Fighting odds, Tripthi Shetty crafts her career
KOCHI: She has battled many odds but Tripthi Shetty is not one to bow down that easily. Tripthi, a resident of Vennala, has become the first transgender person to register under Handicrafts Development Corporation of India and obtain an Artisan Identity Card from the Union Ministry of Textiles when she launched the mobile application 'Thripthi Handicrafts' that facilitates online sales of handicraft products.
The app, which is available for free download in Google Play Store, has received more than a hundred downloads till now with a rating of 4.9 out of 5.
It facilitates the sale of not only the products made by 'Thripthi Handicrafts' but also the creations of other members of the LGBT community and artists from a poor financial background."The app offers a wide range of products with periodic discounts and offers. The products ordered through the app will be delivered at the doorstep. Besides handmade jewellery, handmade saris, kits and other products are available", said Thripthi.
An amount of Rs 10 from every product will be set aside for the welfare of the transgender community and financially backward artisans. Thripthi also owns a website www.thripthi.in which facilitates the sale of handicraft products made by herself and others from the community.She is also the first transgender person to avail the 'Mudra' loan to expand her business. A native of Kasaragod, she dreams of setting up a shop for handicrafts.
"I found that transgender community members face many hindrances when it comes to entrepreneurship. Though I had a website, the sales were less after the flood. This prompted me to come up with an app. Now, I am getting orders," she said.
She hopes to make the app available to iOS platform too. "I am planning to expand the business as much as possible. "To conduct an exhibition, one has to pay a total of Rs 30,000 to Rs 90,000. As ordinary citizens, we were unable to bear such huge amounts which mainly inspired me to go online", she added.