by tarun bothra cofounder saathi padsbarely 23 women across some 40 villages in jharkhand have adopted the use of sanitary napkins apart from the lack of awareness and taboos associated with the modern pads affordability was a major issue after systematic interventions by offering a sustainable affordable product and by increasing awareness ahmedabadbased startup saathi pads pushed the adoption of sanitary napkins to as high as 80 in a span of seven months onlypast journey cofounded by tarun bothra a mechanical engineer from nirma university along with kristin kagetsu a mechanical engineer from mitboston saathi pads was incorporated in 2016 the company manufactures 100 compostable and biodegradable sanitary napkins which are 55 cheaper than alternate premium brands when we began our research in 2015 sanitary napkin adoption was barely 12 we wanted to make it accessible to all and also use material that go waste but are biodegradable said bothra he further said that they offer pads made of banana fibres a form of agricultural waste the processing and manufacturing is chemicalfree and we are also a zerowaste company he addsthe company operates a manufacturing facility near santej in ahmedabad and employs a team of 38 people including its founders and advisors along with key indian markets they export to uae singapore and other south east asian countriesnext steps saathi pads was shortlisted among fast companys annual list of worlds most innovative companies for 2019 and was also the global winner of global cleantech innovation program 2018 going forward the company plans to expand the reach of its products we plan to penetrate into other global as well as domestic markets said bothrathe startup recently launched bamboo fibrebased sanitary napkins as well we are thinking of diversifying our product portfolio further and also our supply chain he addschallenges lack of awareness and education among masses are key challenges bothra says the rural market has a huge untapped potential which we want to capture however various taboos associated with menstruation as well as poor awareness pose major challenges he addssecret to success consistency is something that has kept the company going we have made mistakes and learned from them and accordingly brought about changes in the way we work persistence has worked for us since the beginning said bothra