Economic Empowerment of Fisherfolk through Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Economic empowerment is the ability to make and act on decisions that involve the control over and allocation of financial resources (Golla et al., 2011).

Entrepreneurship is the ability to create and build something from practically nothing (Jaffrey.A.Timmons)

Entrepreneurship is generally considered as a means to economic empowerment of masses. It is also a solution to the two major problems faced by developing countries i.e unemployment and underemployment. Unemployment is a condition where people remain jobless without income for continuous period of time. Underemployment is a condition where people are forced to work in low paying or low skill jobs. Entrepreneurship can sufficiently tackle these two issues. It has a wider scope in the sense that it creates a lot of employment opportunities, provides flexibility and independence, opportunity to make a difference and an opportunity to contribute to the society. Taking into account the condition of marginalized people in Kerala, one of the major problems faced by them are financial constraints. When fisherfolk community is considered, their income is purely seasonal in nature. Off seasons can be overcome through logical exploration and application of entrepreneurial initiatives. This paper attempts to examine the ways in which entrepreneurship can be applied in the fisheries sector in Kerala.