the bank sanctioned only Rs 10 lakh," said Prusty.

"Banks often provides women less than the amount sanctioned by the government. Loan officers also seem to be prejudiced against women entrepreneurs," said Jyotirmayee Mohanty from in Jagatsinghpur. Mohanty runs a firm that produces various types of spices.

"A major hindrance we face is that banks seek security deposits and mortgage for giving loans of a few lakhs, while the rulebook says no collateral deposit is required for loans up to Rs 1 crore," she added.

Around 130 entrepreneurs from 10 districts, such as Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Cuttack and Kendrapara, gathered in the city for a workshop hosted by the Odisha Khadi and Village Industries Board where they put forth their problems before the state government.

These women run micro industries in various parts of the state in fields such as tailoring, food processing, service centres, paper plate making and jewellery making.

They also spoke about issues such as lack of packaging facilities, lack of incentives and access to productive resources.

Secretary of the state micro, small and medium enterprises department L.N. Gupta said the government would shortly draw up a roadmap to address problems faced by the women entrepreneurs of the state.

According to sources, the number of micro and medium enterprises by women entrepreneurs increased to 2,943 in 2014-15 from 886 in 2012-13. The quantum of investment also increased from Rs 50 crore to Rs 104 crore by the entrepreneurs over the three years.

"We will hold discussions with various nationalised banks to solve the issues and problems faced by women entrepreneurs and to encourage financing to more village industries run by women," said the secretary.

The government also promised to involve women in food processing at the food parks being set up at Deras and Rayagada.

"We will also hold an exhibition meant exclusively for women in the state capital in December to promote products made by women entrepreneurs," said president of the khadi board Tejeswar Parida.

Also, the women micro entrepreneurs will shortly be taken under the fold of the Odisha Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises, which is affiliated to the World Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises.