Zingipad

In 2018 I had the opportunity to go to Kisumu in Kenya to work with a company called Zingira. Among other things Zingira produces and distributes sanitary pads made from recycled material and an invasive flower called water hyacinth. They focus on making sanitary pads more affordable for young girls in slum areas. Girls in these areas today have trouble finding affordable sanitary products during their period and many young girls miss school because of this. To be able to help these girls Zingira needed to have a production of 2000 pads per day to break even and the production today could only do a maximum of 850 pads. The research found that the tearing of the paper is the most time demanding step in the process and a prototype to increase the speed of this was made as well as a remodeling of the small factory. I also took part in developing and improving the education that was done in the schools, busting some myths that still existed in these areas.