Inspirational Ideas: An Indian Braille Magazine for the Visually Impaired.

Last month, I had a chance to talk to Upasana Makati, a woman entrepreneur who was building something unique for the blind in India; a braille magazine called White Print, which carries a wide range of lifestyle, politics and current affairs-based articles and fiction stories. Although I was familiar with Braille literature, I was quite taken by what she was trying to build. So, I asked, how did that happen? And she put it quite plainly; though I was content with a job at a Public Relations agency in Mumbai, every night when I lay down in bed, I had a nagging feeling that I wasn’t using my potential to its fullest.

She had several discussions with her friends about doing something more, but that never really satisfied her. And then, one night as she sat to review her day, a thought struck her out of the blue; what do the visually impaired read? What kind of literature is being developed for them? This question led her from Google to the gates of the National Association for Blind, where she found that if anything, there were only monthly or quarterly newsletters created for them. I was shocked. Then I asked them, what if I create a magazine for them?

Hence began her journey as an entrepreneur set out to create a socially impactful business. Having had not an iota of prior knowledge of how to create a braille magazine, every step that Makati took was a discovery, a learning.

Step One: She decided it wouldn’t be registered as an NGO but a for-profit business because she wanted to bust the ideology that the visually impaired need to be sympathised with.

Step Two: To bring in the big bucks, she started by making cold calls to companies, requesting for ads. When that didn’t work as expected, she directly started mailing the CMOs of companies, explaining her venture. The first company to advertise with us was Raymond. They did a five-page advertorial about their Spring-Summer Collection! she said, visibly thrilled at the first turning point in her venture.

Step Three: Marketing. Did you know? Since there is very limited Braille literature available in the market, a lot of visually impaired people are shifting to audio. Additionally, unless they learn how to read Braille, they wouldn’t be able to access books or magazines. Keeping this in mind, Makati and a team of directors and production managers developed a five-minute short film titled ‘B for Braille’.

You can view the short film here: http://whiteprint.in/b-for-braille/

Step Four: Distribution. The Indian Government does not levy postal charges for literature in Braille. Hence, she didn’t have to incur distribution costs. From the first release in May 2013, the magazine has changed its reader target from 18–35 years to 11 to 80 years, and enjoys a circulation of 400 people across schools, colleges, healthcare institutions and individual subscriptions.

It’s too early to think of a larger goal, admits Makati. For now, her goal is quite simple; to increase subscriptions for the magazine and to eventually, write books about developing content for the visually impaired.

Note: The article was originally published in The Smart CEO, and the full version of it can be viewed here.

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