Arunachalam Muruganantham

Arunachalam Muruganantham, from Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu, is a social Entrepreneur who decided to disrupt the period industry, especially for developing countries like India, where cost of sanitary napkins is not affordable to most women. He says that only 7% of the Indian women use the modern-day sanitary napkins and his target is to make the remaining 93% have access to really cheap sanitary napkins. After taking four years painful research, A.Muruganantham has designed, created, tested and implemented a sanitary napkin-making machine that operates on a small scale. Contrary to a large-scale production model which requires Rs.3.5 Crores as initial investment, Muruganantham’s sanitary napkin-making machine can be made available to a buyer for approximately Rs.75,000. Arunachalam Muruganantham, came under the media spotlight when he almost single-handedly, created a model for making affordable sanitary napkins in the country which made him the recipient of the “Best Innovation Award” from none other than the president of India- Smt. Pratibha Patil.

 Powered by electricity and foot pedals, the machine de-fibers the cellulose, compresses it into napkin form, seals it with non-woven fabrics, and finally sterilizes it with ultraviolet light. He can now make 1,000 napkins a day, which retail for about Rs. 12.5 for a package of eight. Though he’s won numerous awards (and won his wife back) he doesn’t sell his product commercially. "It’s a service," he says. His company, Jayaashree Industries, helps rural women buy one of the Rs. 1,25,000 machines through NGOs, government loans, and rural self-help groups. "My vision is to make India a 100% napkin-using country," said Muruganantham at the INK conference in Jaipur. "We can create 1 million employment opportunities for rural women and expand the model to other developing nations." Today, there are about 600 machines deployed in 23 states across India and in a few countries abroad. The machine and business model...