Mewalii makes the world a greener place - one sanitary pad at a time
With an investment from a business angel, the two founders of Mewalii, Frederikke Dahl and Simone Westergaard, had the opportunity of making their dream of developing a 100 percent biodegradable sanity pad come true.
Today - six months after the investment - the prototype is as good as done, but finding the most sustainable and biodegradable materials for the sanitary pads has been a struggle.
We're just getting there. We have found the plant fibers that make up the sanitary pad and the material from which the membrane is to be built. Right now we have some challenges in finding a degradable glue that should sit on the back so that the pad sticks to the panties," Frederikke Dahl, product developer and founder of Mewalii," says Frederikke Dahl, product developer and founder of Mewalii, one of the 21 selected companies participating in the Impact StartUp accelerator program.
Mewalii was founded in 2018, when Simone Westergaard and Frederikke Dahl met each other in a program for talented young entrepeneurs. They had the same vision, and now they develop the most sustainable sanitary pads on the market.
Through subscription with pick'n'mix concept, Mewalii will make it easier for menstruating individuals to act sustainably. A menstruating individuel can protect the environment from 1000 kg of pesticides simply by using Mewalii's products over other disposable pads.
And that is far from Mewalii's only impact on the environment: "Sustainability and impact on the environment we measure in water consumption. The pads on the market that are considered the most sustainable right now are most often made of cotton, which needs 5000 liters of water per kilo. We use plant fibres from another plant that only needs a fifth of that amount of water," says Frederikke, who has developed the sustainable product in her graduation project.
And the graduation project was a kickstarter for Mewalii: "The Engineer wrote an article about us, and from there it took quite a lot of speed. Two investors had seen the article and contacted us. We offered them to join our Advisory Board to see if the chemistry was there. And it was. Then we made an agreement with the investor that could benefit us the place we were at the time. One of our demands was that they should be able to contribute competences and not just money. And he does so very much," says Simone, who adds that: "He helps with knowledge about production, agriculture, contacts and much more. At the same time, he has started many companies so he knows what it is all about. It is nice to have him with him as he has been in the game a long time and can be a part of the big decisions. It is good sparring and help."
Now, Simone and Frederikke participates in Impact StartUp. The program is facilitated by Den Sociale Kapitalfond and is supported by Industriens Fond, where the startups so far have participated in camps on impact management, sales and finance: "It was super relevant to hear presentations about sales, where, among other things, the mental part was explained and, for example, the difference between asking a customer how quickly can I call instead of in how long can I call – there is up to 20 days difference in the customer's response. It has been really exciting and rewarding," Frederikke says.
Mewalii has been assigned a business developer in Impact StartUp, which they meet once a week. Here they go through things such as finance, sales and contact with dealers: "It has been really good to have Helle Bergstrøm as a business developer. She is really effective and knows how to push us by setting deadlines every week for example. And then we only stop meetings when we feel that things are completely in place," says Simone, who is currently on leave from her studies in sports, and Frederikke who has graduated as an engineer specializing in integrated design.
The goal of Impact StartUp is to strengthen the competitiveness of companies and match them with a panel of relevant investors in both Denmark and the rest of the Nordic region. The program focuses, among other things, on developing sustainable business models, managing impact management, scaling strategies, and ways to finance and capital raising.
The two founders of Mewalii undoubtedly recommend the program:
"With Impact StartUp, we have got a really good network, where we also have the opportunity to talk to other startups working in the same area. We give each other good ideas and advice, it is great."
Frederikke Dahl and Simone Westergaard expect their sanitary pads to be ready to come out to consumers in August this year, both as a subscription to their website and as package deals in stores. They are currently also developing pads for menstruating individuals as young as 8 years old.
"We are in the process of contacting various retailers of personal care products, so we expect that you can buy our sanitary pads in a number of stores as early as late summer, and then of course there is our own webshop," says Simone.
