COLOMBO: Every month, Fathima Rifka used to suffer the embarrassment of rinsing out the rags she used during her period at a public tap - the only source of running water available in the poor Sri Lankan neighbourhood she grew up in.
The business was inspired by Arunachalam Muruganantham, an Indian inventor who developed a way of making cheap pads after watching his wife struggle with rags during her period - the subject of the 2018 Bollywood hit Pad Man. They import the wood pulp that Muruganantham developed to make the pads from India, using his design for the simple machines they manufacture on.The operation - a social enterprise, or business with a social as well as a commercial aim - was started by the SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council , which works to help women in South Asia access business opportunities.
In Sri Lanka, the problem is particularly acute because sanitary products are so heavily taxed - until last September, the levy on imported pads was more than 100 per cent. "People are enraged about the cost of carrots, but when it comes to taxes on sanitary napkins, they dismiss it as a women's issue," she said.