UK entrepreneur offers poor Kenyan schoolgirls reprieve
A ruby cup. PHOTO | FILE
The use of menstrual cups is fast gaining ground especially among urban Kenyan women.
Maxie Matthiessen, one of the directors of Ruby Cup — a company based in Europe which produces and distributes the cups for free among under-privileged girls and women — explained how social entrepreneurship has helped thousands of girls to stay in school since 2012.
After using the cup and realising that it had many advantages Ms Matthiessen, together with her co-directors Veronica D’Souza and Julie Weigaard Kjaer, decided to establish a company in Europe to make the product.
They carried out a feasibility study in Kibera, Mathare and Kawangware in Nairobi.
“We received positive feedback, we tried selling the cup at a cheap price but they could not afford it. It was a big challenge to us because by then we did not know how we could help girls and do business at the same time,” said Ms Matthiessen.
They were selling one cup at Sh270, way too expensive for the girls and women most of who live on less than a dollar per day. They realised that many girls were dropping out of school due to challenges associated with menstruation.
“We asked ourselves why the cup was not available in Kenya and other African countries. We learnt that their use would be economical especially to girls who could not afford sanitary pads,” she said.
In 2013 they introduced the ‘‘buy one, give one’’ business model in Europe. The model enabled them to collect and distribute thousands of cups to girls and women in Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa and other places in Uganda and Tanzania. “For every cup bought in Europe an extra one is donated,” she explained.
By the start of this year, 10,000 cups had been bought in Europe. A similar number of donated cups is being shipped out as donations, said Ms Matthiessen. Each cup goes for 28 Euro (Sh3,000) in Europe.
The company distributed 5,000 cups last year and has partnered with some local firms keen on boosting the noble cause, she said.
“Organisations can buy the cups for employees or donate them. We will sell to them at a fair price,” said Ms Matthiessen. The cup retails at Sh1,800 in some pharmacies and supermarkets in Nairobi.
“We did not want beneficiaries to feel that being given the cups for free meant they were poor, we wanted to make them feel that they were also available and being used by the rich,” said Amaia Arran, Ruby Cup chief operating officer for East Africa.
“We are doing a social business because we have to earn money to produce and distribute them. We earn the money in Europe and undertake a social mission here to help girls stay in school,” she says.
The directors sourced for funding through the Internet and raised $42,000 (Sh3.8 million) which they used to buy a new machine to enhance production. At least 5,000 cups have been distributed in Kenya, Ms Matthiessen said.
“My personal motivation is that if you educate girls you educate a community and in the end the society will prosper,” she said.
Menstrual cups are made of 100 per cent medical grade silicon. A cup lasts for 10 years and can be in use for over eight hours per day unlike normal sanitary towels which have to be changed every now and then.
Feel uncomfortable
One may feel uncomfortable at first but it becomes easier to use them in subsequent use, said Ms Matthiessen. She said that they can help girls complete education as they do not have to skip classes because they cannot afford sanitary pads.
A packet of eight pads is bought at between Sh55 to Sh80, which is too expensive for girls who live in slums and rural areas given that they have to buy them every month.
On average a woman uses at least 11,000 sanitary towels or tampons in her lifetime. The cup, she said, is environment friendly since it reduces littering. It can also reduce health problems and medical costs brought about by use of unhygienic means to handle menstruation.
“This is an economical solution to a serious problem and we hope to reach more girls with time through our social entrepreneurship venture,” she said.
