Every day, thousands of government and non-government employees enter the Bihar secretariat in Patna. A large number of them use the public canteen, run entirely by a group of women popularly known as Jeevika Didis. From cooking and serving food to managing daily accounts and deciding the menu, every aspect of the enterprise is handled by women. This canteen has emerged as a symbol of women-led enterprise in Bihar. This model has become a compelling example of women’s entrepreneurship. More importantly, the public discourse around women-led enterprises in Bihar is no longer confined to the corridors of power. It has begun to expand into villages, kasbas, and semi-urban spaces across the state.The reason for this shift is both simple and significant. Recently, the Bihar government announced the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, which proposes a base grant of Rs 10,000 for women from rural households, with additional assistance of up to Rs 2 lakh linked to enterprise performance. The scheme aims to lower entry barriers and improve the long-term viability of women-led enterprises.Jeevika and the architecture of collective enterpriseThe backbone of the scheme is around a leading social institution of the government of Bihar which is known as Jeevika. Jeevika has mobilised more than 12 million women across Bihar into Self-Help Groups (SHGs), creating one of the largest women’s collectives in the world. These groups pool savings, access bank credit and, crucially, provide social and institutional support to women who would otherwise remain excluded from formal economic systems. The enterprises themselves reflect a pragmatic adaptation to local constraints. With limited access to capital, infrastructure or formal training, women have gravitated towards activities that require low initial investment and build on existing skills and social networks. These include poultry and small livestock rearing, food processing, handicrafts, catering services and small-scale hospitality ventures.Also read: From Margins to Mandate: Demanding Representation in Bihar’s ElectionsTraditional crafts such as Madhubani painting and block printing, once confined to domestic spaces, are increasingly being organised into collective production units. Similarly, food processing units producing pickles, snacks and regional staples operate with basic machinery and local inputs. Community kitchens, popularly known as Didi Ki Rasoi, now supply meals to hospitals, offices and public institutions in several districts, simultaneously addressing nutrition needs and income generation. Backyard poultry and goat-rearing initiatives under Jeevika reach over two lakh families, providing both dietary protein and modest but steady cash flows. In some areas, women-run tea stalls, catering units and homestays are also emerging, linked tentatively to local tourism and service demand.Linking micro to macroThe crucial question now is how to design and implement strategies that effectively link micro-level initiatives to macro-level outcomes. This question reveals multiple layers of constraints and barriers to scaling women-led enterprises in Bihar. Among the most critical challenges is ensuring genuine ownership of enterprises by women, while also addressing structural economic barriers in the state.In a positive light, one key element for fostering ownership has been articulated by Nikhil Raj, who argues that grants should follow a matching model. Under this approach, women would contribute at least 25% equity, thereby promoting ownership, responsibility and long-term commitment rather than dependence on state support.Markets: The missing linkDespite their promise, these enterprises face a fundamental challenge from markets. Bihar’s low per capita income translates into weak local purchasing power, limiting demand for value-added goods in rural areas. Many women-led enterprises struggle to sell beyond their immediate geographies, making access to urban markets essential for sustainability.However, market linkage remains fragile. Limited digital literacy, patchy internet access and unfamiliarity with e-commerce platforms constrain women’s ability to reach wider consumers. Sales often depend on periodic government-sponsored fairs or exhibitions in places like Bodh Gaya and Patna, providing visibility but little continuity. Scaling beyond such episodic opportunities has proven difficult.Research by Gurpreet Singh, Praveen Jha and Nivedita Sharma on rural non-farm employment in Bihar highlights how fragmented markets and weak value chains limit growth, particularly for micro-enterprises lacking brand recognition, quality certification or logistical support. These challenges are not unique to Bihar, but they are magnified in a state where infrastructure gaps and low consumer demand intersect.The deeper constraint becomes visible when per capita income is considered. Bihar’s per capita GSDP remains roughly one-third of the national average, reflecting a large population base, continued dependence on agriculture, limited industrialisation and a narrow services sector. As economist Alakh Narayan Sharma of the Institute for Human Development notes, this structural fragility is compounded by migration. He points out that remittances sent by migrant workers account for an estimated 28% of total village income in Bihar, making out-migration a central pillar of household survival rather than a supplementary strategy. It is within this constrained economic landscape that a quieter transformation is unfolding – one that is led largely by women, and largely outside agriculture.Possibility from the marginsWomen-led non-farm enterprises in Bihar represent neither a miracle solution nor a marginal footnote. They are, instead, small but significant interventions in an unequal economic structure, cracks in an agrarian-dominated economy sustained by migration and remittances.Their importance lies not only in income generation but in a shift they signal in aspiration, agency and economic imagination among women long excluded from markets. Whether these initiatives evolve into sustainable economic pathways will depend less on individual effort and more on collective investment in markets, infrastructure and institutional support.In a state where leaving home for work has been the dominant livelihood strategy for decades, the question is no longer whether women can build enterprises but whether the economy can build markets that allow them to endure.Sanjay Kumar is founder of Deshkal Society and co-editor of Interrogating Developments: Insights from the Margins (Oxford University Press). Shruti is an independent researcher.