It all started from a passion. A passion for fashion has inspired Hartoyo, 43 years old, to establish a ready-to-wear clothing business using Indonesian traditional fabrics of batik and tenun named Srikendes. A passion for makeup and beauty has motivated Marsya, 29 years old, to start a wedding organizer business with her business partner; while a passion for business has encouraged Setya, 45 years old, to begin a catering business.


Their entrepreneurship journeys are documented by the ILO in a short documentary film titled “We also have dreams”, launched in three cities of Indonesia (Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta) from October to November 2019. They have also been part of the ILO’s entrepreneurship development programme that have been conducted since 2017 through a series of business trainings started with the financial management training in 2017, followed by Start Your Business (SYB) training in 2018 and a business coaching in 2019.

The short documentary and the entrepreneurship programme are part of the ILO’s campaign to promote equal employment opportunities through entrepreneurship for transgender persons. The campaign is a response to the 2016 ILO report revealing that only 10 percent of Indonesian transgender persons work in the formal economy.

“Srikendes was established in 2015 due to my passion for fashion since in middle school and my love to Indonesian culture. I love sketching and designing by combining different traditional batik and tenun fabrics. Yet, it is also a social business to support my community, including persons living with HIV and women victims of domestic violence,” told Hartoyo.

Similarly, Marsya has been passionate about makeup and beauty since she was a child. “When I was in college and I was still a man, I loved putting makeup for my friends. They loved it and pushed me to further pursue a career as a makeup artist,” said Marsya, adding that she just started a wedding organizer business with her business partner in Bandung, West Java.

Setya has a different story. He has tried different types of businesses; but all failed. He is now pursuing a catering business. “The catering business is a booming business and it only needs a small capital. I just have to regularly renew the menus to attract more customers,” he said.

Business coaching for professional business management

The three of them admitted that before participating in the ILO’s series of business training and coaching, they only managed their business traditionally without planning, finance management or marketing programmes.

“Recent ILO’s business coaching with a professional business coach from Action Coach is an eye opener. The business coaching really help us in analyzing our needs, business plans, targets and future expansion,” Hartoyo explained.

The ILO has conducted a three-month business coaching from August to October 2019, in collaboration with Herman Susanto, a professional business coach from Action Coach. The business coaching consists of a series of business sessions and coaches covering key business issues, among others: business attitudes, a marketing strategy, markets and customers identifications and business finance management.

In one of the business coaching sessions, Hartoyo shared his new realization that he mostly focused on purchasing new fabrics and designing new clothing without taking a note on the existing raw materials. “Instead of buying new fabrics, I learnt that I need to improve our storage management, so no more stacks of unused fabrics,” he added.

“For me, I just realized that it is not only about the capital. To build a good business, we need to have a marketing strategy, identify the market and develop a business management plan. It is really an eye opener. Without a business strategy, we cannot grow our wedding organizer business as we do not how to spend or invest strategically,” conveyed Marsya.

The eye opener for Setya was on the importance of time management between one’s own and having a formal job. “I felt like I am being punched as I know I still give precedence to my work than my business. A sense of business ownership is the key,” uttered Setya with a shy smile.

Hopes for the future

For the future, Hartoyo wishes to continue expanding the business with the new knowledge and business skills he learnt from the entrepreneurship training and business coaching. “I want to continuously expand the business to support my community,” he said. To date, Srikendes has a gross revenue of Rp. 75 million per month.

No stigma and discrimination against transgender persons is the hope of Marsya for the future. “Do not judge people by their appearances. I hope the society can accept us and be willing to support our business as we also need to support our family.”

Setya is now eagerly promoting entrepreneurship to his transmen community. “It is a sad reality that it is still very difficult for transgender persons to get decent jobs. Thus, entrepreneurship is the answer but we have to do it properly,” he concluded.