SHE Named The 2012 Cartier Women's
Initiative Award Winner for Sub-Saharan Africa
New York,
NY (October 15, 2012) – SHE’s Julian Kayibanda and Elizabeth Scharpf were
honored as the Sub-Saharan African Laureate for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards
at a ceremony held at the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society in
Deauville, France this past week. As the
Sub-Saharan African Laureates, Julian and Elizabeth received USD $20,000, coaching support for a full
year, access to international networks and media visibility and an exclusive
trophy designed by Cartier.
Julian, Chief
Operating Officer, Rwanda is a Rwandese business leader that returned to her
home country to contribute to rebuilding her country after the trauma of
genocide in the 1990’s. Elizabeth, Founder and Chief Instigating Officer is a
Harvard MBA-MPAID graduate with a passion for raising awareness of overlooked
problems that have dire socio-economic consequences and a talent for finding
market-based solutions.
Together,
Julian and Elizabeth launched SHE’s first initiative, SHE28, in Rwanda to
address the lack of access to affordable menstrual pads for girls and
women. This overlooked, but pressing,
problem is faced by millions of girls and women across emerging economies, many
whom cope with sub-optimal choices of using cloth, bark, or even mud, which
present reproductive health risks. SHE estimates the economic loss for
missed days of school or work in Rwanda alone is at $115 million a year. SHE’s sustainable approach helps individuals
to jumpstart their own businesses to manufacture & distribute locally
produced, low-cost, eco-friendly menstrual pads using banana fibers as the
absorbent core, i.e the SHE LaunchPad.
“It has been an amazing journey from when we
learned that we were a finalist to being here at the Women’s Forum and being
completely enriched by meeting amazing women entrepreneurs and business leaders,”
says Kayibanda. “This recognition affirms our sustainable model of increasing
access to our pads for girls and women in Rwanda and beyond. This award will
enable SHE Rwanda to continue to move forward with our industrial-scale pilot
phase.”
Recognition
as a Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards Winner demonstrates that investing in women-led
businesses can drive shared economic growth that benefits entire communities.
SHE has been at the forefront of garnering global support for developing a
sustainable system to address public health taboos.
About Sustainable Health Enterprises
Sustainable
Health Enterprises (SHE) is a social venture that invests in overlooked people
and ideas to drive social and economic change.
Its first initiative, SHE28, is addressing females’ lack of access to
affordable menstrual pads, causing significant costs to their health,
education, productivity, and dignity. To learn more about SHE, please visit its
website at http://www.sheinnovates.com.
About Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards:
Created in 2006
by Cartier and the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, in partnership
with INSEAD business school and McKinsey & Co., the Cartier Women’s
Initiative Awards is an annual international business plan competition for
women entrepreneurs. To view the awards ceremony, watch here:
####### For interviews and press information:
Connie Lewin,
prelations@SHEinnovates.com, 954-439-6702
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