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18. Aruna Dara

Going further
Recently, I joined the Walmart Vriddhi program. It’s been very helpful and provided much-needed information. I’m also thankful for the introduction to Swasti, Arogya and other NGOs.

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The entrepreneurial journey is not easy, especially for women. My business partner and I met in 1996 at Maharishi University, where we were the only two women in our MBA class. We talked about developing a business then, but after graduation, we went our separate ways—I went into a corporate career in telecoms—and we both raised families. It was great to meet again in 2016.
We were both in a comfortable and happy place in our lives, but we were ready to do something together, and we wanted to give something back to society. I believe it is up to women to change things and to not just talk about dignity but to implement it in a real way.
We recognised that biodegradables were very much the need of the hour. Coming from Andhra Pradesh, we also both knew that banana fibre is an agricultural waste product that is normally burned. Putting the two together, we had the idea to use this agri-waste to make biodegradable sanitary napkins that are good for women and for the environment.