Unsung Heroes: A Bengaluru-based couple looks to tap e-commerce to empower individuals with special needs

Speaking to The Indian Express, the two explain that much remains to be done in society to make children with special needs – especially those in rural regions – and their parents become financially independent and skilled. Beautiful Together, along with its social entrepreneurship wing, aims to develop a successful e-commerce model that addresses the economic needs of people with special needs and their caregivers.

“Although parents enrol their children in special schools, there are some limitations to what the child can do after a certain age limit. Employment for such individuals once they complete 18 years becomes very challenging. We want to address this limitation by training people with special needs and their mothers and fathers who are unemployed, to help them engage and become empowered by creating various products for sale,” Reji says.

When it comes to special needs individuals, the principal focus is to give them access to quality education, financial independence and long-term care when their caregivers are no longer present. The founders have collaborated with various NGOs to reach out to individuals with special needs and their parents so that they can become a part of Beautiful Together.

Community is key

The empowerment model is based on the concept of community-building where each member with special needs is made in charge of creating and building their own network of friends from the general public. They can do this individually or with the help of a guardian/volunteer attached to them.

Members with special needs will be assigned a dedicated dashboard that they can use to build, monitor and manage their friend network. Through referral links generated via the dashboard, members can invite their family, friends, relatives and other acquaintances to register as friends. Following this, the members will have to regularly communicate with these friends via emails and messages to keep them active and involved.

The number of active friends (friends who purchase, refer and/or donate regularly on the platform) each month will reflect as monthly income for every member. The member can also earn additional income by selling products made by him/her on the e-commerce platform, under the ‘Made by Special Hands’ category.

With the help of volunteers from various NGOs, the initiative trains around 250 members in making products that include artwork, bookmarks, pen stands, T-shirts and paper bags, among others. “The training of members is still underway and no products are up for sale yet. We are planning to reach out to more special kids across India and bring them together on one platform. It will take at least four to five months to be active. Besides skill development, we are also working on introducing sports and assisted living facilities that will help members in the long run,” adds Reji, who is part of the faculty at a design institute.

While Anitha does most of the planning, networking and partnering duties, Reji takes care of the technical aspects. “The ultimate aim is to instill confidence among individuals with special needs and their parents to look beyond academics and help them make their lives more financially independent and rewarding,” Anitha adds.