Happy National Inventors' Day!

You don't have to celebrate only Valentine's Day this week, because today is National Inventor's Day!

While the most famous of inventors and makers in history is Thomas Edison, there are thousands of unknown inventors and makers that are improving lives, health and incomes. Did you know who invented the toilet? Believe it or not, it's not Thomas Crapper, but Sir John Harington. 

In honor of the day, let's share the love with the maker types among us and spread the word about our patent-pending innovation of transforming banana fiber into fluff! 

 

Dispatch from SHE's MacGyver: Getting Dirty for the Cause

Since our MacGyver-in-Residence Tyson Huffman has arrived at our production facility in Ngoma, SHE has been on the fast-track to mass production of our Launchpads. 

Tyson is applying his expertise in process engineering and operations management to set up our production site, test and validate our quality control and assurance manufacturing processes, and train our local technical team. And guess what? Tyson's latest dispatch declares that "We are on a roll!"

In just 3 short weeks, Tyson has hired three technicians (2 of whom are women) from the local vocational school, has brought our machinery online, led the minor re-construction of our facility, the installation of our water tank and electricity, and has begin a test run of processing our fiber into fluff!  

Building a production site means that you need to be ready to roll up your sleeves. Thankfully, SHE's Tyson and Sylvere have no problem getting dirty for the cause!

Sylvere (left) and Tyson (right) testing one of our machines.

Tyson is making our production site ready for manufacturing action! Stay tuned for upcoming dispatches from him!

Meet one of our ten pilot schools: Gs Gikaya

Gs Gikaya is one of the 10 schools that will be buying our pads during our industrial-scale pilot.  It's considered one of the model schools with girl-friendly sanitation facilities compared to many of the schools we have visited. This school is also renowned also for their warm welcoming.

A warm welcome from Gs Gikaya students!

When Nadia, Tash, and I arrived, we were welcomed by kids running towards you to receive you with a hug and sweet songs.

SHE will be providing Menstrual Health Management training at each of our ten pilot schools, but before we begin training, we needed to revisit the school campus so we can tailor our curriculum based on the school's sanitation facilities. 

Gs Giyaka is equipped with a girls' room that contains basic materials that a girl should use when she get her menses at school and is unprepared. Because this school is led by a woman, the issues of menstruation seem better well addressed than at other schools. The school teachers discuss the topic after class and instruct younger girls how to manage their menstruation, but challenges to fully support girls' menstrual needs still exist. 

SHE's Nadia with Gs Gikaya's headmistress in the school's girl's room

The headmistress reported that even though they have pads in stock to give to a girl who is unprepared when her period arrives, many of girls still don’t have means to purchase a pack of pads by themselves. Therefore, they sometimes try to game the system by having their friends ask for pads on their behalf so they can have enough products. Painkillers are also not available at school, so sometimes the headmistress allow girls to return home if they have too much pain. 

Supporting girls' menstrual needs at school will not be solved simply by providing access to more pads. That's why SHE is instigating at the national level to ensure that budgets and resources are increased at the school level, so girls will be provided increased access to education, menstrual products, and services.

I wonder whether schools led by women care more about menstruation issues or if it's just this school that makes an effort to support its girls and boys equally to help them stay in school. In any regard, we can't wait to learn more from the girls of Gs Gikaya!

- Gerardine, Marketing and Research Officer

The HAHA Beat: SHE's Instigating at work: EALA pushes for affordable pads

Our instigating efforts are paying forward! Thanks to long-time SHE advocate Dr. Odette Nyiramilimo, whom we met with earlier this year (check out our blog post), the East African Legislative Assembly is pushing for cheaper sanitary pads with a resolution to waive value-added taxes (18% in Rwanda) across East Africa!

Check out the article here: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15458&a=69783

Re-visit our blog post about meeting with Dr. Nyiramilimo here: http://sheinnovates.blogspot.com/2013/03/an-end-to-value-added-taxes-is-in-sight.html

MacGyver in Residence, Now We’re Talking

August 2013

Cary, North Carolina

Who doesn’t like a little MacGyver in their work lives?  

Well, we at SHE have got one (minus the long hair).  Tyson is on his way to join Julian, Sylvere, and the rest of our team rolling out our pilot-industrial pad production in Ngoma, Rwanda.  Is he up for the task?  Absolutely!  His preparation is typical of SHE, that is unique and interesting, with years of pulp and paper science, the Marines, and North Carolina farming under his belt.  

SHE's actual MacGyver in Residence, Tyson Huffman

He’ll be pulling out all the stops helping the team with the consistency and quality of banana fiber pulp production and setting up the most efficient processes.  Don’t worry, he’s packed all the gum, shoe laces, and hangers to make anything work!

