Liberian Entrepreneur Dares to Tackle “Period Poverty”
— Are reusable pads the solution?
Augustine Kou still recalled in early 2016 how his 16-year-old cousin dropped out of secondary school because she could not afford a sanitary pad to keep her in class during her menstruation period.
Kou sought to help. He founded the Payless Reusable Cloth Pads company to produce pads using fabric blended with towels to cut on menstrual waste and provide an alternative to odd methods of Period Management in underprivileged communities.
Kou, like many Liberians, is a living testimony of how girls and women battle the cost of imported pads when they see their menses because the imported sanitary is costly. A 2022 report by ActionAid Liberia said that one in every 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school due to a lack of access to sanitary pads.
“So, when I started to think about starting this company, it was out of a need for affordability,” he said.
Affording sanitary imported pads is costly for some women and girls. It costs between L$150 (U$0.75) to L$250 (U$1.25) for a pack. Women’s Rights campaigners say the high cost of pads causes girls to miss school during their monthly menstruation.
The inaccessibility and high cost of imported sanitary pads are called “period poverty” which keeps girls out of school, and some women out of the workplace, causing them to use unsanitary items such as cloth, paper, and tissues. Experts say it endangers women’s health.
Under the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Harmonized System and Customs Tariffs, imported pads are not excluded from paying import duties and Goods and Service Tax (GST). Sanitary towels (pads), and tampons, napkin liners for babies pay a 20 percent duty import tax and a 10 percent GST tax.
“So I started to give it a name so that it wouldn’t cost much to get it,” Kou added.
In 2022, women-led advocacy groups petitioned the House of Representatives to drop the tariff on sanitary pads. Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis, former District 4 Lawmaker, received the petition. She accused her colleagues of not supporting the provision of pads in schools and public areas.
In a Frontpage Africa report, Robert Haynes, Director of Press and Public Affairs at the House of Representatives, said since the petition was submitted it has been in the committee room of the Legislature with no definite day set to discuss the issue.
Payless Cloth Pad, like many businesses, is struggling to survive. Awareness and acceptability are causing the business to survive. Not many people accept reusable pads. They cannot stand the fact of washing their menses. Some are accustomed to imported sanitary pads.
In 2021, the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated donated 260 boxes of reusable menstrual pads to students of the Ann Sandell Independent School in Paynesville to keep them in classes during their menstrual cycles.
“You know when you finish washing it. Playing with the blood can be looking fresh,” Princess Zanzan, a 12th-grade student at the Ann Sandell Independent School said. Princess was among the students who benefited from the Delta Iota Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated donation. She only used it twice and quit.
In 2023, Kou’s business was one of the firms that won the UNDP’s Growth Accelerator program. He won U$40,000 to boost his business. Kou has developed an innovation of producing disposal pads from banana trees.
“Given this new intervention, the name of the company will change from Payless Cloth Pads to Payless Bananas Innovation,” Kou said.
The innovation will enable Kou and his team to produce disposable pads, fashion bags, paper bags, and earrings from banana leaves.
Why Reusable Pads?
Because it saves the environment. The imported sanitary pads are made of plastic that can be thrown away after use. Plastics are non-biodegradable, meaning they stay in the environment for a long.
Although there is little information on the health benefits of using reusable pads, reusable pads do not degrade the environment because they are not disposable but washable and can be used over and over. They reduce waste and keep plastic out of landfills and oceans more than the imported pads that are usually disposed of after usage.
The Payless cloth pad is not only helping women and girls overcome menstrual constraints, it keeps the environment healthy and clean.
“So Payless being reasonable using fabric and in the future a more organic sustainable way I thought that the name Payless will also pay less on the environment when you use it,” Kou said.
Business Strategies
Payless cloth pads work through a business model because purchasing is one of the company’s hurdles. Also, they sometimes get hired by NGOs and other philanthropists to produce in huge quantities for distribution.
“Also, we run an e-commerce website where people in other parts of the world would buy,” Kou adds.
Pads Packaging and Cost
The pads come in a pack of five and at a cost of US$4 or L$700. The reusable pack includes guidelines and other usage information at the back.
“When a girl child uses the imported pads she pays more,” says Kou.
According to him, after being used, the pads can be re-bagged and kept safely by the user until they are ready to use again.