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.
- Elevating understanding of and between people through changing people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
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.
- Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
CEO/FOUNDER