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Friday, April 24, 2009
The Pitch
Harvard startup's sanitary pads to help women in developing countries
By Mass High Tech staff
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Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE)
Headquarters: New York, with R&D in Cambridge
Employees: 6
Founded: 2008
THE PITCH: The startup is looking for $1.1 million in funding to create female-run franchises that manufacture and distribute low priced, high quality, and eco-friendly sanitary napkins for domestic and international consumption.
Web: www.sheinnovates.com
E-mail: ems@sheinnovates.com
Phone: 917-538-544
PITCHING THE TECHNOLOGY
Sustainable Health Enterprises is a Harvard University spinout developing a sanitary pad for women and girls intended to be low-cost and environmentally friendly. The company’s product is focused on women in developing countries, where SHE says women miss up to 50 days of school or work per year when they menstruate because existing pads are too expensive. The startup was founded in Cambridge by Elizabeth Scharpf when she was a graduate student at Harvard. The startup is a semifinalist in the development track of the 2009 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition.
PITCHING THE PEOPLE
Who is on the management team? Elizabeth Scharpf, founder; Hannah Poole, Rwanda team leader.
Have executives been involved in a cashout prior to this venture? No.
Who is on the board of advisers? Marian McCord, professor of biomedical engineering at the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University; Kathryn Corro, principal at Rockpoint Group LLC; and Kavitha Sekhar, consumer marketing at Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC.
PITCHING THE BUSINESS
How much money is being sought? SHE says it is looking for $1.1 million in angel funding.
What partnerships, collaborations or affiliations are already in place? SHE says it is working with MIT, North Carolina State, and the Kigali Institute of Technology on R&D. It is also being incubated by the Rwanda Workforce Development Authority.
List any federal or state grants, contracts or awards received: SHE has won the Echoing Green Fellowship, and Harvard Business School’s first Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship, it was also an MIT IDEAS winner.
What’s the market size being pursued? SHE estimates its market size to be $200 billion.
Who are the likely competitors, direct or indirect? SHE says its competition comes from large multinational corporations or the unsanitary low-cost alternatives used by low-income women globally.
Is the company profitable? No.
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