Five years ago, when Mist LGBTQ Foundation started its own e-commerce platform, it had two aims — enabling entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their creations and raising money.
“Raising money for LGBTQ causes is more difficult than other causes, and our e-commerce platform was supposed to help us raise money for the work we do,” said Shyam Konnur, co-founder of the foundation.
Founded as an online collective, QueerBazaar has now transformed into a full-fledged organisation that works for the LGBTIAQ+ community. The platform has serviced more than 20,000 orders and is poised to grow further thanks to a fresh infusion of funds from its donors.
Regarding interventions in terms of HIV testing kits to insurance for transgender people, the foundation has been active in multiple areas, both advocacy and visibility. “Funds for much of our work is hard to come, so we zeroed in on an -commerce platform to serve as a platform to showcase and sell the work of entrepreneurs and also to raise funds,” he said.
The unavailability of queer merchandise, like the rainbow flag, was felt. “We had to stitch flags from scratch and often found it challenging to get the quality we wanted. Merchandise like coasters and tote bags with queer branding was also not readily available. The platform aimed to address this issue and promote the spirit of entrepreneurship at the community’s grassroots level,” he added. The platform, Konnur pointed out, made objects like binders and compressors available.
The platform is now up for an upgrade, thanks to the donation. “We will appoint sales and social media executives to ensure more visibility and upscaling of the project,” he said.
