Ruby Life Ltd

Background & Problem: Women and girls living in developing countries face a number of challenges during their periods, mainly because they cannot afford pads or tampons. Instead, they use whatever they have at hand such as bark, mud, newspaper, cloth, and pieces of mattress. As a result, girls are absent from school and women from work because they are afraid of leaking. This amounts up to 20% of career opportunities and quality of life lost. UNICEF and UNDP identify menstruation as an overlooked barrier for reaching the Millennium Development Goals: education, gender equality and economic development.

Solution: Ruby Cup by Makit Ltd. is a healthy, high quality and long-lasting menstrual hygiene product made of 100% medical grade silicone that can be re-used up to 10 years. Ruby Cup is for every girl and woman that wants to treat her body with a superior menstrual hygiene solution.

Business model: Through our "Buy One Give One" programme, for every Ruby Cup sold online, we donate another one to a schoolgirl in Eastern Africa. We distribute the cups through our strategic partners, who carry out reproductive health and menstrual hygiene programmes in Kenya, Uganda in Tanzania.

Additionally, we partner with NGO and community based organisations all around the world, where we offer Ruby Cup at a discounted price and support with training materials.

Ruby Cup Impact

Social: Ruby Cup increases the quality of life of Ruby Cup users, since a purchase of Ruby Cup concurs with increased health, freedom to study/work and the ability to pursue life opportunities. Education about menstrual hygiene is essential in our distribution programmes leads to less stigmatization, increased self-esteem and empowerment of girls and women.

Economic: Ruby Cup users save money that would otherwise be spent on pads/tampons.

Environmental: On average, girls and women use 11,000 pads/tampons in a lifetime. Ruby Cup has a positive environmental impact and saves CO2 emissions and waste otherwise created by disposable menstrual hygiene products.

Our goal is that all women are able to manage their periods in safety and with dignity.