An Inspirational Story About Maxi Pads

When Arunachalam Muruganantham learned that his wife, along with most other rural women in India, used less-than-sanitary rags when they were on their periods, he spent years trying to find an affordable solution. Five years later, after his wife and his mother walked out on him (to be fair, the guy did fill a football bladder with goat’s blood so he could simulate being on his own period), he successfully developed a low-cost system for producing pads that won him an award from the President of India. It is an amazing story, via BBC World.

Most of Muruganantham’s clients are NGOs and women’s self-help groups. A manual machine costs around 75,000 Indian rupees (£723) — a semi-automated machine costs more. Each machine produces enough pads each month for 3,000 women and provides jobs for 10. They can make 200–250 pads a day which sell for an average of about 2.5 rupees (£0.025) each.

Women choose their own brand-name for their range of sanitary pads, so there is no over-arching brand — it is “by the women, for the women, and to the women”.

In the end, his wife and mother came back, as did the approval of the once-scandalized neighbors in their conservative village. Murugananthem has his sights set on creating more and more jobs for poor women, and is expanding his business to 106 new countries, places like Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.

Muruganantham seemed set for fame and fortune, but he was not interested in profit. “Imagine, I got patent rights to the only machine in the world to make low-cost sanitary napkins — a hot-cake product,” he says. “Anyone with an MBA would immediately accumulate the maximum money. But I did not want to. Why? Because from childhood I know no human being died because of poverty — everything happens because of ignorance.”

He believes that big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas he prefers the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. “A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it,” he says.

Photo: Ladyfresh Natural Feminine Health & Hygiene

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