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Without loans or business degrees, here's how these transpersons are becoming entrepreneurs

In the absence of bank loans and investors, most of the business people at the mela have pooled in personal resources. Many of them don’t even have bank accounts.

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Urmi Jadhav’s stall in the Trans and Hijra Entrepreneurship Mela
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The road to entrepreneurship for some people is not as meme-tiled, coffee-powered and social-media documented as it is for the urban hipsters. It’s an arduous climb with no guarantors, no investors, no MBA degrees or banks willing to give you loans when you belong to the Third Gender.

To change the perceptions that members of the hijra community are only beggars or sex workers, a volunteer group has found a way to bolster them as entrepreneurs.

‘Anam Prem’, a Mumbai-based, volunteer group is organising a two-day Trans and Hijra Entrepreneurship Mela in Mumbai with 35 stalls. Transgender people, not just those from hijra community, from 12 states will be setting up stalls.

In the absence of bank loans and investors, most of the business people at the mela have pooled in personal resources. Many of them don’t even have bank accounts.

“At the moment,” says Titli Baraskar, whose stall is going to have food and artificial flowers, “due to lack of education and opportunity, our community members are driven towards sex work. It is not healthy either — the maximum life span of a transgender would be 50-60 years on an average [due to the violence and lack of healthcare]. Entrepreneurship would improve our quality of life, and we may be able to lead a dignified existence.”

While the Transgender Bill was passed a couple of years ago, implementation is yet to see the light. This makes the chances of the transgender community members getting loans from banks slimmer.

Urmi Jadhav, a performing artist, invested Rs one lakh of her own capital instead of applying for a loan for her designer sari business. “Nobody [outside the community] would stand guarantor for me. If I went to an unofficial money lender, they would have charged me more interest.”

Purchasing the products on a pay-per-sell basis was not an option either. “They also would have needed a [non-transgender] reference. It [investing her own capital] is a risk, I know,” says Urmi, “but it is still better than the stigma I would have gone through otherwise.”

Dipti Rane, a volunteer with ‘Anam Prem’ explains, “There are several myths about the transgender community that need to be busted. They are looked at as nuisance, but we need to show they are skilled too.”

Another speedbump on the road to self-reliance is the lack of avenues for formal education. Madhuri Sarode, who recently started making jewellery, said “While I learnt on my own, it would be really helpful if I was taught a skill too. I will use this money to learn more,” she says. 

(The mela is held on April 8 from 4 pm to 9 pm, and on April 9 from 3 pm to 9 pm at St Stanislaus School Ground, Hill Road, Bandra  West)

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