FemWash: Meeting Women in their Time of Need

This week’s Women of the Week is Nyasha Chimhandamba, the co-founder of a wash product called FemWash.  She is currently a Masters student at the Graduate School of Business (UCT) pursuing her MPhil. Inclusive innovation.  She holds a Bsc (Hons) in Molecular cell biology and is the Famelab 2017/2018 winner for her work on drought tolerance and salinity stress in plants. She is also a professional speaker and a consultant. Nyasha and her FemWash team have presented their work at ‘Map the System’ at Oxford Business School and at the World Entrepreneurs Investment forum in Bahrain hosted by the United Nations. She has kindly written about her social enterprise FemWash, the motivation behind it, and the current progress and aims of the product.

As I made the long road trip to Zimbabwe in 2016 I became aware of three things: 1) that what was meant to be a 10-hour trip was going to be a 30-hour trip because it was peak season at the border, 2) that I was suddenly more aware of my female body, and the potential odor that came with it because I would be without adequate hygiene facilities for the next day or two, and 3) that millions of women who travel across the border every few months to make a living endured this frequently. In this moment I became so painfully aware of how often I had felt as if my body was a liability within a public space. Be it when I am menstruating at work, or desperately waiting in a queue to urinate at a conference (whilst the men zip in and out past you). A leaking female body with odor is not tolerated in society, nor is it accommodated for. Never had it dawned on me that, “it’s a man’s world,” not only referred to equal pay, nor gender equity—  it also extended to public spaces, infrastructural design and how adequate sanitation and hygiene provisions are often catered to men because they are the decision makers.

This moment was the beginning of the product that we are developing, called FemWash. FemWash is a wash product designed for women, by women to restore comfort, dignity and convenience. Our product was created to provide the convenience of a water bath packaged in a sachet which can be used with or without the presence of water. It is particularly designed for women, because their key concern when washing is the ability to not only wash their bodies, but also their intimate areas with something that’s safe, but also absorptive for any bodily fluids. Our product has therefore catered to the delicacy of the skin, the sensitivity of intimate areas, and provides women with a quick bathing solution in the privacy of a toilet cubicle.

I have learnt that the female body, and its pains, is an issue that all women understand, irrespective of financial class. From the busy women boarding a 16-hour flight for a business trip, to the women in rural, water restricted areas; FemWash seeks to provide an avenue for hygiene. We consider our company a social enterprise, being a for-profit company with the intention of meeting social-impact objectives. As a social enterprise, the vision is to create an impact by subsidizing the product for women who need it, by leveraging those who can afford to pay for it. The future of FemWash now rests in successfully producing our formulation and making the final product.

Dignity is the inherent value that we hold as human beings. By not acknowledging the needs and desires of others, we deny them the opportunity to feel that they have value. Whilst the softer, intangible issues such as the emotions involved are often overlooked in societal debates, the right to dignity exists at the heart of feminine hygiene. Female bodies are often sidelined, and the pains and discomfort women go through are often silenced from public ears, even when we are in the presence of one another. FemWash is thus designed to accommodate women. The product is small, and discrete for women to use in the privacy of a bathroom. 

The feminine hygiene industry has gained a lot of backlash from women due to the breaking of trust. FemWash isn’t designed to stigmatize the female body and perpetuate the idea that women must smell like flowers and berries. Rather, FemWash is intended to meet women in their time of need, and to provide cleanliness and comfort. This product has alerted me to the fact that, depending on age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, body shape, and body type; women have different needs, and experience their environments differently. By silencing female bodies, especially where their intimate areas are involved, issues such as menstruation, and incontinence are dealt with in silence and unaccommodated for in public spaces and in many work environments. Discomfort is a feeling that very often restricts women in both confidence and mobility, and I hope that this product will help to eliminate some of that.   This knowledge has lead me into my research on the female embodied need, and how it can impact comfort, mobility and confidence for women, particularly in the workplace.

It has taken me over two years to formulate, build a team, and get financial buy-in for the product; and in doing so I have had to learn a lot about perseverance, grit and patience. Our biggest hurdle now has been developing relationships with the right suppliers and manufacturers to produce this product and bringing in more investments to get to the finish line of product development.

I have had the privilege of presenting my work to students from Harvard Business School and Duke’s medical students. My most prestigious event this year was presenting at Oxford's Saïd Business School on Menstrual Hygiene Management and the barriers of water, sanitation and hygiene. Social enterprise is about activism just as much as it is about entrepreneurship and meeting the bottom line (driving profits and making revenue). It’s about the ability to tell a story and selling a cause that people feel drawn to buy into and support. By writing, speaking and even pursuing a Master’s at a business school around this, I get to impart my knowledge, my passion, and to share the many stories of the women I meet with around me.

If you are an expert in product development, manufacturing or supply chain who wants to share their knowledge, or just an investor with an interest in social impact, get in touch with us at: FemWash@gmail.com

Nyasha and her business partner, Runako Mzwidzwa