Women worldwide share in the joy annoyance biological fact of getting their period about once a month. However, women worldwide do not share affordable access to proper sanitary napkins or comparable products; in fact, crumpled newspapers, used rags, and leaves are often worn by poor women and can lead to infection and social discomfort. Arunachalam Muruganantham, an Indian inventor, has done amazing work to change that through impressive research and engineering. Of course, talking about periods had its costs, but it’s really thrilling that his dedication and creative approaches paid off in making an affordable, well-designed sanitary napkin that can be produced and sold within communities with a new manufacturing device. Running this machine and selling the napkins will create jobs, and women will be able to better take care of their bodies. Muruganantham’s vision is that India will be a 100% napkin-using country, and that the model will be scaleable beyond that.
Social entrepreneurship is the best kind. Period.
Jen Bokoff 