I want to tell you about this amazing man. His name is Arunachalam Muruganantham. He is a brilliant entrepreneur. Essentially he is a social design innovator. In my earlier post What is Design Innovation? I said that a design innovation is essentially a progressive change which successfully solves a problem. Well this Arunachalam took this to a new level. He saw a problem in an area where he had no knowledge what so ever. Yet he set out to solve it despite many difficulties.He finds out that women in his family are reusing cloth for their periods because they can’t afford to buy sanitary napkins because they’re expensive. He sets out to find a cheaper solution which takes years. In the orthodox society of India, he asks the women of his family and eventually outside his family to test his make-shift solution and give feedback. But unable to get an honest feedback he tries it himself! Meanwhile he is left alone by his family. But in the end he wins and develops a machine which can make cheap sanitary napkins.
He doesn’t stop here. His philosophy doesn’t allow him to make money out of his billion dollar idea. He sets up his machines in the rural areas of India and trains women to manufacture cheap sanitary napkins.
Hats off to Arunachalam! No words can describe my respect to this Hero. Please watch his video giving an INK Talk below, and spread his word as much as you can.
