99x Founder stresses empowering women via entrepreneurship

99x Founder Mano Sekaram 

– Pic by Lasantha Kumara

• 99x Founder Mano Sekaram calls for greater female entrepreneurship to ensure economic resilience at Women’s Leadership Forum held at Colombo
• Urges entrepreneurship facilitates innovation and adaptability in the face of AI, safeguarding economic independence
• Reveals around 87% of women likely to take on housework than men, 90% of women engaged in housework unpaid
• Opines women are well-positioned for leadership due to inherent empathy, healthy work-life balance
• Lists vision, validation, and business model as foundation to starting a start-up
• Calls for financial inclusion, enhanced AI integration to uplift female dominated start-ups

By Janani Kandaramage

99x Founder Mano Sekaram on Wednesday underscored the pivotal significance of entrepreneurship among women in enabling them to achieve financial independence and actively contribute to economic growth. 

Delivering the keynote speech at the Women’s Leadership Forum organised by the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka (WCIC), he expressed discontent at the inadequate female labour force participation and business opportunities for women in the country, while calling for efforts aimed at mobilising female-dominated Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups, removing barriers to market opportunities and bridging local skill gaps.

He highlighted the opportunities existing for women today, including self-employment, SMEs, and corporate positions, but stressed entrepreneurship’s role in fostering economic resilience for women in a world where job security is threatened by AI. 

“AI has led to a drop in reliance on manual processes, minimising much of the workload of the workforce, male or female. This often triggers feelings of job dissatisfaction over time that can be combated by encouraging more individuals to delve into new ventures and start-ups. Therefore, while the male population has been increasingly engaged in running start-ups, the number of female entrepreneurs is severely lagging, hindering their economic sustainability, particularly in Sri Lanka,” he explained.

He added: “Encouraging an entrepreneurial shift will, therefore, not only empower women but also strengthen the economy by fostering innovation and adaptability in the face of technological change.”

Speaking about the challenge posed by the rising ageing population in the country however, he noted that it has led to women becoming disproportionately burdened with domestic labour. In Sri Lanka, women are already around 87% more likely to engage in housework than men, and 90% of this work remains unpaid. 

Additionally, he acknowledged the harmful stereotype surrounding femininity that discourages women from seeking out leadership positions, hindering personal and professional growth. He debunked this myth by assuring the audience that: “If such stereotypes are deemed to be true, it is important to understand that you females have an upper hand in empathy. You will be able to use this gift to foster trust and psychological safety within teams, leading to improved collaboration, innovation, and overall productivity. In addition, as women have an exceptional ability to multi-task between juggling work and home simultaneously, they are inherently skilled at managing a department or a whole company just as they efficiently manage a home.”

Nevertheless, the 99x Founder also discussed that today’s globalised climate better positions entrepreneurs to operate as traders, while evolving demographics, such as an expanded middle class, create an environment conducive to entrepreneurship due to enhanced market demand and financial resources.

Outlining the process to successfully leading a start-up, Sekaram described the importance of a vision in serving as the stepping stone to starting a business. The vision, he opined, must challenge the norm or be directed at correcting a gap in the market. 

Secondly, he emphasised the need for balancing idealism with practicality through validation. Ideas must be validated via comprehensive analyses of current market trends and consultation from experts before proceeding to constructing the business model. He labels the business model as the ‘pivot’ to a successful start-up as it determines resource allocation, marketing budget, and the targeted customer base. 

Other policies targeted at uplifting women across the nation include a commitment to financial inclusion via awareness-raising and guidance campaigns conducted by entities such as the WCIC and banks, striving to ease financial access through diverse loan options. 

He also mentioned the advantageous need of integrating AI tools as a means of upscaling business operations, urging for programs aimed at up-skilling budding female entrepreneurs on the latest technologies and risks posed by AI.

He remarked: “Although these initiatives may seem tiresome and as if we are dipping into unknown waters, it is essential that we seize these potential risks and experience failures early on, using these failures as lessons to be learnt from before stepping ahead. Failure is universal to all in business as like in life. Therefore, we must not see them as an end but rather a means to an end.”