A wedding organizer, catering services, an online clothing company, a beauty salon and audiovisual businesses were some of the business ideas and plans identified by the participants in a Start Your Business (SYB) Training, conducted by the ILO from 30 October to 3 November in Bogor, West Java.

This business creation training is a direct follow-up to the 2017 financial education training for transgender persons. It is part of the ILO’s effort to promote skills-building and employability enhancement, support diversity at the workplace and equal employment opportunities.

“Now, after learning how to start a business, I really want to launch an online clothing company. I also want to change the perception that transgender persons are only good at setting up beauty businesses like beauty salons. Like other people, we also have business interests in clothing, catering and even computer services,” said Merlyn Sopjan, one of the participants.

Meanwhile, Lenny Sugiharto was keen to expand her wedding organizer business. She admitted that she had learned the importance of promotion and bookkeeping. “I never thought of advertising my business. During the training I learnt how to do a good promotion. I cannot wait to expand my business by better promoting it, and make it last through good bookkeeping,” she stated.

For five days, using the ILO’s SYB Module, the participants learned about developing and realizing a business idea, developing a marketing plan, calculating product and service costs, finding sources of capitals and investments as well as starting their financial planning. Using a participatory approach, the training combined theoretical sessions with practical sessions in the format of business games and role plays.

“The business games applied in the training is the replication of the actual businesses with real challenges and business needs. The training has also provided participants with new and improved management skills to realize their business ideas or to run their business successfully,” said Tendy Gunawan, ILO Programme Officer who co-facilitated the training.

Learning from the successful entrepreneurs

Two successful transgender entrepreneurs were also invited to further inspire the participants on how to realize their business ideas and to start their own businesses. Chenny Han, a successful bridal and beauty entrepreneur and Dena Rachman, a young shoe designer and entrepreneur, shared their business journeys and challenges they had to encounter when building their businesses.

“I started my business from only eight wedding dresses for rent. To attract more customers, I gave a free make-up for customers who rented their wedding dresses from me. Start from small as great things always start small,” told Chenny who has built her beauty business for 20 years and she is now a well-known bridal designer, make-up artist and author. She owns a bridal Chenny House and three beauty schools in Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.

She also shared challenges she had to face as a transgender entrepreneur. “I know how it feels to be different. Yet, by focusing on our talents and by continuously improving our skills and never stop learning, we can gain people’s trust and appreciation as the key for successful business,” she shared her story.

As a young entrepreneur, Dena shared her business strategy using social media channels. She has started designing and manufacturing shoes under the brand “Drama” since 2015. “I am using social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to sell my shoes. Through social media, we do not need a real store to sell our products,” Dena said.

She also reminded the participants to continue opening themselves to the public at large. “Despite stigma and discrimination against transgender people, we need to continue opening ourselves up to our surrounding environment. We also need to be inclusive and build a network with our surroundings,” Dena added.

“Female and male transgender persons still face discrimination at all stages of employment. Therefore, it is important for them to build their skills and abilities for work, and to make their business ideas come true by starting or improving their businesses. By creating their own companies, they develop their own employment opportunities as entrepreneurs and can even offer employment opportunities to others,” concluded Early D. Nuriana, the ILO’s programme officer on HIV and AIDS.