Privacy purchase and unmarked delivery

According to Tanzania health demographic survey 2022, 21% of currently married women have an unmet need for family planning, 59% of currently married women have demand for family planning, 64% of the demand for family planning is satisfied, 32% of sexually active, unmarried women have an unmet need for family planning, 76% of sexually active, unmarried women have demand for family planning.
There is a strong community stigma and taboos regarding the purchase and use uses of family planning methods, and sexual and reproductive health products in Tanzania. This increases fear of judgment, loss of confidentiality, and privacy. Combined all of these obstacles prevent adolescents and young girls, from making knowledgeable choices and decisions about their preferred family planning methods, sexual and reproductive health and well-being, and limiting their bodily autonomy. In Tanzania, lack of sanitary pads forces nearly one million students to be absent from school each year.
Mention sex in a room full of Tanzanian, and everyone will go silent then side giggles and murmurs followed by the inevitable “Ah! You people are having sex?” However, the conservative attitude of many Tanzania towards discussions about sex is a stark contrast to how much sex they are having. Tanzanian youth aren’t just having sex, though. They are having sex with multiple partners. While treating sex as a taboo subject has not stopped Tanzanian from doing the deed, it has created a culture where sexual health and education, by extension, are grossly ignored. 
In Tanzania, one out of every 5 women has given birth by age 18 and the use of contraceptives remains very low. There are million unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The rates of HIV testing remain low and many youths living with HIV are unaware of their status. These problems are brought about and worsened by our society’s cultural and religious biases and the lack of shame-free and confidential access to quality sexual and reproductive health information, products and services for young people (especially those who are unmarried. Our goal is to change this status quo.

We are the social enterprise, seeks to give youth and adolescent women access to a greater variety of more convenient, affordable, and trusted options for their health and wellness needs. We operate a call center and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platform, and distribution system that seeks to close the gap between youth and adolescent women and manufacturers for a wide range of women’s health products, including family planning and personal hygiene products. Our platform that allows everyone (especially young people) to conveniently access Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education, information, products and services. Our users can have privacy (even anonymous) purchase of sexual health products like HIV test kits; condoms and we unmarked delivery to their homes/offices that women may not be able to access. Our USSD solution for use with a basic mobile phone, allowing the us to reach women of all backgrounds. When customers send a USSD code (very similar to an SMS and commonly used in low- and middle-income countries to buy airtime and other services), we opens a text message session or “conversation” and sends back a text-based menu of options including product categories. During this session, the customer can click through the menu of options to learn about products and prices and then make a purchase with no internet required (standard network rates apply). We offers a variety of payment options, including M-Pesa, cash on delivery, and point-of-sale for bank.

Youth and adolescent women without smartphones: These can order health products through an analog phone using a USSD menu or by dialing a call center. We deliver products to hard-to-reach women, while also providing tech and sales support. Offering this channel enables us to increase uptake within customer segment they seek to serve.
Marginalized Communities: We are dedicated to assisting girls and women residing in marginalized areas. In these regions, the absence of access to menstrual products and proper sanitation facilities is a significant issue. Financial constraints often prevent these underserved communities from acquiring sanitary products, leaving girls to manage their periods without dignity or comfort. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of educational resources and information about menstruation in these areas, leading to widespread misconceptions and discomfort. The persistent stigmas associated with menstruation only intensify these challenges, eroding self-esteem and creating an discouraging atmosphere that obstructs girls from pursuing education and their aspirations.

Community Involvement: Our Team Lead, who has personally faced the profound effects of enduring poverty, brings a distinctive viewpoint to the communities we serve. We have conducted extensive fieldwork, interviews, and surveys to gain direct insight into the challenges, aspirations, and experiences of these communities. Through our proximity and active engagement, we have built strong connections and trust with the community members.

Cultural Awareness: Our team comprises individuals who are representative of the communities we assist and demonstrate a keen cultural sensitivity. We highly appreciate the diversity of perspectives and experiences among the girls and women in these communities, recognizing the specific cultural intricacies and challenges related to menstruation.

Continuous Feedback Loop: We maintain open lines of communication with the communities, actively seeking input and opinions at every stage of developing and implementing our solution. This feedback loop enables us to adapt and enhance our strategy in accordance with the evolving needs and priorities of the communities.

Collaboration: The implementation of our initiatives is deeply shaped by the viewpoints, aspirations, and objectives of the communities we are dedicated to serving. We actively involve community members in the collaborative creation of solutions tailored to their specific requirements. Through this joint effort, we ensure that the target population not only deems our endeavors relevant but also provides their support.

We pilot the 800 adolescent girls> Sexual topics are often considered taboo in numerous African communities. Many young people, particularly girls who have experienced abuse or assault, endure their pain in silence because they fear being stigmatized by their families and society.Providing information on what actions a girl can take in emergency situations can have a profound impact on her life.

