A trio of young female entrepreneurs, all aged 22, have been recognised with a prestigious business award for their efforts to combat period poverty by creating affordable underwear.
Sarah Bailey, Aurusha Kharas and Anushka Mahesh are the brains behind The Even Project, a company that has developed reusable period pants costing just £4, a significant reduction from the typical price tag of £27.
Although their product won’t hit the market until March 2025, they’ve already secured 44,000 pre-orders from NGOs, refugee camps, and humanitarian organisations.
Their innovative approach has earned them a £15,000 prize as one of the winners of the Santander X UK Awards 2024.
Sarah commented: “We are very much accidental entrepreneurs. Even when we started working together, we never expected it to spin out into a business.”
The company, established in 2022, initially aimed to persuade businesses to lower the cost of period products through grassroots advocacy. However, after making little progress, design engineer Sarah, mechanical engineer Anushka and neuroscientist Aurusha decided to take matters into their own hands and create their own product.
Their low manufacturing costs and simple, one-size-fits-all, single-colour design enable them to keep prices down.
Period pants, essentially undergarments with extra material layers, can absorb up to 50ml of liquids, functioning similarly to regular underwear. They require no special treatment as they are washable either by hand or in a machine and are designed to feel just like regular underwear.
Sarah highlighted the fact that large, established companies have overlooked the further 65% of people worldwide who menstruate, despite having had conventional products on the market for many decades.
“I think a massive injustice is that we’ve got these large commercial companies that are private-equity owned that have been around for ages, these multi-billion dollar companies.
In the wider scheme of things of their total addressable market, they haven’t hit over 35 per cent of the entire worldwide menstrual population yet conventional products have been around for 100 years now” she says.
Their initiative is not only poised to aid women within humanitarian settings, but also aims to tackle period inequality facing individuals in the UK.
Santander has been nurturing UK entrepreneurial talent through its annual competition for 14 years, delivering over £1 million in equity-free support to a multitude of start-ups and small businesses across the nation.
Football legend Gary Neville, part of the awards’ judging cohort alongside Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, expressed his enthusiasm, saying: “It’s been exciting to work with Santander UK judging their Santander X 2024 Awards.”
“I’ve had the chance to watch some incredible entrepreneurs pitch their ideas […] They demonstrate just how many fantastic start-ups and ambitious entrepreneurs there are in the UK, and it’s been a privilege to hear their stories and see the passion for their ideas.”
Mike Regnier, Santander UK CEO added: “The X Awards are just one way we’re helping the country’s most exciting new entrepreneurs through vital funding, skill-building, and fostering connections along the way.”
“A huge congratulations to this year’s six winners”.
