Pad2Go Nepal

Social Entrepreneur | Civil Engineer | Global Shaper. From a young age, I have always been interested in science and innovation.Being born in a country like Nepal, where men and women were never treated equally, I knew I wanted to make a difference and focus on women empowerment. Through my own experiences as a menstruating woman in Nepal, I co-founded Pad2Go in 2018, a social enterprise that promotes menstrual health management in a holistic way. Professionally, I am a Civil Engineer and a strong advocate of water system management and renewable energy. Being a civil engineer has helped me understand nature and its forces, and how we humans will always be indebted to Mother Nature.I am also a member of the Global Shapers Kathmandu Hub initiated by the World Economic Forum. I hope to create a better world that is not marred by social inequality.

Menstruation is highly stigmatized and rarely discussed in Nepal. From not being able to go to the temple or the kitchen to being kept outside in a cow shed during menstruation, women and girls across Nepal face a multitude of discriminatory and life threatening practices. Realizing how menstruation affects a woman's education, health, participation and empowerment, we established Pad2Go, a social enterprise that promotes menstrual health management in a threefold method:

1. Access to sanitary products through our sanitary napkin vending machines.

2. Interactive programs with both boys and girls in school regarding the social perception around menstruation.

3. 10% profit from each machine is used to construct toilets in schools of Far west Nepal.

Providing access to sanitary facilities and products is directly linked to women empowerment and this is what we would like to . We envision a society which is not marred by social inequality.

From a very young age we were made to believe that our menstrual cycle made us impure and was to be talked about only behind closed doors. In Nepal, It is estimated that 89% of girls undergo some form of exclusion or restriction during their periods. Only 28% of public schools in Nepal have separate facilities with toilets for girls and only 46% of the  population had access to improved sanitation facilities. Issues around menstrual health is mostly visible in developing and least developed countries where women are oppressed and their voices never heard.Menstrual taboos are so deeply engraved in our daily lives and our culture that it adversely affects a girl’s health, education, participation and empowerment; hindering her growth. Through our own experiences with restrictive taboos and stigma faced by girls and women in Nepal during their menstrual cycle, we started Pad2Go. As the women of the new generation we started questioning what had been passed down through years of interpretation, we realized that the situation of a majority of girls were far worse than the conditions we ever had to face. We envision a society free from menstrual stigma along with easy and affordable access  to menstrual  products.

Pad2Go is a social enterprise based in Nepal; focusing on the menstrual health sector in a holistic manner. In order to provide accessibility, affordability, awareness and advocacy, we follow a three fold approach:

1. Access to sanitary products through sanitary napkin vending machines.  The team has had the opportunity to collaborate with pad manufacturers both international and local and provide pads at less than the market rate in order to ensure affordability. 

2. Workshops are held with school and college-level students in an inclusive manner with both male and female students to normalize discourse around menstruation and the taboos associated with it. It is imperative to involve men in women’s issues from a young age so that toxic cycles of patriarchy are not reinforced for the next generation. 

3. Profitable proceeds from the pads and 10% profit from each machine are then re-integrated back into the rural communities to build gender and disability-friendly toilets and sanitation facilities in far-western Nepal, where girls drop out of school due to lack of sanitation facilities. With this we aim to implement the robin-hood effect, redistribution of income to reduce economic inequality. (Help us, help you, help others!)

Menstruating individuals are our direct beneficiaries as they are the ones who benefit using our products and services. With our business model, there is accessibility and affordability of sanitary napkins during emergency; menstruation is normalized and discussed in communities and sanitary facilities are provided in rural schools ensuring lack of it does not hamper a student's education.  Realizing that lack of knowledge around menstruation and lack of menstrual products and facilities is an issue faced by both urban and rural population of Nepal.; our services and programs are personalized according to the communities we are impacting. One of the best ways to break the ice is through our interactive sessions with the young generation about what everyone's perspective is towards the issue. This helps us understand them as well as their communities more and aids in our impact. A social startup cannot flourish without keeping the beneficiaries and customers happy. Hence, customer satisfaction is of utmost importance and we ensure this by having a three month feedback program, monthly visits to our customers while we refill our pads. This has helped us to reiterate our business model over and over again to meet and surpass customer expectations.

