Friday, November 30, 2012

Arunachalam Muruganantham's venture

Arunachalam Muruganantham story has been posted before. The Open magazine story mentioned his aim: "I am now trying to start a low cost sanitary napkin making movement. I think socialist entrepreneurs are the backbone of the future. I supply my machines to women in self-help groups in 14 states, from Uttaranchal and Andhra Pradesh to Bihar, and make them owners of the business." I made enquiries and found that he supplies two types of machines through Jayashree Industries, Coimbatore. The first costs slightly under two lakk rupees and the second over three lakhs. thet install the machines and there is a guarantee of six months. From the blurb
"The salient features of this model are as follows:
·    It converts the elaborate process of manufacturing sanitary napkins into a Gandhian operation. The tools used in this model are as much "machines" as the charkha, the pestle or the grindstone. In other words, this model harnesses technology for the benefit of the masses.

·    It operates on simple tasks that can be mastered within 1 day, and does not require exceptional skills. So anybody can use the model and achieve success.

·    It addresses the issue of sanitary napkins being unaffordable and/or unavailable to around 97% of Indian women –this scenario is same around all under developed countries  these women therefore resort to unhygienic alternatives and occasionally face embarrassing situations in public."
 The site says that the machines are easy to operate and suitable or women self help groups and will employ roughly six to ten women. Further enquiries can be obtained from them ( I got the reply in an hour but the website link given below does not seem to be working at the moment) at:

JAYAASHREE INDUSTRIES
SF NO 577, K N G PUDUR ROAD ,SOMAYAMPALAYAM POST
COIMBATORE 641 108, MOBILE : 92831 55128 / 94422 24069


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