Although women entrepreneurs play an important role in economic development, they still continue to face financial, structural, and socio-cultural barriers in their journey towards growth. This study identifies opportunities for women entrepreneurs in Karnataka, focusing on how digital infrastructure influences their business scaling and sustainability by also bringing into light their struggles and challenges by using qualitative approach-in-depth interview of nine women entrepreneurs across various sectors for the same. The findings suggests that gendered barriers such as, restricted access to finance, workplace partiality, and societal expectations, remain major challenges. Despite these challenges, digital infrastructure has become a significant tool for progress allowing women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses through social media, digital payment systems, e-commerce, and automation tools. However, the gap in digital literacy exists, making it difficult to utilize all available resources fully. To overcome these challenges, women entrepreneurs adopt strategies such as business diversification, building strong connections, mentorship, and learning digital skills. These strategies not only help them to stay strong in entrepreneurial activities but also ensure to long-term economic success. The study finds that while digital tools provide new opportunities for women entrepreneurs, targeted policy interventions, financial support, and digital literacy programs are needed to close existing gaps

Women Entrepreneurs, Digital Infrastructure, Business Scaling, Financial Barriers, Gender Challenges, Digital Literacy

The analysis presents complete information about how women entrepreneurs overcome obstacles using their strategic business approaches and also discovers available prospects in Karnataka. Digital tools help promote business expansion, but these women entrepreneurs still face barriers because of their gender despite such opportunities. Despite their financial problems and cultural pressures and lack of proper guidance women entrepreneurs can find success by using digital tools while growing their businesses through networking opportunities. Supportive conditions for female entrepreneurs will increase women's economic strength and cultivate future economic growth in India

Sai Harshita Dewangan and K. Yogeshbaba (2025). Digital Infrastructure as a Catalyst for Women Entrepreneurship: A Qualitative Study from Karnataka. International Journal on Emerging Technologies, 16(2): 42–50