KujaEcoPads

I am Marie-Claire N.Kaja, menstrual hygiene activist and a women and girls empowerment champion with a great passion for women’s health and wellness. I am the founder of KujaEcoPads which made history in 2018 as Cameroon’s first 100% Biodegradable sanitary napkins made from  banana stem fiber. I have worked as a nurse for more than 15 years in New York prior to moving to Cameroon in 2017 to start a social enterprise called KujaEcoPads to help poor women and girls with access to affordable sanitary pads. I also have experience in community development and leadership.

I am committed to solving the problem of PERIOD POVERTY in Cameroon.

I am proposing the local manufacture of low-cost Eco-friendly sanitary pads to women and girls in Cameroon.My project will elevate humanity because by providing affordable sanitary pads, we will help keep girls in school and women employed, thereby improving their access to economic opportunity. Women’s health and wellness will be ensured and the environment will be safe as our pads biodegrades within six months of disposal in landfills.

In Cameroon, women’s usage of hygiene products is limited due to a lack of affordability, little availability in rural areas, inadequate health education, social stigma, and issues with proper disposal. KujaEcoPads estimates that rural girls miss up to 50 days of school each year due to a lack of sanitary pads and access to clean bathrooms, while women miss work for the same reasons. Women who use cloth are often not able to properly sterilize them because of societal taboos against washing and drying them in public. The key problem KujaEcoPads addresses is to provide a hygienic, effective alternative to improve the lives of these women without creating any negative environmental impact.This is most significant;  the small percentage of Cameroon women using sanitary pads today already generates 100,000+ tons of sanitary pad waste each year - a figure that could rise to 1,000,000+ tons if disposable pads were used by all Cameroon women of menstruating age. Plastic pads take 600 years to degrade, and worse, are frequently burned for disposal,generating CO2 & toxic fumes.This is creating economic,environmental and health problems for generations to come.We believe that we don't have to compromise between the health of women and the environment.

KujaEcoPads has developed 100% biodegradable and compostable sanitary pad made from banana fiber which is one of the most absorbent natural fibers and abundant in Cameroon. Unlike wood pulp or cotton, it is an agricultural by-product and does not require additional land usage. Our all-natural pads do not contain bleach or chemicals to minimize skin irritation and release of toxins into the environment upon disposal. Not only are they more comfortable and safer for the user as they don’t contain bleach which has carcinogenic dioxins, KujaEcoPads pads degrade within 6 months of disposal, 1200 times faster than conventional pads, and eliminate the need for incineration, reducing CO2 production. We eliminate 60 kg of pad waste, per woman, in her lifetime. KujaEcoPads is part of the circular economy where everyone is positively impacted and our goal is to create hygiene products that are good for the body, environment, and community.

We have two types of customers:

• Middle & upper-class urban women- KujaEcoPads pads are accessible to all women with our two-pronged pricing scheme. Our business model is to sell pads at a premium in urban Cameroon and use that to sell our pads at a cost in rural Cameroon. We are selling through whatsapp.We have been conducting customer surveys, design thinking workshops to take feedback and make our product better and more comfortable for our customers. 
• NGOs that purchase our pads to distribute among women in the villages in which they operate and to internally displaced women. We conduct menstrual hygiene workshops to aware them about access to KujaEcoPads pads.We are scaling up to serve other markets, central Africa is our interest because Central Africa produces more than 400 million tons of plastic waste every year and 36% of it is single-use plastic. This is creating economic, environmental and health problems for generations to come. The aware citizens are looking for a natural and sustainable option.

Our project relates to the Elevate Prize as it deals with changing people's attitudes, beliefs and behaviors around menstruation. Through our work we also create awareness and actions which solves the problem of lack of access and affordability to sanitary napkins and behavioral shifts around menstruation.

In 2013,while on a work tour with 2000 girls in Zimbabwe, discovered they didn't have access to pads.The same year, I got reports that a group of girls I was sponsoring in Cameroon were not going all the time due to lack of pads. 

I became passionate and launched a project which helped more than 25,000 girls with donated pads. In 2016,I launched 1 Million pads project with the aim of amassing 1 Million pads by the year 2020 for girls in Cameroon.Pads started pouring in from around the world but the cost of shipping from the US/Europe was overwhelming.  

