A group of young female entrepreneurs who are tackling period poverty with underwear that costs just £4 have won a prestigious business award.
Sarah Bailey, Aurusha Kharas and Anushka Mahesh, all aged 22, hope their period pants will help improve menstrual hygiene across the developing world.
Their company, The Even Project, has developed re-usable underwear for just a fraction of the current typical cost of £27.
The product does not launch until March 2025, but they already have 44,000 pre-orders from NGOs, refugee camps, and humanitarian organisations.
Now they have scooped £15,000 as one of the winners of the Santander X UK Awards 2024.
Sarah Bailey, Aurusha Kharas and Anushka Mahesh, all aged 22, hope their period pants will help improve menstrual hygiene across the developing world.
Their company, The Even Project, has developed re-usable underwear for just a fraction of the current typical cost of £27.
The product does not launch until March 2025, but they already have 44,000 pre-orders from NGOs, refugee camps, and humanitarian organisations.
Now they have scooped £15,000 as one of the winners of the Santander X UK Awards 2024.
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FunTranscript
00:00I love this awards ceremony, I've hosted it for 4 years now. I really truly believe it
00:08takes someone very special and very courageous and very brave to start something from nothing.
00:13Whatever happened today, whatever the outcome is, you should be proud of yourselves for
00:16being here.
00:21I'm quite shell-shocked to have won the Santander X Awards this year. I thought there were some
00:25amazing other pictures from some really, really fantastic start-ups who I'm sure are going
00:29on to great things.
00:34The most challenging part for us is definitely keeping to time. You have a tight 4-minute
00:38pitch slot and it's really difficult because you have so much to talk about, it's fun and
00:42exciting, but you really have to go top level.
00:46My top tip for starting a business is to just do it.
00:50Highlight of participating in Santander X Awards has probably been meeting other people
00:55and other innovative businesses. Yes, we're competing, but also we're kind of rooting
00:59for each other and there is a lot of support and incredible value.