South Africa - Business creation project

Décrivez votre projet en quelques mots

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

01.01 Décrivez votre projet en détail

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 Quel est le problème principal que vous essayez de résoudre ?

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 Dites-nous quels sont les principaux avantages et/ou bénéfices de l'utilisation du produit/service que vous souhaitez fournir par votre projet (au moins 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 Veuillez décrire précisément à qui s'adressera le produit/service de votre projet. Quels sont les bénéficiaires visés ?

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 Quand avez-vous commencé à travailler sur votre projet ?

13/03/2017

01.06 Combien y a-t-il de propriétaires sur votre projet en plus de vous ?

1

01.07 Parmi les autres propriétaires, combien sont des femmes ?

0

01.08 Veuillez décrire le profil des autres propriétaires de votre projet (compétences, expérience, 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 Si vous avez un site web, une page sur les médias sociaux (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin...) ou une application, veuillez fournir le(s) lien(s) ici :

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 Quel est le secteur d'activité qui décrit le mieux votre projet ?

f) Soins de santé (équipements et services de santé)

02.01.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Pas de pauvreté'

4

02.01.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.02.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Faim Zéro'

4

02.02.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.03.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Bonne Santé et Bien Être'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.03.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Éducaiton de Qualité'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.04.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Égalité entre les Sexes'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.05.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Eau Propre et Assainissement'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.06.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Énergie Propre et Abordable'

4

02.07.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.08.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Travail Décent et Croissance Économique'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.08.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Industrie, Innovaiton et Infrastructure'

4

02.09.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.10.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Réduction des Inégalités'

4

02.10.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.11.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Villes et Communautés Durables'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.11.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Consommation et Production Responsable'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.12.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Luttle contre les Changements Climatiques'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.13.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.14.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Vie Sous-Marine'

4

02.14.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.15.01 Mon projetp contribue à l'objectif 'Vie Terrestre'

4

02.15.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.16.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Paix, Justice et Institutions Efficaces'

4

02.16.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

02.17.01 Mon projet contribue à l'objectif 'Parteneriats pour la Réalisation des Objectifs'

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

02.17.02 Justification de la contribution de mon projet

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 Il existe un grand nombre de clients qui utilisent déjà un produit/service très similaire à celui que nous envisageons de créer.

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

05.02 Le produit/service que nous voulons créer représente un type de produit/service entièrement nouveau

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

05.03 Le produit/service que nous voulons créer pourrait être décrit comme une nouvelle technologie

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

05.04 Le produit/service que nous voulons créer est une amélioration d'un produit ou d'un service existant

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

05.05 Le produit/service que nous voulons créer pourrait être décrit comme une extension d'une gamme de produits ou de services

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

05.06 Le produit/service que nous voulons créer répond à une demande ou à un besoin qui n'a pas été satisfait par d'autres produits/services.

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

05.07 Le produit/service que nous voulons créer est une nouvelle version d'un ancien produit/service

1 - Pas du tout d'accord

05.08 Justification de mon projet

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 Qui sont vos principaux potentiels concurrents et qu'est-ce qui vous différencie d'eux ?

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 Menez-vous des actions au sein de votre communauté pour promouvoir le rôle des femmes entrepreneurs ?

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