So I thought that since donated pads were not sustainable, a marketable approach could be long lasting.What if I can start a business that will sustain the giving?

That was my ah- ha moment. When many people look at problems in the third world, they immediately think “Charity" but at this time what stroke me the most was Social Entrepreneurship. That's how I started KujaEcoPads with the one on one Tom’s shoes model. I knew if we could get people to buy our pads and continue to buy, we could sustain the giving and that we solve the problem.

My personal experience having my first period without pads or knowledge about menses motivates. I came from a very poor background. At the age of 11, I got my first period and by 13 I was pregnant.My father decided to send me to school at a time when many families were sending their daughters into early/forced marriages. That golden opportunity took me to the United States through a scholarship. When I graduated college and started working as a nurse in New York , I decided to give back to my community through a small scholarship fund which assist vulnerable girls with school fees.After sending my first batch of girls to school,I got reports that they weren't going all the time.They were missing up to a week of school every month because of THEIR PERIODS.They would fall behind at school, struggle in exams and eventually dropout.I was gob smacked that girls were using rags,newspaper, kitchen sponges, leaves and bark from a tree. I really felt something strong for a woman to be in that position.

So,coming full circle I felt compelled to do something to help.Life feels better for me when I help, and KujaEcoPads is how I've decided to serve.. 

Experience is the best teacher so  my personal  experience growing up in rural Cameroon with no sanitary napkins makes me well-positioned to deliver this project..I understand firsthand the shame and humiliation that comes with a school girl's uniform being stained from lack of pads. I know what is means to use rags, bark of trees and kitchen sponges.

I have a background in nursing and sexual reproductive health and have worked in this field for more than 15 years with enough experience to deliver this project.. In 2016,I was selected as one of 30 women from 190 countries from around the world and trained on leadership and social Entrepreneurship skills by World Pulse’s  signature program “Voices of the future". My leadership skills put me in a better position to lead my workers well. In the same year I had a scholarship and was trained by Days for Girls international on menstrual hygiene management. In 2019,I was selected as one of the best entrepreneurs in Africa by the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship program, an award that came with a seed capital of $5000 and robust 12 weeks entrepreneurship training.

A few years ago,I took the road less traveled and bought a one way air ticket to Cameroon to start a social enterprise to help vulnerable women and girls. I knew things were going to be difficult especially as I've spent most of my time in the US.Nothing could have prepare me for the road ahead. There was an ongoing crisis in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon which started in 2016. Hospitals, houses and industries were being burnt. People were killed every day. You could see dead bodies decaying by the road side.Many of our workers lost their home.In 2019,the gunshots came too close to our industry and after persevering for a long time,we were forced to close the Industry.I was so depressed but took time to meditate for a way forward. Periods don't stop during crisis. CONVID 19 had added to the problem.How will women and girls manage their period?After a few months,I decided to install the machines at our home and get workers to start production. Then we pivoted  to  door to door sales whereby our trained sales team uses mobile van stocked with pads and deliver pads to customers at their  doorsteps and workplaces.

Menstrual myths and taboos alongside cultural beliefs have been associated with menstruation for a long time here in Cameroon especially in rural communities. While some cultures consider menstruating women unclean to cook or share the same bed with their husbands, others isolate menstruating women and girls during their period. In 2018, I organized the first menstrual hygiene Day campaign which brought together  mayors, government representatives, delegates from the ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family and the Ministry of Social Affair, and religious  authorities and traditional rulers with more than  5000 women and girls for a week long program to commemorate Menstrual Hygiene Day 2018..The week was marked by seminars, workshops on menstrual hygiene management and donation of more than 5000 packets of sanitary kits. The high mark of this campaign was a declaration made by the traditional ruler and mayor of this community abolishing all those cultural myths and taboos which put women and girls at risk during the period. It was a happy day. My leadership skills had brought to an end myths and taboos surrounding menstrual and created room for healthy practices.

We plan to revolutionize the hygiene industry by manufacturing products sustainably and responsibly. KujaEcoPads uses the principal of the circular economy where everyone is positively impacted. We have a diverse team which helps to indicate the changes we need to make in our product. We are also planning to create diverse campaigns as well which help our customers feel more included.

