You will be inspired by Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman), an Indian entrepreneur and social entrepreneur.
Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman & India’s menstrual man), an Indian entrepreneur and social entrepreneur, is the subject of this article.
Arunachalam was born on October 12, 1961, in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, to S. Arunachalam and A. Vanita. His father was a handloom weaver who lived in poverty.
His mother worked as a farm labourer to assist him with his schooling. Arunachalam Muruganantham dropped out of school at the age of 14. He worked as a yam seller, a machine tool operator, a welder, and a farm worker when he was unemployed.
The death of Arunachalam’s father on the road meant that he had to grow up in poverty. To feed his family, Muruganantham distributed food to manufacturing employees. In 1998, he married Shanthi.
The tale of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a school dropout from a poor weavers family in southern India, serves as a threshold for these cleaning and sanitation campaigns. He has revolutionized menstruation health for rural women in India and other developing nations by designing a simple machine they can use to produce low-cost sanitary pads.
Impress Your Wife and Become an Inventor
Muruganantham, like other men, was always trying to find new methods to woo his wife. It all started in 1998 when he married Shanthi. A few days later, when he saw that his wife was keeping something from him, the answer was simple: old rags used as sanitary pads during her menstrual cycle since the market-priced sanitary pads were too expensive for her and her family to afford. Muruganantham created a prototype pad and delivered it to his wife and requested her to test it in order to show her how much he cared about her.As a result, she continued to use the old rags, and the reaction was bad.
Social Entrepreneurial Journey – School Dropout to a Social Entrepreneur
During Shanthi’s menstrual cycle, Arunachalam learned that his wife was using sanitary napkins made from dirty rags.
Muruganantham was disturbed by this, so he began inventing experimental sanitary pads. He tried making cotton pads, but his sisters and wife didn’t like them.
They eventually refused to be test subjects for his new ideas and quit working with him. When Arunachalam tried to find ladies who would be willing to test his innovations, they were too afraid to do so. When he asked about their menstruation troubles, most of the female participants were hesitant to open up.
On his own, Muruganantham put it through its paces and gave out free feminine hygiene products to students at a nearby medical institution.Arunachalam realized that the basic ingredients cost ten rupees, yet the product supplied by multinational businesses was sold for ten rupees more than they cost.
He came up with a low-cost sanitary pad-making equipment that could be operated by anybody with little or no experience.
When cellulose fibers originating from pine bark wood pulp were found in the commercial pad-making machine, it took two years to uncover this. Cellulose fibers improved the absorbency and form retention of the sanitary pads.
The Invention of the Low-Cost Sanitary Pad-Making Machine
Arunachalam purchased the processed pine wood pulp from Mumbai under UV light; the sanitary pad-making equipment would grind de-fibrate, press, and disinfect the pads before packing them for sale. Buying this sanitary pad machine would set you back $65,000.
Last but not least, the social innovator invented a low-cost sanitary pad production equipment.Many Indian women see Arunachalam’s sanitary pad manufacturing innovation as an important step toward improving the lives of women in the country.
Several prizes and accolades have been bestowed upon him for his work in social assistance and his low-cost sanitary pad manufacturing process. Jayaashree Industries was formed by Muruganantham with the help of seed money. Women in rural India may now purchase these machines from Jayaashree Industries.
In 2006, Arunachalam Muruganantham came to IIT Madras to present his concept and obtain feedback.The Grassroots Technological Innovations Prize of the National Innovation Foundation went to IIT Madras, which submitted its innovation and earned the award.
When menstruation occurs, his low-cost sanitary pads allow many more women to make a living as volunteers. Many rural women benefit from his idea, which provides employment and cash.In spite of the fact that Arunachalam has a large network of female volunteers and staff, he still goes personally to teach rural women how to produce sanitary pads in extremist regions.
For the sake of social service, he turned down several business opportunities and instead gave these sanitary pad producing equipment to women’s self-help groups (SHGs) in rural regions. Since his early days, he has worked tirelessly to make a difference in the world.
Many other budding entrepreneurs have been influenced by Arunachalam’s efforts. A bamboo or waste banana fiber alternative has been proposed by a few socially conscious businesspeople.Traditional unsanitary practices regarding menstruation in rural India were brought to light by Muruganantham.
For less than a third of the cost of branded pads, his low-cost pad-making devices can produce sanitary pads. A total of 23 Indian states have already installed his low-cost, mini-machines.Dropout Muruganantham wants to take his sanitary pad-making equipment to 106 other countries. In India, Arunachalam is a well-known social entrepreneur who leads Arunachalam Foundation.
Jayaashree Industries, based in Coimbatore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, supplies sanitary napkins to more than 5,000 communities and provides technology for low-cost cleanliness sanitary pads to 21 other nations.
The Pilani, Goa Campus, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, and Harvard University are among the institutions where Arunachalam has delivered talks on entrepreneurship development and shared his business success story.
His lectures have also taken place at IIM Ahmedabad, MIT Bombay, and the Indian Institutes of Management Bangalore (IIM). In addition, he has delivered a TED lecture on the subject.
Fame and Fortune
Muruganantham was thrust into the spotlight, and the irony is that his wife, Shanthi, called him after five and a half years. A low-cost sanitary napkin-making machine manufacturer, Jayaashree Industries was formed by him. He was destined for greatness, but he wasn’t interested in making a buck. He had the only equipment in the world that could produce low-cost sanitary napkins at an affordable price. Anyone who has earned an MBA has a leg up on the competition.
Business Expansion
In under 18 months, Muruganantham created 250 machines and distributed them to India’s poorest and least developed regions, dubbed the “BIMARU states” (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh).
For the most part, he works with non-profits and women’s rights organizations. A semi-automated machine costs more than a manual machine, which costs roughly 75,000 Indian rupees. Each machine employs 10 and converts 3,000 women to the use of sanitary products.
Each machine can churn out 200-250 pads every day, at a retail price of 2.5 rupees per pad. 106 nations throughout the world are now part of his empire, including Mauritius and countries such as Kenya and Nigeria.
Movie on Padman:
Amit Virmani’s award-winning documentary Menstrual Man chronicled his rise to fame. Phullu, a film by Abhishek Saxena, was released in 2017.
Pad Man, based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham and starring Radhika Apte, Sonam Kapoor, and Indian actor Akshay Kumar as social entrepreneur Laxmikant Chauhan, was directed by R. Balki.
