Tasfia Tarannum Ridhita didn’t set out to start a business enterprise—at least, not at first. Even in the company’s beginning stages, neither she nor anyone on her team had any formal experience in entrepreneurship. But sometimes, necessity drives innovation.
In Bangladesh, two million gender-diverse individuals, including hijras and transgender people, face severe criminalization, marginalization, poverty, and social exclusion. With a lack of job opportunities, more than 80% are forced into hijragiri (a traditional form of begging) or sex work just to survive.
“Ruhi Apa, a transgender woman, earns less than $5 a day—or less on bad days,” Ridhita shared, highlighting the harsh reality that many in this community endure. It was seeing these issues that motivated Ridhita to join TransEnd, a nonprofit organization founded by her friend Lamea Tanha, with the goal of empowering the gender-diverse community in Bangladesh, back in 2019.
“We were initially working on creating awareness, empowerment, and also trying to create employment opportunities for this community,” Ridhita said, describing the early days of her work. “They don’t really have home or shelter—we were looking for a permanent solution.”
But awareness alone wasn’t enough. After years of research, conversations, and trial-and-error attempts, the team discovered a shared passion within the community: handicrafts and beautification. Hosting workshops and participating in handicraft fairs further confirmed this discovery—this community had untapped talent, and the response was overwhelming.
“After 5 years of research, we came to know that [in] a large number of these communities, people loved doing this handicraft work,” Ridhita said. “We conducted primary workshops. Training and the response was huge.”
Seeing the potential, the team decided to evolve TransEnd from a nonprofit into a social business entity. This led to the creation of TransEnd Craft, the first-ever e-commerce platform in Bangladesh specifically aimed at bridging the gap between marginalized LGBTQIA+ artisans and the mainstream retail sector. The platform offers training in handicrafts, logistics, and marketing support, as well as employment opportunities, providing these artists a chance at financial independence.
The evolution into a business wasn’t without challenges.
“None of our team members [were] actually from active business backgrounds,” Ridhita explained. “Yunus and Youth helped me with the structure overall, how to develop the social enterprise, and even how to bond with your team members…it gave me this opportunity to get connected with so many like-minded people who are open to conversation, who are doing something as similar as me. It keeps me, it keeps us, me and my team, motivated.”
For Ridhita, it’s clear that the impact of TransEnd Craftis is much more than just sales.
“I feel good when the community gets something after making the product by themselves more than when customers are happy,” she admitted. “They are deprived of any basic human rights at all, so when I saw that my hard work can bring them some money which can eventually lead them to lead a life they wanted, [that] makes me feel really, really good.”
This journey of growth and learning is reflected in a piece of advice Ridhita shared from Dr. Mohammad Yunus: “Even if you don’t know about something… be confident in your idea and your plan, and be consistent.”
Looking ahead, Ridhita and her team have ambitious plans. “We are currently helping 15 people from this community,” she said. “We want to expand it to 100 to 200 by the end of the next two years.”
The products are more than just handicrafts—they are expressions of culture, resilience, and pride. “They’re inspired by Bangladesh’s culture,” Ridhita said. “We want people to know how talented these people are, and our culture as well. [Our goal] is to expand [TransEnd Crafts] internationally, where people get to know our culture through these communities, people, and hard work.”
In the face of deeply rooted social issues, Ridhita and her team are rewriting the narrative for Bangladesh’s gender-diverse community. Through TransEnd Craft and the platform it offers, they create hope, dignity, and a pathway to financial freedom for the gender-diverse communities around the world.
