ZanaAfrica

ZanaAfrica equips East African women and girls with the tools they need to thrive: sanitary pads, coupled with health information, delivered at scale.

  • Stage Full Product Ready
  • Industry Consumer Products
  • Location Nairobi, Kenya
  • Currency USD
  • Founded October 2007
  • Employees 9
  • Website zanaafrica.org

Company Summary

Diverse distribution channels (eg. clinics, schools, networks including Living Goods, supermarkets) reach BOP and drive profits. Sales have improved women's profits 4x/pad and 1400% vs other brands, serving >7000 customers. Contract manufacturing in Kenya, producing 200 pads per minute to reach 1M by 2020 across East Africa. By 2017 material innovation will reduce the price an estimated 30%+, unlocking access for women with 24% profit.

Team

  • Megan White Mukuria
    Founder and CEO

    Megan is a social entrepreneur with >12 leadership in enterprise and management in Kenya. She has established 5 businesses in urban and rural areas to support at-risk girls and entrenched pro-girl policy in education. She was the youngest Rotary President in Kenya and is the President of the Harvard Club of Kenya. She is recognized as a leading social innovator by Fast Company in The League of Extraordinary Women, PopTech, 85 Broads, and Wharton.

  • Lawino Kagumba
    Chief Technical Officer

    An accomplished material scientist innovator with over 14 years of experience in industrial research and product development, Lawino has successfully converted scientific ideas to funded projects. She has directed technical efforts to advance technologies from proof-of-concept to prototypes to products ready for market. B.A. in Chemistry, Smith College; Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

  • Anne Smith
    Research Project Manager

    Anne graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Biological and Environmental Engineering in 2008. As an Engineer at Genentech, she developed, characterized, and scaled-up manufacturing processes for bio-therapeutics designed to treat life-threatening diseases. Through ZanaAfrica, Annie has been able to merge her career pursuits with her personal interests in women's health and global development.

Advisors

  • Foley & Lardner
    Lawyer
    Unconfirmed
    Analytix Solution
    Accountant
    Unconfirmed

Previous Investors

  • Eleos Foundation (grant)
    Unconfirmed
    The BIll & Melinda Gates Foundation (grant)
    Unconfirmed
    Grand Challenges Canada (grant)
    Unconfirmed

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