Reviews the position of women in society, with particular reference to their educational achievements and employment opportunities. Focuses on the potential of microcredit programmes and how women entrepreneurs affect the global economy. Assess where rural women stand in the development process today.

Women's entrepreneurship is on the rise globally. In the past few years, 163 million women were starting businesses across 74 economies worldwide, while 111 million were running established businesses, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2016/2017 Women's Report (GEM, 2017). Numerous studies throughout the world have consistently demonstrated the positive effect of women entrepreneurs on economic growth, job creation as well as social benefits, particularly in developing economies (Cuberes and Teignier, 2015; Fetsch et al., 2015; Lewis et al., 2014; Hailemariam et al., 2019). A point in case is China, China has one of the largest populations in the world, with a population of 1.4 billion and of which 48.7 per cent is accounted by women (worldbank.org, 2019). Until recently, female entrepreneurs were mostly unheard of in China's business environment largely due to cultural barriers and the dominant male-focused society, as noted by Lai (2017). However, the rise of online and social media platforms (WeChat and Weibo) is offering huge potential with minimum cost and is offering huge potential to empower Chinese female entrepreneurs globally. Using a survey involving 60 female entrepreneurs and four in-depth interviews with female entrepreneurs in mainland China and Hong Kong, the study explores how Chinese women entrepreneurs are using social media platforms and the benefits and motivations behind their use in an emerging market. The research points to evidence that female entrepreneurs are embracing this new marketing channel with new impetus and the research suggest clear gains (through the greater market and customers' access) along with a greater feeling of empowerment. The study also points to certain challenges and disadvantages and highlights the need for supports/training in the social media space.

The book, "Take Off: The Blossoms of Women Empowerment" plays an important role in the area of focusing on empowerment, upliftment, enrichment and why not entrepreneurial enterprise owned by blossoming women of today.The empowerment of women is essential to development of nation and particularly for the reduction of poverty in real terms.Today women empowerment takes place in all levels through SHGs, entrepreneurship, business enterprise, inclusion of Information Technology, globalised scenario and informal sectors.The blossoms of women empowerment reached frontiers of political, economic, social and total personality of an individual. This book comprises achievement and participation of women from all walks of life.This book reiterates the famous saying of Kofi Annan "There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women".This book enhances the readers to realise the inherent potentials of women belonging to different sectors.

Business and Development Studies: Issues and Perspectives provides a comprehensive collection of cutting-edge theoretical and empirical contributions to the emerging field of business and development studies. Compared to more traditional business-school accounts of business in developing countries which focus on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in developing countries, this anthology explores whether, how, and under what conditions business contributes to the achievement of economic, social, and environmental goals in developing countries. The book consolidates the current status of academic work on business and development, identifies state of the art in relation to this academic field, and establishes a future research agenda for ‘business and development studies’ as an emerging academic discipline within the social sciences. The book will be of interest to researchers and students, including economists, geographers, sociologists, political scientists, corporate social responsibility specialists, and development scholars who are seeking an in-depth overview of current debates about the role of business as a development agent in the Global South. The book is also of relevance to practitioners that are engaged in work with the private sector seeking to enhance the positive effects and minimize the negative economic, social, and environmental consequences of business activity in the Global South.