Nigeria - Startup under 3 years old

Describe your project or startup in a few words

A training center to training women and young girls on the production of reusable sanitary products, give them a market to sell their products thereby increasing their standard of living.

01.01 Describe your startup in more detail

Femme Avenue is a social enterprise dedicated to ensuring every woman and young girl has access to adequate menstrual healthcare services. We are an impact driven organization that tackles period poverty by constantly providing the young girls and women in our communities with sanitary products to keep them in school & keep them busy while also educating them about their menstrual health and hygiene. We are solely in the menstrual healthcare business to provide women with access to sensitized medical professionals who will not dismiss their pain when it comes to difficult periods by providing them with access to an AI service on our website (being developed ), and an option of speaking with a sensitized medical professional about their pain. We have also found a way of providing women with some form of comfort on their periods before the lunch our main features on our site. We have developed menstrual educational cards and menstrual affirmation cards with first time period stories.

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

We are trying to cover the gap in the menstrual health service industry in Nigeria. We have noticed that when women sick for help about their difficult periods in regular hospitals, they either get told that their period pain is being exaggerated, or it doesn’t exist or generally not even taken seriously. Because of this, we are trying to give women access to sensitized medical professionals and completely eradicate the dismissal they face when they walk into hospitals to complain about their pain. We are also fighting poverty because the number of our young girls out of school because of the lack of sanitary products is high and we want to drastically reduce the number with. We constantly carry out community outreaches where we provide them with sanitary products supply for up to two years while educating them about their menstrual health and hygiene. We also want to give women The skills to produce their own sanitary products by training them on the production of sanitary products.

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your startup provides (at least 3).

The training center will help train the young women and girls in our community, thereby providing them with a skill set that can earn them an income that will better their standard of living. Using our platform will also help take away the fear women face when they try to seek help for their pain by ensuring that every medical professional on our platform is sensitized about menstrual health and its many faces. It will help make diagnosis easy and more frequent as dismissal and judgment will be dropped to the barest minimum.

01.04 Please describe who exactly your startup’s product/service is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

Femme Avenue is targeted at two main groups. The first group of women that Femme Avenue target is the working class women and the young women in schools. These women I equipped with basic survival skills and a highly educated. These women are also aware about their bodies And are looking for answers to their difficult periods on the go without facing the constant dismissal at hospitals. The second group of people are the vulnerable women of our communities. Those that find it almost impossible to cater for health and buy menstrual product monthly on their own. Women that are not so educated and don’t know so much about their bodies. Women who do not have so much of an income.

01.05 When was your company established?

2021-11-21

01.06 Are you already selling your product/service?

Yes

01.07 How many other owners are there within your startup?

2

01.08 Among the other owners, how many are female?

1

01.09 Please describe the profile of the other owners within your startup (skills, experience, etc.)

Nkechi Ngo (co-founder): Have a BSc in agricultural economics and rural planning (first class honors) and a masters in resource economic and rural sociology from the univerof Alberta Canada. Has has about 10 years of work experience as a sale representative (family owned business), she has a year experience working as an HR officer, and a year experience working as a social worker and caregiver for special needs. Skills: Organizational/ analytical skills Customer Service Strong written and oral communication skills Marketing Sheyi Enabulele Has over 3 years experience as project manager.

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

https://femmeavenue.ng/ https://www.instagram.com/femmeavenue.ng?igsh=OHo3eXQ5eG10dWF1 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/femme-avenue_menstruation-periods-period-activity-7201920627513942016-M8iM?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

01.11 Which industry best describes your project?

f) Healthcare (healthcare equipment and services)

02.01.01 My startup contributes to the No poverty goal

4

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification for my startup

02.02.01 My startup contributes to the Zero hunger goal

3

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification for my startup

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

7 - Strongly Agree

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification for my startup

I am Avenue. We are trying to cover the gap within the Mantra healthcare sector in Nigeria by developing means in which we can completely or to the greatest form, eradicate the dismissal that women face when they go into regular hospitals to seek help for their difficult periods by providing them with the platform in which they can speak to

02.04.01 My startup contributes to the Quality education goal

5

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification for my startup

02.05.01 My startup contributes to the Gender equality goal

4

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification for my startup

02.06.01 My startup contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

2

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification for my startup

02.07.01 My startup contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification for my startup

02.08.01 My startup contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

4

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification for my startup

02.09.01 My startup contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

2

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification for my startup

02.10.01 My startup contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

4

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification for my startup

02.11.01 My startup contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

3

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification for my startup

02.12.01 My startup contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

2

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification for my startup

02.13.01 My startup contributes to the Climate action goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification for my startup

02.14.01 My startup contributes to the Life below water goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification for my startup

02.15.01 My startup contributes to the Life on land goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification for my startup

02.16.01 My startup contributes to the Peace Justice and Strong Institutions goal

4

02.16.02 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Justification for my startup

02.17.01 My startup contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification for my startup

Avenue, we strongly believe that partnership and collaboration forces growth for both organizations involved. We have leverage on partnerships to help increase our reach an impact in the lives of the women and girls that come across. We have strongly advocated for collaborations within our sector with other organizations within the sector to help foster growth for all the organizations, and most importantly, increase our impact by utilizing all our contacts and expertise.

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

2

06.02 The product/service represents an entirely new type of product/service.

3

06.03 The product/service could be described as a new technology.

2

06.04 The product/service is an improvement on an existing product or service.

3

06.05 The product/service could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

7 - Strongly Agree

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

7 - Strongly Agree

06.07 The product/service is a new version of an old product/service.

4

06.08 Justification for my startup

06.09 Competitive Analysis

Virtuous pads, pad-up creation, these are our potential main competitors in the sense of production of reusable sanitary products. the above mentioned companies are into the production of reusable sanitary products but what sets us apart from both of them is that we will not only give our staff a salary, but they will earn from every pad that they make, and that is sold. Both companies also do not cater for the difficulties that women face during their periods and they do not also provide women with other materials that they will need for their period like our educational cards and our affirmation cards, the period belts and period care packages that we sell. We have positioned ourselves to not only try to breach a gap within the minor health sector in Nigeria, but also poverty, anyway we know that will enable every woman and girl have means of income.

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