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An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

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Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#21

Post by ams6110 »

untog wrote: post #6
briandon wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good news is that he got his wife back after he began to succeed / get traction.

Is it good news? Maybe I'm being harsh but it sounds like his wife got sick of it all when times were hard, but was happy to stick around to reap the success. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

I've learned not to speculate on such matters when it comes to a relationship between two people. We never know the full story, and what they decide to accept or forgive in each other is really up to them.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#22

Post by solutionyogi »

yalogin wrote: post #13

I am really glad to see that he did not jump to "profit" at the end. Hope he gets enough support.

I am not so sure. I don't know why it could not have been a for-profit operation. Profit is not a dirty word. I would like to think that a for-profit company would have achieved his goal (of making cheap napkins available to women) faster than NGO approach.

Let me give you an example. In India, many low income people can't afford shampoo bottles. So retail companies came up with a concept of 'shampoo sachet' [http://goo.gl/GUopS] (similar to ketch up sachet) and sold it for a rupee (back in 90s when I was growing up). Without this product, I would have never used a shampoo when I was a kid. It was a HUGE seller and you could find it in remote parts of India. I think it is taught as an example in business schools in India.

As per my other post, he is selling his napkin for 12 rupees for 8 napkins. If he actually decided to manufacture them and retail them on a scale, I am sure he can still keep the same low price and achieve better distribution. His current approach of getting people to install machine and then making napkins is much harder to scale. That's my personal opinion anyway.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#23

Post by jerf »

yalogin wrote: post #13

I am really glad to see that he did not jump to "profit" at the end. Hope he gets enough support.

By not profiting, he is kneecapping his ability to spread his invention around, and now both you and he are reduced to "hoping" for support, a word choice more appropriate than you probably realized.

Profit isn't intrinsically evil. Sometimes not profiting is much more evil.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#24

Post by jackityquack »

untog wrote: post #6
briandon wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good news is that he got his wife back after he began to succeed / get traction.

Is it good news? Maybe I'm being harsh but it sounds like his wife got sick of it all when times were hard, but was happy to stick around to reap the success. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Ditto what the other two commenters said. Also, he sounds like a true nerd. Doesn't care about social opinion and just invents his way to success, even if people think he's weird.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#25

Post by untog »

r00fus wrote: post #19
untog wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it good news? Maybe I'm being harsh but it sounds like his wife got sick of it all when times were hard, but was happy to stick around to reap the success. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

You don't understand the taboo of menstruation in India. The culture is steeped in superstition and traditionalism. My hat is off to Mr. Muruganantham for driving through this and (in a Gandhi-esqe approach), not selling out.

I'll admit that I am not 100% aware, but I didn't post my comment in ignorance.

If there is one person that you ought to be able to talk to about a taboo issue like that, it should be your wife. In fact, she was perfectly placed to be the "more acceptable public face", and talking to women about his work. It sounds like it would have made the process a lot easier for him.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#26

Post by solutionyogi »

jackityquack wrote: post #15

Good story, but a strange guy. Also, he could probably do more good for his country by selling his product. He would actually disrupt the industry, instead of creating yet another charity project. The way to fight poverty isn't to give poor people poor solution. The way to think about it is that you need to level the playing field, so even Indians would laugh at making their own napkins. If you told a white American…

My exact thoughts. Once again, you also explained it a whole lot better than I did (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3370197). Being raised in lower income family in India, I have certainly seen how capitalism could lift people of poverty.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#27

Post by bluekeybox »

shabda wrote: post #12

Not sure if someone noticed but the women workers are wearing the cloth-mask so as not to be identified in the photo. Interesting, weird and depressing that its embarrassing to be working building sanitary napkins.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar (and a photo is just a photo). There may have been other photos where the women are not wearing cloth-masks, but those photos didn't made it because they didn't place enough emphasis on the inventor.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#28

Post by jackityquack »

jackityquack wrote: post #15

Good story, but a strange guy. Also, he could probably do more good for his country by selling his product. He would actually disrupt the industry, instead of creating yet another charity project. The way to fight poverty isn't to give poor people poor solution. The way to think about it is that you need to level the playing field, so even Indians would laugh at making their own napkins. If you told a white American…

I don't have all the solution. But poor people are people too. They're not going to like a solution that makes them know they're poor. Like if you tell them they can't have a flush toilet. A solution to toilets must make people feel respected, and not have shame. His solution is great because napkins is the best known product, and he's able to make it available to all. He isn't telling them to use a hose or some shit. Sure, a hose is reusable, but fuck that!

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#29

Post by slurgfest »

jackityquack wrote: post #15

Good story, but a strange guy. Also, he could probably do more good for his country by selling his product. He would actually disrupt the industry, instead of creating yet another charity project. The way to fight poverty isn't to give poor people poor solution. The way to think about it is that you need to level the playing field, so even Indians would laugh at making their own napkins. If you told a white American…

Is the idea really for people to make their own napkins? I thought based on the article that the point was that napkins could be manufactured cheaply in the village, rather than on half-million dollar machines owned by multinational conglomerates.

Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry

#30

Post by lizzard »

I love that this guy figured out how to make and re-sell a cheaper manufacturing machine!

I have some questions though.

One is about the suggestion in the article that not using disposable napkins results in reproductive tract infections. That seems unlikely.

Another is that while good, cheap, reliable period-managing supplies are useful and liberating for women, there are movements to use menstrual cups and washable, reusable cloths as an alternative to disposable stuff. "Rags" sounds negative but "reusable cloth pads" less so.

So while this is great, maybe there is still more opportunity for disruption in this market!

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