Chennai: A Mumbai-based young woman entrepreneur is seeking to a make a difference to the lives of the visually challenged in India by launching the country’s first monthly lifestyle magazine in English Braille.
Not many return after pursuing courses in foreign lands but Upasana Makati came back to launch the venture for betterment of the disadvantaged. Founder and Publisher of White Print, 24-year-old Upasana told PTI that “White Print happens to be India’s first lifestyle magazine in English Braille. There is Reliance Drishti, a Hindi fortnightly newspaper and Sparshdnyan is a Marathi newspaper”.
After she graduated from Jai Hind College and pursued a course in Canada, Upasana returned and took up a job in a PR company in Mumbai. However, she always had the urge to do something on her own, “explore an unchartered territory.”
“One day I happened to think to myself about the number of publications that the sighted had to read and could easily name more than 50. However, if I took the same exercise for the visually impaired, there was not a single name that came to my mind and that surprised and pumped me to take this venture forward. I immediately shared the idea with a few close friends and begun research.” Three months into the research she decided to quit her job and commit herself completely to her venture.
Based out of Mumbai, the 64-page magazine was rolled out in May, 2013 for the 56 lakh visually impaired readers of the country.
They have gone in for a subscription-based model and it is priced at Rs 30, far less than what a lifestyle magazine costs.
The magazine is printed at the National Association for the Blind, India.
Detailing the exhausting hours and nervous excitement that goes into launching a venture, Upasana said, “Five of my friends along with me had a bank of names, which we created after brainstorming.”
“To get the magazine a title it took me 8 long months. The title application was rejected twice and I got lucky in the third attempt and from the there began the journey of making White Print real! The idea was conceived around February 2012 and the magazine’s first edition was brought out in May 2013.”
White Print entails information related to inspiring stories of the common man, review of audio books, gadgets, travel and hospitality, short stories and food related columns. It also consists of information pertaining to politics, art and culture from across the globe.
“The magazine gives the readers a slice of varied topics that they would like to read about in their leisure time and hence would interest everyone from a college student to an adult. We have a small team of writers and freelancers contributing for the magazine.”
Readers connect via email, social media pages, text messages as well as phone calls. The magazine also has a readers section where it invites stories, articles, and poems from readers. They have a team of freelancers. The venture is at a nascent stage and hence not in a position to employ anyone,she says.
“It is a privately funded venture. We are reaching out to companies to advertise with us. In a way it is a new step or progress in the field of advertising too since Braille advertising has not been done before. Just like any other magazine, we would be approaching various brands to advertise with us.”
Asked about problems confronting the magazine, Upasana said getting advertisements has been a challenge since Braille advertising is something that has not been ventured into previously. “However, we believe in the concept and are certain that brands will begin talking to this community of the country as well.”
She works with the National Association of the Blind in Mumbai to convert text into Braille.
According to her, the response from the visually impaired community has been very overwhelming.
“They have appreciated the fact that we offer variety in terms of content. Also, the fact that the magazine is accessible to them and reaches their doorstep each month is something that they have spoken about.” “However, we get a lot of anxious calls if the magazine doesn’t reach in time. But this is something we are still trying to smoothen since we are dependent on registered post.”
They recently dispatched the fifth issue of the magazine in September. (PTI)