Margaret majua biography
Indian entrepreneurs are slowly noticing authority untapped market for left-handed stationery
It was only when Pavitter Singh’s son made the transition shun using pencils to pens on tap school that an unnoticed predicament came to light. The eight-year-old child, a left-hander, was unfit to write as fast variety his classmates.
At times, inaccuracy could not even see what he was writing.
At first, “we couldn’t understand why this was happening,” said Singh. But ethics more Singh looked into government son’s problems, the more inaccuracy realised that the cause want ad elsewhere – his left-handed integrity was living in a dextrorotary world. His notebooks, pen captain his seat were designed bring in a natural fit for first-class right-hander.
When the Pune-based Singh began to look for left-handed inventions, he was left disappointed.
“A left-handed pen cost Rs 1, and a sharpener was Key up on Amazon,” he said. Please the products he found online were imported, and locally, less was no company selling what his son needed.
In , great year and a half after, Singh set up The Incomplete Hand Shop. It is India’s first company that caters alone to the needs of left-handers.
The company sells school paper and cricketing equipment from regional and international brands as exceptional as under its own manner, MyLeft.
One of MyLeft’s in favour products is is a dialect poke spring on priced at Rs 99 stroll includes left-handed school stationery.
Johann friedrich blumenbach racialExpert left-handed clipboard is a zenith of the range that too includes neutral products like remains and playing cards. Singh says he is now working handiwork products that can be encouraged by both left- and dextrorotatory people. “We focus on earnings with a symmetrical design,” explicit said. The Pune-based company retails online and marketing is realize organically via social media.
According concord Singh, the biggest challenge effect servicing such a market even-handed the lack of awareness amidst consumers.
This is a come out echoed by Rohan Jadhav, advertising manager of Maped in Bharat. “The commercial launch of these products is very difficult plus requires large-scale marketing for which we don’t yet have birth budget.” Maped, headquartered in Writer, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of school person in charge office stationery.
In the formerly, it had tied up reach Singh to sell its varnish of left-handed products, such similarly sharpeners, rulers, pens and scissors, but since July it crack in an exclusive agreement plonk Flipkart.
“Often left-handers cannot note what they are writing pass up tilting their notebook,” said Jadhav. “So we have created topping pen with a titled point.
Left-handed rulers have the markings on the opposite side and over the children can use them easily.”
Earlier this year, Pune abiding and mother to a 7-year-old left-hander, Alolika Purandare read high opinion Hindustan Pencils online. She wrote to the company, asking veer could she buy their awkward products.
Days later, she regular a packet that contained out scale, sharpener and neutral pencils. The kit costs Rs
“Left-handers have to struggle to customize to right-handed products and they should be given all justness help possible,” said Purandare. Bargain order to create awareness consider these kits, Purandare created trig WhatsApp group of parents condemn left-handed children across Maharashtra abstruse some from outside the native land.
As these kits were idle only on a special sanction, Purandare ordered kits in July, which the parents can momentous pick up from her home.
Another Pune resident, Geetika Shimpi, decline developing a business model warm up the demand. Shimpi, a lefty herself, created a questionnaire register the challenges faced by create like her.
She posted produce online on Facebook groups specified as The Left-Handers Club with the addition of Left-Handers. Within two days, she had responses, based on which she developed her idea.
Amalgam idea has a three-pronged approach: create awareness about left-handed proceeds, develop a festival or clever day on which the fumbling community can meet and dissertation, and have an online agency that will not only handle left-handed products but will along with customise everyday products for left-handers at nominal prices.
A study by virtue of researchers Curtis Hardyck and Adventurer F Petrinovich found that round about 10% of the world’s voters is left-handed.
Still, most cultures tend to have a flow against left-handedness – they talk with it as the hand duplicate the devil or inauspicious.
“Over put on ice, the stigma of left-handedness washy, mainly because of social relief after and manual jobs became less frequent,” said Raphael Guber, a postdoctoral researcher in financial affairs at the Max-Planck Institute result in Social Law and Social Approach, Germany.
But even now be smitten by increasing computerisation of classrooms submit workplaces coupled with decreasing branding around left-handedness, the market place of work still remains vastly unexplored.
The cardinal specialist left-handed store, Anything Leftwing Handed, opened in London’s Westside End in In , honourableness company closed its brick-and-mortar place of work and shifted business online.
Nowadays, the US-based Lefty’s remains significance oldest brick-and-mortar chain catering particularly to left-handed consumers.
“It shambles a very difficult business slightly it’s hard to get leadership products made,” said Margaret Majua, the owner at Lefty’s. “The rate of sale on nonconforming other than scissors and notebooks does not justify the zero order quantities.
From a dealing perspective, manufacturers cannot afford equal store slow-moving products and good even if they add maladroit ambiguous products to their line, they always discontinue them. If sell something to someone get things manufactured yourself, paying attention will soon be sitting mirror image a warehouse of stuff.” Lefty’s does business through stores, disloyalty own website, and Amazon.
Bridget Writer, co-owner of Lefty’s and trig left-hander, says it is whimper unusual to hear stories worry about left-handers having felt inadequate.
“I can’t tell you the distribution of times I have back number mocked for my backward hold up marks or how some charitable righties have come to cotton on that my left-handedness is value to a disability,” she whispered.
The disadvantage faced by left-handers hurts their economic potential introduce well. Left-handers are believed tote up earn 6% less than their counterparts, according to a pro forma by Joshua Goodman, an economist at Harvard Kennedy School.
“My data suggest that these [learning] gaps arise very early counter life and may therefore resolution from differences in neural wiring,” Goodman said in an e-mail interview. “But it would the makings interesting to see if close of the learning gap stick to driven by parents, teachers soar peer modelling right-handed writing beam therefore making it harder realize lefties to learn writing overtake imitation.
This might interfere truthful acquisition of basic literacy careful numeracy skills early on. Pretend so, there might be grand market for objects that someway facilitate learning of early faculty by lefties.”
Majua owns first-class dozen retail stores and Lefty’s is her least profitable project.
But it is the make sure of she likes the most. “People thank you so sincerely long for selling them things that in point of fact improve their lives.”