At Pad2Go ,we envision a society that is not marred by social inequality. To do so, it is imperative to elevate everyone, especially the ones left behind. In our case, that would be menstruating individuals in the rural parts of Nepal who don't even know what menstruation is before its onset, the young girls who have to walk two-three hours everyday to reach school, realizing all they can use is rags or used banners as pads if they end up having their periods in school. We believe that change starts today, for a better future tomorrow. 

Pad2Go was established in 2018, motivated by the co-founders’ own experiences with restrictive taboos and stigma faced by girls and women in Nepal during their menstrual cycle. After completing our bachelors and moving back to Nepal, we wanted to make a difference and help young girls and women feel empowered. We realized how menstrual health and its stigma has hampered a woman's growth and focused in this field. Menstruation being a normal biological process, was highly stigmatized and also adversely affected the country's development. My business partner and I came up with a more holistic approach to address issues related to Menstrual Health. We realized that only awareness and advocacy or only availability was not enough, but a more combined approach to the problem was required in a country like Nepal where these taboos are so deeply rooted that now they have become a part of our societies and communities. We decided to go with the social enterprise model as we wanted the company to be financially sustainable, without asking for donations from other organizations.

From a very young age we were made to believe that our menstrual cycle made us impure and was to be talked about only behind closed doors. In our homes in Kathmandu,Nepal, during our menstruation we are referred to as “nachhune” which in English directly translates to a state of being untouchable. Menstrual taboos go beyond this to include deeply rooted cultural beliefs about impurity, which see women and girls as inferior, and lead us to internalize these feelings and question our self worth. This is the scenario in the capital, and it is far worse in the rural areas, where girls drop out of school just because of lack of toilet facilities. Hence, Pad2Go is a result of years of suppression of Nepali women, years of our basic rights being disregarded and generations of silence. It is time we stand up for ourselves, so that these stigmas and taboos do not hamper the next generation.

Coming from an engineering background, and starting a social business was difficult. But Pad2Go has reached this level due to our passion, dedication and resilience. We were recognized as social entrepreneurs of Asia in Forbes 30 under 30, 2020. Pad2Go won the first prize at the AGUASAN workshop conducted by Swiss Community of Practice in Switzerland in May, 2019. Pad2Go came in second in the Accelerate Her pitch competition held at Singapore in September 2019 by Women’s forum for Economy and Society, INSEAD and Facebook, Singapore. In a span of two years, we have been able to install 110 machines and impact lives of 30,000+ individuals. Working in this field for two years and experiencing the impact that we have made has further motivated us to reach greater heights and transform more lives. Removing age old taboos and perceptions you grew up with and thought were always right is not always taken positively by the society, but we do realize that change is required. This is the time Pad2Go need international and external support, to reach our mission and turn our vision into reality. We have created a social shift in Nepal, a movement that realizes the importance of women empowerment and social equity; and with your help we can create a revolution. 

Pad2Go was the first company to introduce Sanitary Napkin Vending machines in Nepal.With the first movers advantage, we have a very smooth first few months of business. But slowly, other bigger organizations started selling the same product. This was not just a business setback for us, but we also started questioning our worth. We realized how important it was to have a good network and even better if you knew people in the government sector. We were young and new to the field and the business world was deceiving and cunning. But, we did have an upper hand, Pad2Go is a passion business, a social enterprise that focuses solely on impact. We started changing our marketing strategy and personalizing our business models to the needs of the organizations. It took time, but we were able to make our customers realize that we were not here to only be financially stable, but our main goal is to transform lives and create an impact.

During the Nepal Earthquake of 2015, I was in university in India. It was devastating to know how badly it affected country and the people, but it was worse to be away from home and not be able to do anything. I felt helpless and worried all the time. This is when I realized I had to do something. Despite being in first year of my college, I started a donation drive for the Earthquake victims of Nepal. I asked for help from my friends and Nepali seniors. We had cardboard boxes placed in front of hostels to donate used clothes for the victims who had lost their homes during the Earthquake. We went to the faculty members and asked for donation. Just collecting donation is not the solution. It is imperative to hand over the donation to the right organization. I sat down with a few other Nepali students of my college and we found organizations who were ready to accept our donations and also show us how they utilized it. Just being able to help out my country and the people during this catastrophe gave me a sense of joy and fulfillment.

