South Africa - Business creation project

Describe your project or startup in a few words

To provision critical products and services, including diagnostics, treatments, and cures for women’s health in Sub-Saharan Africa.

01.01 Describe your project in more detail

Elle is implementing state-of-the-art technology that integrates complex and sensitive data in a way that delivers transformative outcomes, enabling research and the application of AI services, while protecting privacy, ensuring security, the provision of products and services, and placing the individual in full control. Please see an overview of Elle at the link below: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AnGNabcctTWNsD_m6F5SzuWaiqJN?e=KVIROT

01.02 What is the main problem you are trying to solve?

Across Sub-Saharan Africa health burdens for women are systematically underestimated, with an absence of data and datasets that exclude or undervalue important conditions. Women face barriers to care, diagnosis, and suboptimal treatment. In addition, there has been lower investment in women’s health conditions relative to their prevalence, reinforcing a cycle of weaker scientific understanding about women’s bodies and limited data to de-risk new investment.

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your project intends to provide (at least 3).

1) Patient information through ElleHealth. 2) Research and studies through ElleStudies. 3) Assured provision of women’s health products and the provision of connectivity in underserved communities through Moxie. 4) Access to trusted sources of information and the detection of gynaecological diseases and disorders through Womany. 5) Manufacturing: Production lines for fully sustainable pads, liners, tampons, and flushable wipes to provide women and girls with their choice of affordable, effective, and safe menstrual care that is environmentally friendly. 6) Non-invasive at-home diagnostics for endometriosis, including a bioassay and a biosensor through Elle diagnostics. 7) Elle SSA consortium for the open sourcing of AI models trained on the data intended as benchmarks to advance diagnostics, treatments, and cures.

01.04 Please describe who exactly your project is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

Target beneficiaries: Women and girls. Elle’s holistic, integrated solution has been informed through field operations having assisted over 60 000 women and girls with menstrual care and reached over 100 000 with education programmes. Results from the Elle Education Programme after 6 months: - 50% increase in attendance during menstruation. - 60% increase in girls staying the full school day. - 84% of girls reported being more confident in dealing with their menstruation. - 89% of girls reported feeling less ashamed speaking about and seeking assistance concerning their menstrual and reproductive health.

01.05 When did you start working on your project?

2017-03-13

01.06 How many other partners are associated with your business venture?

1

01.07 Among the other partners, how many are female?

0

01.08 Please describe the profile of each of the other partners (skills, experience, etc.)

Gregg Barrett Gregg has spent more than a decade on research and application of machine learning across various domains. Gregg’s collaborations span the globe of individuals and intuitions, and he has played an instrumental role in developing communities. Peter Ing Peter is an electrical engineer, the lead for TinyML in South Africa, and the Ambassador for ARM and Edge Impulse in Southern Africa. Alexa Bisschops Alexa is the CEO of Calybre and an experienced leader with over 20 years’ experience in the field of Technology Services. Prior to Calybre, Alexa was COO of Altron Karabina, the largest Microsoft Partner on the African continent. Martin Sanne Martin is an electrical engineer and Chair for Engineering at Nelson Mandela University. Previously Martin was an Executive Director at the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and held leadership positions at Siemens and Nokia.

01.09 If you have a website, a social media page (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin…), or app, please provide the link here:

https://www.ellecup.org/ https://www.facebook.com/ellecup/ https://www.instagram.com/ellecup_sa/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/elle-international-sa

01.10 Which industry best describes your project?

f) Healthcare (healthcare equipment and services)

02.01.01 My project contributes to the No poverty goal

4

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification

02.02.01 My project contributes to the Zero hunger goal

4

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification

02.03.01 My project contributes to the Good health and well-being goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification

Elle provides the following to care to women and girls: - Pre-menarcheal training. - Access to safe and sustainable menstrual products. - Dispensing of pain medication (NSAID’s) for pain management. - Access to vaginal rings for the effective delivery of therapeutics. - Access to medical professionals to deal with their unique needs during their reproductive journey. - Diagnostics for menstrual and reproductive diseases and disorders. - Research data to drive diagnostics, treatments, and cures. - Data to provision AI enabled healthcare services. - Assurance in the provision of products and services.

02.04.01 My project contributes to the Quality education goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification

Girls in developing countries miss up to 5 days of education monthly while they menstruate. This perpetuates educational disparities hindering their overall development, contributing to girls feeling ashamed and isolated, impacting their confidence, mental health, and overall educational experience. Elle undertakes education programmes fostering an environment where menstrual and reproductive health is normalised and integrated into societal discourse. At Elle, we’ve witnessed first-hand how a girl’s participation and confidence increases when she is empowered with the necessary resources, tools, and knowledge on how to manage her health safely and with dignity.

02.05.01 My project contributes to the Gender equality goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification

Taboos and myths related to menstruation often portray girls and women as inferior to boys and men. Elle assists with safeguarding women’s dignity, privacy, bodily integrity, and consequently, self-efficacy to create an enabling environment of non-discrimination and gender equality in which female voices are heard, girls have choices about their future, and women have options to become leaders and managers. In addition, the provision of essential care in women’s health is a necessity to ensure participation from girls during their menstrual and reproductive health journeys. Without such provision, the inequality gap increases.

