What do Bananas and Menstrual Pads Have in Common?

Together, they become SHE’s secret economic weapon: the SHE LaunchPad. SHE is disrupting the status quo by designing an innovative, chemical-free, low-cost menstrual product that utilizes banana-fiber as the absorbent core and will be priced to sell 75% less than imported premium brand products.

Why? Every 28 days, million of girls and women miss school or work - up to 50 days per year - because they lack access to affordable, eco-friendly menstrual pads.

When a pack of imported pads ($2.25 in Rwanda) costs more than what a person earns a day, many girls and women manage their periods by using cloths. Cloths, however, offer no guarantee of efficacy, security or comfort and moreover, negatively impact girls and women’s health because of lack of access to a clean, safe water supply to wash their cloths.

“When I am wearing a rag, I don’t stay as long at school or at friends house because the cloth soaks up blood very fast. A sanitary napkin will hold the flow better because the cotton is absorbent. Cloth rags do not work as well; it is like soaking it in water.”

-- Judith Rustinawarane, age 14, Rwanda

The Secret Ingredient to SHE's Recipe for Economic Impact: Sustainable Employment

SHE is bucking the trend of relying on aid alone. Instead SHE aims to create economic opportunities and jobs. Therefore, the SHE LaunchPad is paired with a sustainable and scalable business model operated and owned by women in the community.

Our menstrual pad franchising is also coupled with health and hygiene education and advocacy, to ensure long-term sustainability.

Hold Onto Your Seats! The SHEngine is Revved Up and Ready to Go

In just 4 years, SHE has helped sparked a menstrual hygiene revolution among girls and women around the world - we even have a few good men on board – Nick Kristof and President Bill Clinton are a few of our fans!

SHE is going from small to industrial-scale production of our SHE LaunchPads. We will be producing 300,000 SHE LaunchPads for 3,000 Rwandan school girls attending 10 schools in the Kayonza district with the mass manufacturing of our SHE LaunchPads during our industrial-scale pilot. Once our pilot is completed by end of 2013, SHE will scale up to the rest of Rwanda and beyond.

Join us now. PERIOD.