Value proposition of KujaEcoPads pads are as follows:

Affordable

• 55% cheaper than other premium health-conscious products

Better : 

• 100% natural, chemical-free, and non-toxic
• more comfortable and gentle to the skin,
• 100% Compostable and Biodegradable
• No health side effects from using this product

Faster : 

• More absorbent

Within the next year our Overall Objective is to  

Increase repeat orders and urban customers to support subsidiaries in rural areas and provide subsidized sanitary pads to 10,000 women in the North West region.

Increase brand awareness

Expand the coverage of our communications

Earn at least 30 new customers per quarter

Sell 10 units of our product per week

Within the next five years,we hope to:

The goals are to expand to new countries, launch new products and more efficient manufacturing technology to scale up the production. We aim to reduce CO2 incineration and emission, increase farmer income and employ more women from rural backgrounds.

Develop a strong reputation of our product

Conquer 20% of our competitors' customers within  

Assimilate our brand to emotional and rational elements

Increase the profit margin of the line of our product

Safeguarding our partnership with all major distributors of the sanitary napkins market Expand to Ghana, Ethiopia,Central Africa Republic, US, EU, and Cameroon markets

Below are the details of market barriers:

Awareness

Shipping on product

Sales and Distribution

Awareness: Due to lack of proper awareness about biodegradable pads among customers, some companies are using oxo-biodegradable plastic which is more harmful because it breaks the plastic into micro particles which can never be recovered.

Shipping on the product: Currently we are selling KujaEcoPads pads through Whatsapp where we are imposing delivery charges on customers which sometimes impact our sales and conversions. We are in talks with some Eco-Friendly retail stores to place products in major regional cities. We have made success with it and are currently available in many eco stores. 

Sales and Distribution: We receive 10-12 inquiries every week regarding distributorship and partnership from Cameroon and worldwide, currently we are looking for hiring more candidates in Sales and Distribution to manage all those queries and follow up on past leads.

• For our One Million pads initiative, we’ve partnered with NGO, Mandela  Foundation & Marie-Claire Foundation,to distribute pads in the villages and to internally displaced  women and girls in camps and host communities . 
•  Retail store partners: Steve Eco-Store and Grass field Bio shop

KujaEcoPads  are accessible to all women with our two-pronged pricing scheme. Our business model is to sell pads at a premium in urban Cameroon, to sell our pads at cost in rural Cameroon. Currently, pads are available via whatsapp and eco-stores. As a benchmark, one of the premium brands in the market sells for 125frs/pad whereas KujaEcoPads sells for 75frs/ pad making us extremely competitive. As  pads are a necessity & market is growing, we will be economically sustainable because more women will be using pads.

We will become financially sustainable by selling our sanitary napkins at a premium cost in urban sales and at a subsidized rate in rural areas. We will be raising funds to scale up production so that we can reach more customers globally. We also look towards expanding our product line to expand the customers we can reach.

We have raised $5000 in grants from the Tony Elumelu Foundation Nigeria.This was raised in 2019 when I was winner of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship program representing Cameroon.

We seek to raise funds for our project to purchase materials such as machines which is needed to scale up the company.

Awareness: Due to lack of proper awareness about
biodegradable pads among customers, some companies are using
oxo-biodegradable plastic which is more harmful because it breaks the
plastic into micro particles which can never be recovered.

Secondly, we need to do deep advertisement of our product to create awareness about our product because its quite new .KujaEcoPads is actually Cameroon's first 100% biodegradable sanitary napkins.The Elevate prize will help us advertise on TV,radio,print and social media. We currently carry out sensitization workshops in schools and universities to create aware but that is in a small scale due to limited resources. With the Elevate Prize behind us,it will facilitate our outreach to all the ten regions of Cameroon and beyond.

Partnership Goals

KujaEcoPads seeks:

• Investor partners focused on circular economy and sustainable solutions
• Disposal partners, specifically biogas and compost
• Branding and digital marketing support to expand outreach across Cameroon
• Manufacturing and funding support to scale up operations and production capacity
• Marketing and sales expertise in distribution and consumer products

We would like to partner with various distributors, Eco-stores and e-commerce stores in the US and EU to provide access to our product there. Along with that, we also look for partnering with various branding and marketing agencies, media and influencers to build brand value in the new market.