We are unique because we aim to increase access to health, wellness, and beauty products and services for all women by reducing geographic, cost, and sociocultural barriers. Condoms, emergency contraceptives, and other sexual health products (HIV oral self-test kits and pregnancy tests) are among the products have the strong social stigma associated with the purchase and use in Tanzania. Customer insights research revealed that having many families planning options available makes clients trust. This trust—will help us to connect women with all available options without any sort of artificial barrier or bias—is an important selling point for the company to attract and retain clients. As a next step, the company is exploring new and innovative ways to share more comprehensive information with women on contraception. 
Partnerships with suppliers and distributors have allowed for volume pricing that makes products more affordable to our clients. We continuously looking for ways to bring prices down, including through new partner pharmacies

To increase the distribution network into three main channels to reach women in urban, rural, and low-income communities. First, direct delivery is available to clients in urban settings. Second, pick-up points offer convenient, community-based centralized locations for customers to pick up orders in urban and rural settings. For the first two options, motorcycle drivers, managed by a fulfillment center that tracks orders, pick up products from warehouse and partner pharmacies and bring them to the appointed delivery site. For the third delivery option, a network of sales agents offers marketing, sales support including socialization of the technology-driven platform, and last-mile delivery in hard-to-reach and lower-income areas.

Our mission is twofold: To ensure all women living in emerging markets have access to health and hygiene products, and to transform the personal care and health system supply chain. We directly sells products to low-income and middle-income customers in rural and poor urban locations via and Unstructured Supplemental Service Data (“USSD”) platform, which is optimized for low resource settings.

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) USSD is a communications protocol that allows users to open a text-based communication session with a mobile network operator or other company. Users of this communications protocol may not notice differences between USSD and short message service (SMS), but there are some important differences. While both USSD and SMS are text-based, the former is a timed, active session between the user and an application, whereas SMS uses discrete messages that can be sent any time and are stored in the phone’s memory. Mobile network operators may charge different rates for SMS (a per SMS fee) compared with USSD, which may be charged based on the length of the session. USSD is most useful when a user wants to engage with a menu-based information service. Both SMS and USSD are available on basic phones.
USSD platform allows for women of all socio-economic backgrounds to circumvent any social stigma by shopping discreetly for high quality healthcare and beauty products. Expanding choice and building loyalty: As customers place orders, we collect data such as order history and demographics. This data can in turn be anonymized, analyzed, and translated into key market insights for manufacturers looking to enter into or expand markets. Selling these insights creates an additional revenue stream for the social enterprise, while supporting their ability to provide additional product choices for the women we serve. Offering a broader range of products enhances is our proposition, cultivating customer loyalty, which in turn improves customer retention and can lower user acquisition costs through referrals.

5 - full time employees

3 - part time employees

5 - other workers coming in from time to time

We have been working on our solution for 1 year and 5 months.

Diverse Leadership: Our leadership team represents a rich tapestry of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We actively seek individuals who can offer unique insights and innovative solutions to address the intricate issues surrounding period poverty and sexual and reproductive health. Periodically, we involve community members in our decision-making processes, enabling them to warm up to our initiative and ensuring their voices play a central role in shaping our work.

Community Engagement: We give top priority to engaging the communities we serve in the collaborative development of our solutions. This entails listening to their needs, comprehending their distinct challenges, and guaranteeing that their voices have a significant impact on our decision-making. We actively incorporate diverse experiences and perspectives to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand.

Equity-Centered Design: Our solutions are carefully crafted with equity at the core. We address disparities and systemic barriers that have historically hindered marginalized groups, including girls and women, from accessing essential resources and opportunities. We also involve men in our programs to mentor boys in the communities we work with, fostering a culture of equity and understanding.

Inclusive Programs: We create programs and services that are inclusive, respectful, and supportive of all community members. Our initiatives are designed to be culturally sensitive and pertinent to the diverse groups we serve. We also collaborate with other stakeholders who can contribute to the growth and development of the communities we work in, ensuring a more comprehensive approach to addressing the challenges we encounter.

Our operations rely on two complementary revenue streams: business-to-consumer (B2C). Revenue from consumers comes from product sales and delivery fees, as well as subscription and loyalty programs to promote recurring revenue. These efforts are targeted at urban and rural women and girls across income segments. Currently, four out of five clients that the we serves are reached through agents. These agents are intended to reach lower-income communities that have higher barriers to access. The company continues to explore ways to increase access for women at the base of the economic pyramid. Our B2C revenue model is derived from its mission to help facilitate the entry of more—and more trusted—products into the markets in which it operates to give women more choice. Using its client and retail sales networks, we monetized its e-commerce platform to offer manufacturers, importers, distributors, and other health companies a range of data-driven services. The services include: Product marketing and new brand launch support • Consumer insight reports • Competitive sales strategy development • Direct-to-consumer product and information distribution • Subscription deliveries to schools and other institutions

Expanding choice and building loyalty as customers browse and place orders our platform, we collects data such as order history and demographics. This data can in turn be anonymized, analyzed, and translated into key market insights for manufacturers looking to enter into or expand in markets. Selling these insights creates an additional revenue stream for the company, while supporting their ability to provide additional product choices for the women they serve. Offering a broader range of products enhances value proposition, cultivating customer loyalty, which in turn improves customer retention and can lower user acquisition costs through referrals.