Titik: I've simply tried to empower the disabled

Titik: I've simply tried to empower the disabled

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya

There is nothing notable about the house at Jl. Sidosermo Indah II No. 5 in South Surabaya, except for its waist-high corroded iron fence.

"There is nothing special about the house from the outside. It is a simple house, and also our workshop," said Titik Winarti, while welcoming The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Titik has called the place Tiara Handicraft workshop.

This simple house, however, has many interesting stories to tell. It is here that Titik and her family reside and it is also here that she and her 30 employees, 21 of whom are disabled, produce handicrafts.

For her handicraft business, the house, which has a sitting room, three bedrooms and a kitchen, has been turned into a "factory".

The sitting room is used as a small showroom to display their handicrafts. The room to its right is where the workers work every day," Titik said, while taking the Post around the house.

Together with her husband, M. Yudha, Titik has been in the handicraft business for nine years. When the business was first set up in mid-1995, they had only one sewing machine and cloth of different varieties.

They made hand-embroidered handbags, wedding souvenirs and other handicraft items. "We struggled quite hard in our first year," she said. However, Titik, 34, is now enjoying the fruits of her persistence and indefatigable spirit.

Five years into this business, Titik was able to buy more sewing machines and today a constant flow of orders comes her way.

Titik decided to employ disabled people after a chance conversation with an employee at the Surabaya social services office. She was, at that time, taking a handicraft course given by the office.

There, Titik, who always wears a Muslim head scarf, saw quite a lot of disabled people learning to make handicrafts. "I was touched and finally asked one of them to work for me," she said. She realized that although they had disabilities, the disabled could work like anyone else.

Titik knew that the skills that these people had learned from the social services office could be tapped so that they could earn their own money. Gradually, she introduced a positive work ethos to them.

She finds now that disabled people working for her are as responsible as able-bodied people. On average, they earn Rp 400,000 per month. "One of my employees has paralyzed legs but is very skilled at drawing a pattern. The patterns of most of our products now come from this person," she said.

As Titik is quite close to her workers, Setia Bhakti Wanita, the cooperative she has joined, entered Tiara Handicraft in the contest, "Microenterpreneurship In the context of International Micro-Credit Year", held by the United Nations.

"We sent two names, Titik Winarti, as an employer who employs disabled people, and Puji Lestari, a recycled plastic businesswomen who employs scavengers," said Yoos Aisyah Lutfi, the cooperative's chairperson.

The contest saw microbusinesspeople from eight countries participating in the event: Indonesia, Afghanistan, Rwanda, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cambodia, Pakistan and Mozambique. The winner will be invited to visit the UN headquarters in New York to attend a ceremony to mark the announcement of International Microcredit Year on Nov. 18, 2004.

Titik won the contest so she will leave for New York together with one of her disabled workers.

Yoos is very proud that one of her cooperative members can represent Indonesia in an international event. "I hope there will be a new Titik from Surabaya who can help disabled people," she said.

Titik is slightly nonplused at winning the contest. "I don't know why I have been elected to represent Indonesia in the U.S. What should I do?

"I have simply prepared the way for disabled people to run their own businesses," she said. Titik also said she had never been to the U.S. before.

"I don't know what it is like. It seems quite difficult to visit the U.S. The visa and other permits are difficult to obtain," she said.

She expressed the hope that after her return from the U.S, she would be better able to help disabled people. "Just pray for me -- OK?" she said.

tak dipakai

Second article

Titik's products exported to Brazil

ID Nugroho The Jakarta Post/Surabaya

Titik Winarti deserves kudos for her handicraft business. Her home industry can yield Rp 120 million a year. It produces 12 handicraft items and the net profit is about Rp 36 million a year.

Titik was proud when her products were exported to Brazil although the export value was less than Rp 20 million. "That is not a huge sum but we are proud because we have been able to export our products," she said.

She added that she was able to export to Brazil thanks to help from a business contact who runs a boutique there.

"At first, we were confused over what to do and left our products to an exporter here," she said, trying not to smile.

Tiara Handicraft products are also sold in a number of major cities in Indonesia, including Denpasar, Jakarta, Balikpapan and Batam. "Our buyers say Tiara Handicrafts are reasonably priced so they usually buy them in large quantities," she said.

A small beaded handbag costs Rp 20,000. A larger handbag with an exclusive design similar to a branded item costs Rp 90,000.

"That's quite cheap for handmade products with an exclusive design. The shop that buys the products can mark up the price by some 20 percent," she said.

What Titik has done can be a model for other companies to employ disabled people. Many companies do not want to employ such people because they usually think they have to pay two people to do the work of a single employee, she said, adding that in reality disabled people can work as well as able-bodied people.

She also said that the equipment used in her home industry was no different to what other companies in the same business use. "So, after leaving my company, these disabled people can work in other companies where sophisticated machinery is used," she said.

She said, however, that the way she ran the business would not make it grow fast. The most important thing for her was how many disabled people, who are usually marginalized, she could help to become financially independent.

I still don't own a car she said. I do have dozens of sewing machines and a motorcycle, but I'm happy," she said.

Titik may even be as happy as the disabled people whom she has helped to achieve financial independence.