Period poverty was forcing schoolgirls to sell themselves.. I knew I had to learn how to help them
Entrepreneur invents sanitary product to save desperate girls a fortune and their dignity
A student on a research trip to Kenya was so horrified that girls were forced to have sex with men for period products, she s started her own business b to help them.
Al ison Wood, 25, was study s ing economics at Edinburgh E University when she sh found out teenagers were w coerced into sleeping with w men in exchange for sanitary sa goods.
She decided to travel to the African A country to prepare her course work and discovered teachers were relying on telling schoolgirls to abstain from sex or just have one partner despite there being a 25 per cent HIV rate.
When she asked why they engaged in sexual activity, the answer she got chilled her to the bone. Alison, of Aberdeen, said: “The first answer they came back with was, ‘We can’t afford period products.’
“Most Kenyan schools are boarding schools and they told me when they arrived at school they could not afford to buy period products.
“The girls told me, ‘ They tell you there are men in the village and if you spend the night with them they will give you period products.’
“No amount of education will change this situation. They don’ t hav e a c c e s s to contraception or abortion.
“But what could I tell them – leave school when you get your first period, there is no better option for you?
“These girls are desperate and desired to stay in school.
“I was in five schools over four weeks and every girl had this problem.”
At first Alison wanted to raise funds to send them period products before having the idea of making reusable pads. When she returned to Scotland, she established Lilypads and sourced materials to make sustainable products which could be washed and reused – saving girls a fortune and their dignity.
She recruited fellow students to help sew the pads and got on so well with one of them, Mhairi Cochrane, 22, from Edinburgh, that she b e c ame he r bus i nes s partner.
Once Alison was satisf ied that her product worked, she and Mha i r i
Vivienne Aitken
■ took the prototypes back to the same girls in Kenya to try them out. She said: “We wanted to see if there were any problems they could find we couldn’t and wanted to check they were culturally acceptable. The teachers asked if they could have them and so did the girls’ mums.
“It made us realise it wasn’t just the girls who couldn’t afford them.”
Three years later Lilypads is a thriving business active in Cambodia, Kenya and Uganda providing menstrual products for those who can least afford them and is now adapting for the UK market.
The pads – which can be thrown into the washing machine and last around 100 washes – are heavily subsidised in those countries using profits from UK sales.
With period products free in Scotland, Alison is targeting a different market at home. The reusable pads have a carbon footprint 90 per cent lower than disposable equivalents.
A lison said: “We’re focusing in the UK on those who are environmentally aware, people who want to reduce plastic consumption or those who f ind disposables uncomfortable. People in Scotland are becoming more environmentally conscious so the market is growing.”
Her business has just won an Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation award, which recognises women who are pursuing breakthrough new business ideas.
The programme supports women with ambitious plans which will inspire others. Winners are given a £50,000 grant as well as mentoring and business support.
Alison is among 40 of Britain’s leading female innovators being backed by the UK Government to scale up innovations – helping the country recover from Covid and tackling global challenges.
She said: “This programme is providing development funding to further reduce the environmental impact of our period pad. We are delighted to be a part of it and cannot wait to meet and learn from other women running sustainable businesses.”
UK Government Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: “As we build back better from Covid, it’s a priority of mine to continue equipping our br ightest fema l e innovators with the tools they need to succeed, while encouraging a generation of women to come forward and pursue their ambitions.”
She described Alison as one of “Scotland’s most trailblazing entrepreneurs”.