Sakhi Swasthya Samuh

The group began with a problem rather than a product: girls in four nearby villages were missing school days every month, and the nearest shop that stocked napkins was eleven kilometres away.

They set up a small manufacturing unit with a subsidised machine and a bank loan, and started by supplying schools at cost. Retail sales came later, once the unit could hold a consistent quality.

Four members are trained as community health workers and run free usage sessions at schools and anganwadis. The instruction card that ships with every menstrual cup is the same one they teach from — written by the members, in Tamil and Hindi.