Recruiting women entrepreneurs for distributing sanitary pads

Recently, Claudia Busch and Lieve Declercq, both experts for Women on Wings, supported Dharma Life in the implementation of the program ‘Making periods normal’. First priority is to recruit and train female entrepreneurs in the district of Munger in Bihar. Women on Wings works with Dharma Life to create 815 jobs in sales and distribution of sanitary pads in Bihar during 2015-2017.

Claudia and Lieve worked together with the program manager and the sales team of Dharma Life. In joint sessions they discussed a proper planning to start the business in Munger, one of the districts of Bihar. With a last mile distribution model female entrepreneurs will sell sanitary pads in the villages. They discussed the pro’s and cons of door-to-door selling and shops at home.

One of the challenges is to create a good product mix in the baskets of the entrepreneurs. Soap, shampoo and other hygiene products seem to be the best choices. In the coming months, Dharma Life will closely follow the recruiting, the product mix and the earnings in 60 villages of the district Munger.

In partnership with Simavi and Rutgers WPF and thanks to the financial support of the Dutch Postcode Lottery, Women on Wings works on a sanitary pads program in India called ‘Making periods normal’. The program aims to improve India’s circumstances regarding menstruation and availability of sanitary pads.

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