The social perceptions around menstruation has adversely affected the lives of women in Nepal for generations and we knew we had to bring in an innovative idea to overcome these archaic issues. That is when we introduced Sanitary Napkin Vending machines for the first time in Nepal. In Nepal, we don’t even have Chips or Soft drink vending machine, hence this was a new innovation for everyone. We have come to know how schools that have our machines in the rural areas have a higher student intake than the schools that don’t, just because of a “new innovation” available. Similarly, including boys in our menstrual talks was a new concept in our society. People perceive menstrual taboos as a woman’s issue, but we forget that our society plays a key role in taking these taboos forward. The boys themselves are more interactive during our sessions, because we have realized that they were never given an opportunity to learn more about these social taboos.  Similarly, when we go to other organizations and schools to talk about our business, if a male member is present, a lot of times he just tells us to go talk to a lady since this is a “woman’s issue”. And this is the exact mindset we want to change.  Social enterprise is a new concept for Nepal, it may not be an innovation for the world but in my country, people have now understood the importance of combining the best of business and nonprofit organizations together.

Pad2Go is tackling a social issue that has been well perceived and deeply rooted in our communities since generations. Eradicating this would require a holistic approach and that is what we do. Our long term goal is to normalize menstrual health and create a society not barricaded by social inequality. Our immediate activities are designed in such a way that they impact people of different demographics. Our vending machines directly impact menstruating individuals and ensure accessibility and affordability of sanitary products during emergency. This helps the individuals to carry on their day to day lives as well as take care of their sanitation and health. The attendance rate of schools increased after installing our machines as girls no longer need to worry about their periods, they don't need to miss school anymore and moreover, they feel empowered. Our interactive sessions directly impact young boys and girls along with the teachers who are attending. Teaching children is like teaching their whole family as they share their knowledge at home. Our sessions help us normalize menstruation and make it less of a taboo. After a short survey, we came to know that boys stopped teasing and mistreating girls during their periods after our sessions. Parts of our profit is used to construct toilets in schools of rural Nepal. Due to proper sanitary facilities in schools, drop out rate of girls will decrease, increasing the literacy rate of females in the country. Menstruating individuals no longer need to feel ashamed because of their periods, they no longer need to worry about missing school or dropping out altogether, allowing them to focus on their education and participation, increasing empowerment! With our business model, we hope to eradicate these age old perceptions using innovative ways.

Till date, we have installed 110 machines in Nepal. Each machine sustains a minimum of 200 menstruating individuals. Our machines are sustaining a minimum of 22,000 menstruating individuals as of now. We have conducted interactive sessions in more than 60 institutions in Nepal. Each interactive session had an average of 200 youths, that is a total of 12000 youth in 2018/2019. We are planning to install 100 more machines in 2020/2021, sustaining a total of 42000 menstruating individuals. As for our interactive sessions, we are making training modules for trainees who can further train in the grass root level, the level we can’t reach without external help. We hope to impact 500+ individuals every month and normalize discussions around menstruation which will aid in eradicating the taboos.With our social impact, we plan to construct 2  toilets every year.  In five years time, we hope to serve the whole South Asian region with our social enterprise. Menstrual health is not only a taboo in Nepal, but in all South Asian countries. With our business model, we hope to leave no one behind and also personalize our model according to the country's need. We are planning to start our international chapter in India. Studying in India for 6 years has helped me understand the community as well as create networks who can help us out with the Indian Chapter.

Goals for this year:

1. New Revenue generating product/ service:  We have narrowed down to two products, Iron fortifying health bars and Biodegradable disposable pads. Both these products are something very different and new in the Nepali market. One of the drawbacks of Pad2Go is that the pads do create a lot of environment waste and can be harmful to the user. Hence, we are planning to introduce biodegradable pads in Nepal to address these issues. As for the Health bars, we are planning to create different products for Urban and rural area.

