No girl’s period should force her to miss school, and this startup is making sure of that

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

By Rachel Thompson

Growing up as a young girl in Nigeria, Folasade Bamisaye didn’t have access to sanitary pads or tampons. She would cut off parts of her foam mattress, or use scraps of clothing—sometimes even parts of her school uniform.

Bamisaye’s lack of access to basic menstrual hygiene products didn’t just cut away at her school uniform, it also cut into her school time and prevented her from attending lessons. “I missed a lot of classes, a lot of lectures, and it interfered with my academic performance,” she says.

Twenty years after Bamisaye finished school, Nigerian schoolgirls continue to face the same challenges when they menstruate. So, she decided to do something about it—by creating a startup that provides girls with menstrual hygiene kits in the hope that they’ll stay in school.

Bamisaye’s work with her startup MYperiodKIT has not gone unnoticed—she was recently selected as a finalist to represent Nigeria in a $1 million global startup competition, the Chivas Venture. On May 24. she’ll join 26 social entrepreneurs to pitch at the final at a conference in Amsterdam.

Photo courtesy of Dominic Chavez.

Source: Mashable (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Health Care
Tags
gender equality, public health, social enterprise, startups