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.