2. Training module for trainers (TOT) regarding menstrual health which will include community activities.

3. Install machines in all provinces of Nepal and collaborate with other NGOs to increase our training sessions and create more impact.

Goals for next five years:

1. Expand to other South Asian countries, starting from India.

2. Have a focal person in each province of Nepal who can further look after the programs in that province. Nepal is geographically and culturally very diverse, hence it is imperative to have a focal person in each province who will head the training and other projects of Pad2Go, personalizing it to the needs of the particular community.

3. Create a strong and diverse team to take forward the mission and vision of Pad2Go.

Next year:

1. We are collaborating with another company to produce the health bars. The main issue we are facing is about investment and profit sharing. Hence, there are some legal challenges. 

2. For the biodegradable pads, we are planning to import them from India as Pad2Go does not have the technical expertise to manufacture in Nepal. This is definitely creating a financial barrier. Similarly, when importing pads from India, the cost comes out to be higher which can also create a market barrier. So, we are still in the initial phase of figuring out a more convenient way to take this forward.

3. Developing a model to collaborate with other non profit organizations will be a challenge in its own. How do we make sure our training module is being implemented the way we want it to be? 

Next Five Years:

1. Financial sustainability of Pad2Go.

2. There will be a cultural and legal barrier while expanding Pad2Go to other South Asian countries.

Next Year:

1. For collaborating with another company, we are talking to various corporate lawyers as well as searching online to find a suitable model for this joint venture.

2. We would want to manufacture the biodegradable pads in Nepal itself. But due to lack of financial and technical skills, we will be focusing on importing the pads for the time being.

Next Five years:

1. Expanding to another country will have a lot of unseen challenges. We are planning to get an advisor on board who can help us as well as act as a mentor. 

We are a social enterprise, hence all the profits will be used to impact the society and expand our organization. Our main revenue generating product is the sanitary napkin vending machine.10% profit from each machine and all the profits from the pads will be used to construct gender and disability friendly toilets in rural Nepal.

Our direct beneficiaries are menstruating individuals (age group 12-48 years) who use our product and services (Sanitary Napkin vending machine, advocacy program, toilet construction).It is estimated that 72% of public schools do not have separate toilet facilities for girls. Similarly, schools generally do not have sanitary napkins during emergencies.Our indirect beneficiary is the whole community who use our services (advocacy programs).  Our awareness and advocacy programs are focused on the social taboos and stigmas related to menstrual health.It has been estimated that only 36% girls know about menstruation before its onset.

Our main focus is women empowerment by providing products and services to promote menstrual health management. Here is a user journey before and after using our products and services:

Being a social enterprise, our main revenue generating product is the sanitary napkin vending machine. We have been able to sustain ourselves with the revenue generated by selling our product. However, we do realize that this product is not sustainable and the need for it is not infinite. Hence, we are working on new products that will help us sustain financially.

Here is the revenue model for the year 2018-2019:Revenue Model for Pad2Go

In the span of 2 years, we have been able to mark ourselves and create a positive impact in Nepal. Pad2Go is a social startup, the new age business model, we are financially sustainable and independent while serving our communities. However, being a startup is sometimes overwhelming. We are at a stage where we need a mentor and an advisor who would guide us in the social aspect as well as the financial stability aspect. Even though our company is impact driven, financial sustainability is imperative to keep our company running. Having a focused mission and vision, capacity building workshops that would further enhance our skills would help us reach a greater target. With the Elevate prize, we would like to first focus on the biodegradable pads. We have an idea, but with your guidance, we can turn this into reality. A reality where human and environment rights go hand in hand. With your network, we can amplify our goals of expanding to other South Asian countries and changing lives of individuals. We have created a social shift in Nepal, a movement that realizes the importance of women empowerment and social equity; and with your help we can create a revolution.

With the help of the Elevate prize, we would like to first focus on our old as well as new revenue model. With the help of a mentor/coach, we will be able to breakdown our goals into reachable targets. This will further help us reach our vision and mission. Being a startup, it is important to evaluate ourselves frequently to understand what could have been done better and come up with improvement points during and after intervention. These are a few aspects that our mentors could guide us and help us follow a path that is concrete.