The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary • Hacker News Board

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#51

Post by vineetraja » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:02 PM UTC

Shivetya wrote: post #34

hedges wrote: post #11

While pursuing his entrepreneurial dream, he walked around asking women for their used sanitary pads (while most men struggle to ask for a date), almost gets tied to a tree when a witch doctor incites the local villagers against him, has his wife leave him (only to come back after his success), and even his mother abandoned him; still he goes on. And then, even after having practically everyone around him ostracize a…

she did not return because of his success, she returned because he was no longer bringing shame upon his family. As the article mentions, there many taboos in their society, there is the caste system that provides separation (even tint of skin can) and of course separation of sexes. So his single minded pursuit made life untenable for her where they lived, it even drove off his own mother. You did note that she merel…

>> the caste system that provides separation (even tint of skin can)

are you suggesting that caste system is related to skin color?

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#52

Post by callum85 » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:15 PM UTC

simsalapim wrote: post #43

Or you just get menstruation cups? Might be a bit more expensive initially but cheaper longterm and a lot more environmentally friendly. http://www.ruby-cup.com/en/

I know two women who have tried those. In both cases they tried for several months to get used to them, but they gave up eventually because they're so unpleasant to use, and it never gets any easier. Apparently.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#53

Post by davedx » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:18 PM UTC

If you are as inspired by this story as I was, you can mail him here: muruganantham_in@yahoo.com

(His email address is public on his company's site [1])

[1] http://newinventions.in/contactus.aspx

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#54

Post by khc » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:21 PM UTC

igul222 wrote: post #24

Udo wrote: post #9

This is an amazingly inspiring story, I love the entrepreneurial spirit and dedication of Mr Muruganantham. However, there is a bigger story hiding behind this personal triumph. It's clear that people living in impoverished areas are not in a position to buy sanitary products at market rates (being sold at a margin of 4000% or more). But for example many do have access to cheap raw materials. It makes a ton of sense…

The article mentions that commercial napkins sold for 4 rupees despite cotton being 1/4000th the cost, but also says farther down that the locally produced ones sell for an average of 2.5 rupees each. That's a 38% discount: significant, but it doesn't seem like a game-changing difference to me. I imagine that if this catches on, the larger manufacturers will likely just cut their margins to compete. On a more general…

The cotton was 1/40th of the cost: "10g (less than 0.5oz) of cotton, which at the time cost 10 paise (£0.001), should sell for 4 rupees (£0.04) - 40 times the price"

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#55

Post by eyeareque » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:25 PM UTC

I really enjoyed this story and remember first hearing about him a few years ago. Truly inspiring man.

It makes me wonder, how many other people are out there who have the same passion for something, but haven't had any success? Only a select few will have success, most will fail. I think we should celebrate the people who took risks and failed too. But sadly you won't find articles written about them as it isn't a happy ending like this one.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#56

Post by Tuna-Fish » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:26 PM UTC

hoggle wrote: post #39

igul222 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article mentions that commercial napkins sold for 4 rupees despite cotton being 1/4000th the cost, but also says farther down that the locally produced ones sell for an average of 2.5 rupees each. That's a 38% discount: significant, but it doesn't seem like a game-changing difference to me. I imagine that if this catches on, the larger manufacturers will likely just cut their margins to compete. On a more general…

I would think the decentralised approach would always be able to compete when we factor in transportation costs which usually make up a pretty significant percentage of the actual sales price with centralised mass production. Much more of the money stays in the local economies too. http://www.mapsofindia.com/top-ten/india-crops/cotton.html Even if this particular business model would "only" work in India it'd be a su…

> I would think the decentralised approach would always be able to compete when we factor in transportation costs which usually make up a pretty significant percentage of the actual sales price with centralised mass production.

For non-perishable goods they are actually much less than people generally think. For a benchmark, shipping t-shirts from Hong Kong to LA in bulk costs less than 5c each. The total transportation costs of a system is completely dominated by the last leg of the route, where things are shipped in the least quantity. Typically, if someone walks half a kilometer to pick a good from a store, the energy cost of that is more than all the transportation costs up to that point, regardless of where the good was made.

Given that, the centralized approach only needs to be a few percent more efficient than the decentralized one to completely bury it. That is usually achievable.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#57

Post by dsego » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:26 PM UTC

Why buy disposable pads when you can use rags and wash them? Same for diapers.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#58

Post by sudhirj » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:29 PM UTC

vineetraja wrote: post #51

Shivetya wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

she did not return because of his success, she returned because he was no longer bringing shame upon his family. As the article mentions, there many taboos in their society, there is the caste system that provides separation (even tint of skin can) and of course separation of sexes. So his single minded pursuit made life untenable for her where they lived, it even drove off his own mother. You did note that she merel…

>> the caste system that provides separation (even tint of skin can) are you suggesting that caste system is related to skin color?

Correlated, no caused by.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#59

Post by yati » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:31 PM UTC

arjn wrote: post #17

primitivesuave wrote: post #6

> He believes that big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas he prefers the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," he says. What a profound and inspiring worldview.

Indeed. Here's another one : "Luckily I'm not educated," he tells students. "If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future."

Zen mind is the beginner's mind :)

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#60

Post by hereonbusiness » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:33 PM UTC

simsalapim wrote: post #43

Or you just get menstruation cups? Might be a bit more expensive initially but cheaper longterm and a lot more environmentally friendly. http://www.ruby-cup.com/en/

Cups seem a lot more expensive, you can buy almost 700 sanitary pads for the retail price of 1 ruby cup ($28 ~ 1735 rupees). Also, the pads are more available and create jobs for women in rural areas because they are produced and sold locally.

I would give this one to Muruganantham.