Since last year we work on Sanitary Pads 2.0. A business development process to create small scale sanitary pads units in rural India. We started in Latur and Osmanabad (Maharashtra) with two business partners, Aakar Innovations (supplier of machines and raw materials) and SSP/SURE. It is quite a journey with a lot of hick ups. In a very unstructured way as it always is in India. But when you take a closer look there is even structure in the unstructured approach. Everybody takes care of his or her own part. The challenge is to bring all these parts together, and that’s what we did last month.
Creating structure by visualizing
Deepika and I traveled to Latur and Osmanabad to evaluate the pilot units. As can be expected in a pilot, not everything went according to the plan. We encounter some quality issues in the production. We did a sales & distribution pilot and learned a lot of all the different steps in the chain. Both technical and human skills do the trick. The good news is that all parties involved have the best intentions in making the program a success. ‘We don’t back out as soon as it gets tough.’
Honest and open discussions, analyzing the process to its core and identifying bottle necks. All in good harmony. We didn’t focus on just the program, but also on the parties in a broader perspective. ‘What do you need to thrive?’ We explored possibilities and celebrated successes. Already 50.000 women are reached throughout the awareness program and the first men have been enlightened too ;-)
I am proud to be part of this team with its critical attitude and loud laughs! We work hard and have great fun. Keeping the spirit up!
