Inteco Kenya ARI, Silmak Agencies and Mum’s Village have emerged victorious at the I AM 2.O final pitch-event held at Nailab beating seven other finalists to the prizes.
Three local women-run enterprises providing sexual reproductive health solutions were awarded won Ksh1 million grant to scale up their innovative solutions.
Organised through a partnership by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Graca Machel Trust (GMT), and Nairobi Incubation Lab (NAILAB), the I AM 2.0 business contest sought to reward and nurture businesses that address sexual reproductive health challenges. More than 65 businesses enterprises from East Africa applied in the three months period from which 10 were shortlisted for the final pitch to a panel of judges. The grants are funded by Global Fund for Women.
Inteco Kenya ARI is a business that offers sanitary pads distribution services done through the ARI vending machine that is mounted at accessible locations. Silmak Agencies, on the other hand, focuses on manufacturing of adult diapers, sanitary pads, sanitary pads dispensers and sanitary pad incinerators This they do through their flagship product Genesis. The Mums Village, the other winner, is a social support network that seeks to provide safe space for women through peer to peer interaction.
“My solution is to promote accountability and transparent distribution of donated sanitary pads in schools through an ARI vending machine. I intend to use the money to upgrade the machine and make it more efficient and user friendly to the users,” said 25-year-old Inteco Kenya Ari founder Munira Twahir who conceived the idea in 2012 while at United States International University (USIU).
Her sentiments were also echoed by Catherine Mumbua of Silmak Agencies adding that the Genesis Care product will address a huge gap in schools.
“There is no incineration solution in the country and in Africa. This is why I believe my solution is critical. Many schools need this incinerator and with this prize, I will be able to significantly subsidize the cost of the incinerator and increase access of this solution countrywide,” said Catherine Mumbua.
The winning businesses were awarded based on their scalability, uniqueness, originality and direct impact to the community. The final three winners will go through an accelerator training program which will be run by Nailab for three months after which they will showcase the impact of their project.
“We fund women because when women have power, freedom, a voice and resources, they are change makers in this world. This is why we seek to empower women through sexual reproductive health and rights which is a personal issue for women”,said Global Fund for Women President and CEO Musimbi Kanyoro adding that”We will endeavour to support such initiatives that focus on empowering the life of the girl child and women in our countries,”.