Eco Bana was recently labeled the winner of the CleanTech Innovation Competition where they bagged Ksh 120 million during the Hult Prize finals held in New York on September 22, 2022.
It is a start-up company that was developed by students from St. Paul University In Limuru. It manufactures biodegradable sanitary pads from banana fibers.
The group of students represented Kenya in Boston for the Global Hult Prize Acceleration on July 23, 2022.
The main inspiration that drove this course was how back in 2020, during the lockdown directives, many shops and supermarkets closed down.
Many women back in the rural areas had a hard time accessing sanitary towels. This resulted in some opting for blankets instead.
This story touched Eco Bana and they tasked themselves with finding affordable and eco-friendly sanitary pads.
Its mission is to end period poverty across the world. They seek to counter the local sanitary towels shortage and the high cost of the pads.
The start-up works in coalition with young entrepreneurs and refugee outreach offering employment opportunities.
Eco Bana revealed that the available disposable sanitary napkins make up 90% of plastic and they are part of plastic cancer eating up our homes.
Apart from promoting employment for the youth and cutting down plastic manufacturing, the social enterprise aims to take young girls from refugee camps back to school with access to affordable pads.
The team intends to employ more than 2,000 people by 2024 and sell more than 3 million of their products, generating over Ksh 6 billion.
BY CHRISTINE OMINDI