Megan White Mukuria bought a one-way ticket in 2001 to come and start businesses for street children, having been invited to help lead the organization she’s volunteered with in 1998. She quickly realized the cost of sanitary pads – to the organizational budget, and to the environment, and to the girls when they lacked pads. Her quest to solve that challenge in a sustainable way led to the creation of ZanaAfrica in 2007, before she’d heard the term “social entrepreneur.” Along the way she became a global leader in the issue of menstruation management, launching the first ever National Sanitary Towels Campaign in 2006 as incoming president of her Rotary Club, and later its Coordinating Committee in 2008.
A Harvard graduate, her work has brought accolades from 85 Broads, her alma matter, Greenwich Academy, and most recently the 2009 prize for best business plan at the Wharton Africa Business forum business plan competition. Read more about her background here and follow her blogs below as she shares what she’s learning on the journey of a global, coordinated, replicable national sanitary pads solution.
Recent Posts from Megan
Video: PopTech Social Innovation Fellows
Posted Oct 26, 2011 in BOP, bottom of the pyramid, Education, Empowerment, kenya, social enterprise, Uncategorized by Megan - 2 Comments
Being a part of the team of Social Innovation Fellows at PopTech last week was a transformative experience. Over the next month I’ll blog more about what I learned and the amazing folks from whom I learned. In the meantime, [...]
Posted Apr 23, 2011 in BOP, Education, Empowerment, kenya, Kibera, Sanitary Pads, zanaafrica by Megan - 3 Comments
Studies show that yes, they do. A Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) study in Kenya in 2007 showed over two months, sanitary pad provision coupled with reproductive health education reduced absenteeism from 4.9 days to 1.2 days per month [...]
Who’s the savior in your story?
Posted Apr 22, 2011 in zanaafrica by Megan - 1 Comment
America has a crisis in accountability, and I want to propose that it is happening when we are the center of our story, or we put other mortals as our saviors. This Easter weekend, those of us espousing the Christian [...]
Coming down with a case of the Hague
Posted Apr 10, 2011 in kenya, zanaafrica by Megan - 0 Comments
Achoo! I feel we’re coming down with a bad case of the Hague… or should I say a GREAT case of the Hague. It rhymes with plague, and today Kenya’s Pharaohs are feeling the heat, because they’re day of reckoning [...]
Posted Mar 27, 2011 in BOP, bottom of the pyramid, Careers, Education, Empowerment, kenya, zanaafrica by Megan - 0 Comments
In my last blog, I spoke about the demographics of youth, how their sheer volumes are a major factor in creating a socio-political tsunami, and how the level of literacy and education may contribute to peaceful or violent regime change. [...]
Posted Mar 25, 2011 in BOP, bottom of the pyramid, Education, Empowerment, kenya, zanaafrica by Megan - 1 Comment
We are witness these days to two major forces at work in the world: water and youth. Both can be tranquil, calm, and a source of peace, providing vital services to society; both can be a major force of destruction, [...]
Posted Mar 1, 2011 in Education, social enterprise, Uncategorized, zanaafrica by Megan - 0 Comments
Knowledge is power, and at ZanaA we are hungry for more knowledge: new insights in history, best practices that we can learn from, reports that form the basis for our statistics and decision, and more. Below are just some of [...]
Posted Mar 1, 2011 in BOP, Empowerment, Field Officers, Sanitary Pads, social enterprise, zanaafrica by Megan - 2 Comments
ZanaA was created out of my experience in Kenya for six years, working with street girls, thinking about the world of “development” and what was good and bad about it, looking at the for-profit world and what was good and [...]
Posted Jan 10, 2011 in Education, Empowerment, kenya, Kibera, , zanaafrica by Megan - 3 Comments
Happy new year! Hope your start to the new year has been as great as ours, which has been complete with fabulous volunteers from Wharton and Middlebury and a new grant: This week we join The Girl Effect by bringing [...]
Posted Dec 16, 2010 in bottom of the pyramid, Careers, Education, Empowerment, kenya, Kibera, Sanitary Pads, zanaafrica by Megan - 3 Comments
Are you defined by your job? Sure, your spouse might say you are married to your work, and may have considered filing a missing person’s report because you’re on the job all the time. But: is your job what defines [...]
