Mentor Missy Project

Delivery of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights to young women and girls in low-income, under-served communities in Nigeria. 

Alarming statistics of around 1 out of 10 girls staying out of school at least 5 days every month because of menstruation (according to a UNESCO report).  In Nigeria, an estimated 10 million girls do not have access to and/or cannot afford menstrual sanitary products.

As a teenage girl, growing up in an under-served, low income area, I experienced several episodes of recurrent urinary and reproductive tracts infections which was clinically linked to poor menstrual hygiene practices - since I use un-sanitized pieces of clothes to absorb my menstrual flow. I was unaware that this practice could be harmful to my health, I was only concerned that I don't get stained/embarrassed in school.  

Mentor Missy re-writes the story of my teenage experience for many young girls.

Poor menstrual hygiene and lack of sanitary material keep girls and women out of school and/or work and exposes them to reproductive tract infections. 

Efforts in solving problems around menstrual hygiene in past have been directed towards education through school outreaches and occasional donations of free sanitary pads to school girls and recently, the use of re-usable sanitary towels which seem to solve the economic concerns around menstrual hygiene especially in very poor communities.

Our project is adopting innovative method to scale the impact of our work to reach more young women and girls directly through the USSD-enabled messaging of information on sexual and reproductive health and general first-aid information for minor emergencies in the rural communities.

Since inception (November 2017), we have delivered Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) education and counselling through high school outreach programs which include educating teenagers on menstrual hygiene (to tackle misconceptions) and distributing sanitary products. 

We started with $444 raised from friends and family and a 'Test it' grant from the British council Nigeria and through partnerships, we have directly impacted over 4000 girls in different under-served communities in Nigeria and based on data from our follow-up programs, 

We have been able to help over 80% of these girls stay in school during their Menstrual period and they pay more attention to their hygiene. 

Mentor Missy Project will provide economic and health benefits to young women and girls by improving menstrual health and economic status of women through education and access to affordable sanitary products in rural communities through use of USSD-enabled messaging and manufacture of low-cost sanitary pads. This project is different than existing solutions because it is tech-enabled using USSD messaging to provide information; also using innovative method to solve both health and economic concerns around menstrual hygiene management in low-income communities through local manufacturing.

If successful, in five years, our project will have directly impacted the lives of 2.8 million rural women and girls having been reached with menstrual hygiene education and economically empowered 50, 000 women through employment in our local manufacturing plants across the country.

Our solution is adopting a new application of an existing technology. 

Mentor Missy Project will provide economic and health benefits to young women and girls by improving menstrual health and economic status of women through education and access to affordable sanitary products in rural communities through use of USSD-enabled messaging and manufacture of low-cost sanitary pads. This project is different than existing solutions because it is tech-enabled using USSD messaging to provide information; also using innovative method to solve both health and economic concerns around menstrual hygiene management in low-income communities through local manufacturing.

Through the adoption of technology, we would be able to scale the impact of our solution beyond the communities that we can physically reach out to, to include every other woman who are in need of information on sexual and reproductive health. 

Adoption of technology would accelerate the spread of our impact without geographical restrictions. 

In the first three months, our project would have established the USSD messaging code and source for equipment required for the set up of the first set of manufacturing plants in our target communities. 

In the subsequent 9 months, we project that up to 50, 000 women/girls would have used our USSD messaging code to search for information on sexual and reproductive health. Also, our manufacturing plants would have employed an estimate of 60 women.  

After a successful initial phase relying on grants and in-kind support from organizations and host communities; and projected self-sustenance after 3 years, we would have acquired loyalty to our brand of low-cost disposable sanitary pads in low income communities. 

At this point the enterprise would be extended to similar communities using profits from existing firms in addition to access to further funding support.

The connection and network we will build in the process of execution this project would provide a gateway to introducing other healthcare related programs targeted at improving the health and living condition of member of these communities.

Through consistent access to quality and reliable medical information on sexual and reproductive health, young women and girls in rural communities would be able to thrive above cultural and religious barriers that normally prevent access to these vital information. 

This in addition to the access to high quality, low-cost sanitary pads that gives them flexibility and independence to stay in school and be more productive at work would help us attain and retain loyalty form the target communities.

Since inception (November 2017), we have delivered Menstrual Hygiene Management education and counselling through high school outreach programs which include educating teenagers on menstrual hygiene and distributing sanitary products. 

We started with $444 raised from friends and family and a 'Test it' grant from the British council Nigeria and through partnerships, we have directly impacted over 4000 girls in different under-served communities and based on data from our follow-up programs, 

We have been able to help over 80% of these girls stay in school during their Menstrual period and they pay more attention to their hygiene. 

We would expand our project geographically and impact-wise to reach more women in the communities and girls in school.

In the next 12 month, we expect to have employed 60 women in our manufacturing plants and have sold sanitary pads to up to 10, 000 women and girls in these rural communities. 

Using our USSD messaging code, we have a projection the about 50,000 women would have requested and acquired useful information on sexual and reproductive health.  

Our team is made up of individuals who grew up in these under-served communities and can relate to the stories of what young girls and women in the communities are facing and driven by the singular purpose of re-writing the stories of their past experiences. 

The team is composed of experts from diverse background which covers for every area of specialization required to run this project successfully - ranging from public health officials, medical professionals who are experienced in implementation, monitoring & evaluation and reporting of social projects to ICT experts who specialize in both software and hardware designs.

The Mentor Missy project is structured as a social enterprise; all profit yielded from this project will be utilized in expanding the activities and impact of the organization’s projects.  We hope to leverage on existing resources and profits earned in scaling the work done at our organization both geographically and impact-wise. Profits earned from this venture will especially be directed at driving down the cost of manufacturing, hence reducing the cost of sanitary products for our target audience.  Tooling to achieve the maximum economies of scale would be a big priority with all the manufacturing facilities that will be established

If selected, the publicity would help create more awareness about the work we do in our community which helps our advocacy activities around sexual and reproductive education. 

Engagement as a Solver would also help associate our work with an organization of great international reputation, this will further validate our work and help us in negotiating partnerships which are crucial to establishing a sustainable pipeline of affordable sanitary pads to these under-served communities.

 Taking advantage of access to mentoring, we would receive guidance on business decision that would contribute largely to the overall success and scaling of our business.

A significant barrier anticipated is the rejection by some communities based on cultural beliefs. Also, in local manufacturing of sanitary products, security is a big concern.

However, these anticipated barriers could be mitigated with adequate funding to execute our project as planned.

As with any business venture, failure is a risk; this is why we have put in our best in carefully planning out each step of the project. We plan to partner with the communities such that they will own and help protect the facilities because of the immense benefits it would generate for their communities.