Support to Visually Impaired People’s Self-Employment
by Marika CARLBORG
Ladies and gentlemen. I have been asked to speak about how we can support visually impaired people who decide to start their own business. I have divided the support into the following subsections:
1. Business skills as part of the vocational training
2. The transition phase from graduation to self-employment
3. Ongoing support in working life
Traditional professions for visually impaired people can be found in the fields of massage and physiotherapy as well as handicrafts. Both predominantly rely on self-employment. These traditional fields are still very popular among visually impaired people, but there are new professions, for instance in information technology, that also provide opportunities for self-employment.
During Training
It is important to include business training in studies where the means of employment after graduation is most likely self-employment. Preferably the students should start working on their business plan as early on as possible in their studies. This gives them time to mature and process the responsibilities of being an independent entrepereneur as well as require the necessary business skills. It’s not just about learning to be an excellent masseur, for example, you also have to be able to market your skills and calculate your overhead, etc. Some vocational colleges for visually impaired people have shops on their campuses where students can practice their business skills in a real setting.
Transition from School to Private Enterprise
Whereas I mentioned earlier, that it’s important to get to work on the business plan early on in the studies, there are matters that should be looked into at the end of the studies, at the very latest. The bureaucracy of starting a business can be daunting for anybody. Here the support of the school plays an important role to sort out, for instance:
1. What kinds of financial support is available to new entrepreneurs in general (the EU offers some support to small and medium sized enterprises) and are there any special start-up grants for disabled/visually impaired people
2. Registration of the company name, are there any tax incentives for disabled/visually impaired entrepreneurs. In Finland visually impaired entrepreneurs whose earnings are under a certain amount/per annum are exempt from value added tax.
3. Finding a suitable location for the business and starting to work on attracting a client base.
4. Sorting out what equipment is needed, especially technical aids. Here again there might be grants available and if possible start negotiating with the appropriate government agency.
There are various ways in which the college can offer that support. Here I choose to focus on one such method, widely in use in general vocational colleges: business incubators, which can be either on campus or at another location. Here graduates can run their own businesses, often for a limited time, for example one year, while receiving support with e.g. financial planning, marketing, clerical services, etc. Even though this can take place on campus, the graduate has his/her own work space, for which they pay rent to the school. The main idea of business incubators is to lower the threshold for people to start their own business and help them off to a good start. After one year they should already have a budding client base, although it’s worth noticing, that it can take up to three years to become established and show a fair profit.
During this transition time it’s also important to form ties to the organisations that will support the visually impaired entrepreneur in the future. Probably the most important are the services organisations for/of visually impaired people provide for their clients, but support can also include for example agencies for entrepreneurs under the ministry of labour.
Ongoing Support
Ongoing support in the form of wide ranging services to visually impaired entrepreneurs is largely offered by organisations of/for visually impaired people, but there are government agencies offering services as well. Support can include the following:
1. Expert services, consultations
2. Networks of visually impaired entrepreneurs in the same field
3. Subsidies for raw materials to visually impaired craftsmen
4. Quality control
5. Short courses on new developments
Finally
Not everybody is interested in or suited for running one’s own business. It is merely on form of employment among others. However, it’s a challenging way of earning one’s living, visually impaired or not, and to those who choose to rise to the challenge we should offer our fullest support both during the training and after.
Thank you for your attention.
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