Denim maker blazes a trail

At a time when most of the transgender community are begging on the streets for livelihood, some of them have found gainful employment thanks to an initiative of Denim Expert, a garment exporter.

The Chittagong-based firm last month recruited two transgender workers, with more set to join as part of a project it is running in collaboration with the USAID, according Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of the company.

One of the workers is Shima Akther, who is working as a junior safety assistant on the production floor. The other is Dilruba Akter, who is working as a junior supervisor in the housekeeping team.  Both the employees started working from September 1, according to Denim Expert, a rights group working for the transgender people. There are about 10,000 transgender people in Bangladesh, according to the Bandhu Social Welfare Society, a rights group working for the community.

They usually do not want to come to factories for jobs as they feel shy working side by side with other workers. This led Uddin to sign an agreement with Bandhu to recruit them. Uddin has a plan to recruit more from the transgender community in future and has even opened a training facility in the factory for them.

“Members of the transgender community must be given the opportunity to find gainful employment so that they can contribute to the society and the nation,” Uddin added. Denim Expert also provides training to management and workers to raise awareness on issues centring on transgender and human rights.

The company exports to the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey.