For Shristi Shrestha, in addition to the challenges of registering her business and accessing finance, a major challenge she has had to overcome as a woman entrepreneur has been that of societal expectations and competing demands on her time. “As a woman, especially in my culture, domestic labour is part of our job, no matter what our work is outside of the home. As women, we have to develop a superpower when it comes to time management, juggling our household responsibilities with work,” she shares.

Shristi embarked on her entrepreneurial journey two years ago, inspired by a vision of supporting women and protecting the environment while promoting localised production. Shristi became aware that almost all sanitary pad products available in Nepal are produced abroad, with 80 per cent of the market dominated by foreign imports. Moreover, there are no affordable eco-friendly products available.

Seizing the opportunity to fill this gap in the market, following a year of research and careful consideration, Shristi and her fellow female business partner purchased a machine with support from a local NGO and started producing their own biodegradable sanitary pads. With limited funding available, most of which was sourced from friends and family, and with minimal marketing or business experience, Shristi and her partner started small, selling their products to friends and using newspaper as packaging.