Empower Girls
For every successful pad you use, we donate compostable pads, produced in women-led enterprises, to underprivileged girls in remote villages, along with behavior change and communication programs through Shame Freedom initiatives. Successful pads symbolize ‘her’ freedom, so that girls can confidently manage their periods, go to school and move forward boldly towards the promise of their future.
Anamika Kumari Story
To be completely honest, my knowledge about periods, menstruation and pads was very limited before I started working with the NGO. I was aware of the biological processes that were taught during science classes in school but apart from that, I had no idea of the physical or socio-economic problems women face during menstruation.
After I completed my undergrad, I took a gap year to stop, unplug, and reinvent myself. I wanted to put my Master of Business Administration degree and business skills to good use so I started volunteering at an NGO in Bihar. Since I participated in various outreach programs including medical camps, HIV counselling, teaching and food programs
So I looked at the problems that millions of menstruators faced during menstruation. I missed school or work just because I didn’t have access to sanitary napkins. Actually, I used to use dirty clothes to manage my menstruation. After meeting Manish Ranjan Biswas, both of us decided to purchase traditional sanitary pads available in the market and donate those pads to needy menstruating people.
In this process, we have launched our manufacturing company, Yuvraj Medico Pvt Ltd in 2021. As we looked for long-term and scalable solutions, we realized that simply buying sanitary pads from the market and donating them would only solve the problem temporarily. Additionally, we also realized that while solving the problem of access to sanitary pads, we were creating another environmental problem – the traditional pads we were donating contained up to 90% plastic, which would not biodegrade for centuries. will be.
Will be done. Then one by one everything started falling into place – we realized that banana fibers were naturally super absorbent and highly effective in keeping menstrual fluid away, so we tried using banana stems as a permanent solution. Started using agricultural waste.
Started developing innovative ways to transform raw materials. Creating new age products. We made our first biodegradable sanitary pad in 2022
While growing up in the small town of Rohtas (Bihar, India), I experienced many instances where menstruation was stigmatized. Even the simple act of buying a sanitary napkin from a shop involved awkwardly whispering the name of the sanitary napkin brand, which was then immediately placed in a black bag to hide it from the world. In fact, one of my closest friends is not even allowed to enter her kitchen during her period. Why?