02.06.01 My project contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification

2.4 billion people lack access to proper sanitation facilities. Girls and women are particularly affected by this lack of access to privacy and hygiene. Elle has continued to initiate and engage on campaigns, grow coalitions, and coalesce themes and learnings that can be applied across geographies and sectors, including the need for adequate water and sanitation facilities, disposal systems, safe and sustainable hygiene products.

02.07.01 My project contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

4

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification

02.08.01 My project contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

7 - Strongly Agree

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification

In the employee sphere, workplace environments often lack adequate facilities and resources for managing menstrual health. Women face obstacles in accessing sanitary products and private spaces, leading to discomfort, anxiety, and compromised productivity. To improve accessibility and provide a sustainable and dignified way for women and girls to manage their health, Elle is working with institutional partners on producing and installing accessible and discreet dispensers in workplaces, schools, public spaces, and communities.

02.09.01 My project contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

4

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification

02.10.01 My project contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

4

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification

02.11.01 My project contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification

Consumers are placing increased emphasis on products that are of the highest standard, safe, and with minimal environmental impact. To address this Elle provides sustainable menstrual health products of the highest quality, in the quantities needed to ensure accessibility and affordability. Elle’s product line builds upon Elle’s existing portfolio of menstrual cups and period underwear, with the addition of pads, liners, tampons, and wipes to provide women and girls with their choice of affordable, effective, and safe menstrual care. Fully localised in South Africa the product line, including the packaging, is plastic-free and biodegradable. No synthetic or semisynthetic fibres are utilised, and no bonding agents. The product line utilises the latest generation of manufacturing technology to incorporate organic plant-based fibres cultivated in South Africa. To alleviate burdens on urban and rural sanitation systems the wipes are flushable.

02.12.01 My project contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification

Elle’s production line is instrumented and connected to provide data for predictive maintenance and quality assurance enabling Elle to optimise equipment lifetime and maintenance scheduling, improve availability and minimising downtime. Further, real time data analysis enables Elle to optimise the parameterisation of the manufacturing process to improve resource efficiency and lower environmental impact from operations. Sustainability is synonymous with quality and efficiency, permeating Elle’s entire operation from providing cultivators of the plant-based fibres with acceptable living conditions, to the appropriation of business proceeds for social impact. To enable digital traceability from farm to the finished products Elle is implementing a data driven supplier assurance platform based upon an extension of IBM Food Trust to ensure transparent sourcing providing unprecedented transactional data in real time.

02.13.01 My project contributes to the Climate action goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification

02.14.01 My project contributes to the Life below water goal

4

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification

02.15.01 My project contributes to the Life on land goal

4

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification

02.16.01 My project contributes to the Peace justice and strong institutions goal

4

02.16.02 Peace justice and strong institutions - Justification

02.17.01 My project contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification

Elle has coalesced collaborators across academia, government, and industry to advance collective effort across numerous SDG’s. Please see the forthcoming announcement at the ITU concerning Elle’s work in this regard. https://www.itu.int/itu-d/sites/partner2connect/p2c-at-the-world-summit-on-the-information-society-wsis-20-forum-high-level-event/

05.01 There are a large number of customers who already use a product/service very similar to the product/service we envision creating.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.02 The product/service we envision creating represents an entirely new type of product/service.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.03 The product/service we envision creating could be described as a new technology.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.04 The product/service we envision creating is an improvement on an existing product or service.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.05 The product/service we envision creating could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.06 The product/service we envision creating responds to a demand or need that has not been satisfied by other products/services.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.07 The product/service we envision creating is a new version of an old product/service.

1 - Strongly Disagree

05.08 Justification

ElleHealth for patient information utilises machine learning to process health information into a unified health record, thereby obviating the need for schemas. ElleStudies enables the provision of a clinical trial across platforms in a single day and enables new accessibility for research in Southern Africa. Moxie has no global equivalent in terms of the range of products supported and the provision of connectivity. Womany is advancing the detection of gynaecological diseases and disorders and through integration with ElleHealth, ElleStudies, and Moxie is an unrivalled application in women’s health. Manufacturing: Elle intends to be the first manufacturer globally to provision a fully sustainable menstrual product line, and the incorporation of diagnostics into these products. Elle is on course to be the first to market globally for the endometriosis bioassay and biosensor. Elle is in the process of filing patents for defensive purposes across the product portfolio.

05.09 Who are your main potential competitors and what makes you stand out from them?

Diagnostics: There is no competitor for the endometriosis diagnostics as there is no at-home bioassay or biosensor available in the market. At present there are no diagnostics incorporated into tampons or sanitary pads. Manufacturing: Kimberly-Clark, J&J, P&G, however none produce fully sustainable products. Dispenser: There is no competitor to the smart menstrual health dispenser locally or internationally. RedLocker and Aunt Flow do not support connectivity or the range of products as done with Moxie. Patient information: There is no patient information system that provides agency to the individual and utilises a schemaless approach to data processing.

10.06 Are you initiating actions within your community to promote the role of female entrepreneurs?

Many regard me as South Africa's leading female entrepreneur, particularly when it comes to women's health.