What's your BHAG?

As the Strategic Partnerships and Marketing Director, I am involved in executing several BHAGs – big hairy audacious goals, that is! One of my BHAGs is developing a kick-ass brand of our maxi-pad for SHE Rwanda along with my colleagues Julian and Gerardine.

Our first tool of our new brand identity will be our packaging. We are working with Kool Girl Posse on our brand logo and identity and they came up three concepts for us to test with girls and women. 

1.The first concept communicated our belief in debunking taboos;

2.The second concept communicated the uniqueness of reclaiming agro-waste and natural materials to produce a quality product;

3.The third concept communicated a key benefit linked to menstrual hygiene management.

I traveled to Rwanda in April and May to present these concepts to my colleagues and then to several groups of girls and women from rural and urban communities. 

The concepts and designs also sparked a spirited debate among the SHE team! Likewise, girls and young women responses were also overwhelmingly astute and positive. It was surprising to learn which design elements particularly resonated with girls and how they perceived our product.

A student takes a closer look at each brand concepts

The girls took our focus group session as seriously as an exam!

One lesson that I learned from the girls - don't be afraid to be bold in color! All you have to do is look around you to discover bright colors are everywhere!

 

We also learned how greatly important the use of symbols and imagery for instruction and education. Our challenge is to find universally known symbols and imagery that will translate in many geographies. 

Our updated concept will aim to achieve better clarity about the product and its benefits, while also simplifying the information needed for healthy menstrual hygiene. The most important thing we learned from the girls and women is that our brand must speak to the girls’ desire to live life normally – girls need assurance that menstruation should not break the rhythm of their day to day lives.

Stay tuned to see how we continue to develop our new brand identity for our maxi-pad and better yet, for the debut of our brand and packaging!

Let's toast to pad production machines in Rwanda!

For those of you who have run the SHE race with us, the journey has been long but you can raise your glasses and let's toast to our pad production machines arriving in Rwanda. We are ready to launch the "LaunchPad!"

Since January 2013, I have been feeling like an expecting mother; from procuring machines to finding shippers to the nearest port of entry to Rwanda and after 2 months of waiting; the machines finally landed a month ago. The excitement, the anxiety, etc, took all  the better of me. Just the sight of the machines drove my passion even deeper.

Julian geeking out with one of our pad production machines!

Now that the machines are settled, our energy is high again with the recruitment and training of the local technicians. Exciting!

In other news, for the past 4 weeks, the Rwanda office has been buzzing with activity from the entire SHE team, well part of the team (SHE is more than just NY and Rwanda office). 

Julian, Jackie, and CeCe 

Cece, Connie and Elizabeth have been hanging out in the Rwanda office immersing themselves in a range of things from creating menstrual health manuals to testing the pad brand to visiting the production sites and pausing for pictures, of course we also made sure we took pictures of the only SHE staff members who loves asking for pictures but not taking them, Connie! 

SHE Team Minus CeCe!

Hurraaayyy!

-Julian, SHE Rwanda COO

Breaking the Silence with the Police on the Road to Ngoma

Business Development Officer Sylvere (at left)
Photo Credit: Perttu Saralampi

SHE is getting into an amazing phase of production of our LaunchPads. The pads will be produced in the Ngoma district, more precisely at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) in the Eastern Region. 

Check out these photos of our production site in Ngoma!

Even the police officers are excited about our LaunchPad!

While on route to delivering our industrial-scale machinery to our production site, our truck was stopped about six times by the Rwanda National Traffic Police.  The police grilled me about what we were carrying in the back of the truck, but I simply responded that, “I am carrying a huge machine to deliver to IPRC East.”  They then asked “What is this machine for?” and I explained that it’s will be used to make KOTEX (Pads) and all them said, “KOTEX making in Rwanda?” And I said “Yes, my company will be producing pads in Rwanda!” I even took advantage of the moment to explain about the taboos associated with menstruation. The most impressive thing that I noticed in them is that they were all interested in hearing more about what we do. So even police officers have some learning to do when it comes to menstruation!

Among the police officers that stopped me along the way, five of the officers were also women. I have since learned that 30% of Rwanda national police are women.  I now wonder how these female officers manage their period while working. Officers are always on the move and sometimes are stationed in areas where they have no access to toilets. 

While during our pilot SHE will be delivering pads to rural school girls, once SHE scales up, we should also consider the needs of our police women too.

By the way, our production site is nearly complete! Everyone that I meet can’t wait to see the LaunchPad, such an innovative product that is being made in Rwanda. Sawa!

- Sylvere
Business Development Officer, Rwanda