BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
South Africa has come a long way from Apartheid, but the effects are still felt almost thirty years later, especially by the poor. Many young women and girls still don’t have access to sanitary towels when they go through their monthly menstrual cycle. For little girls in school, this issue not only affects their confidence and social life, but it directly affects their studies too – as many of them tend to skip school for as long as a week every month, because of the lack of proper sanitary towels.
Menstrual coach, author and motivational speaker from UMthatha in the Eastern Cape, Babalwa Mbuku couldn’t fold her arms when she noticed this. In 2017, Babalwa sold her car to start her business, Ntombam Sanitary Towels.
Ntombam Sanitary Towels is a 100% woman owned company, based in East London in the Eastern Cape. Ntombam has achieved levels of success over the years in operation. Their core mission is to restore the dignity of a vulnerable girl child and reduce the high rate of school absenteeism by providing quality and affordable sanitary towels which they believe are a basic need.
Passionate about the girl child’s education, health and confidence, Babalwa often has pad drives and visits some disadvantaged schools in the Eastern Cape province.
She was inspired by a young girl who once said she preferred to get free sanitary pads from government instead of a free education, she has received some support for her business, having partnered with Vodacom in a CSI project in the Eastern Cape and being part of an incubator programme by the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.
Babalwa was in the top 25 of the 100 Most Influential Young South Africans of 2019 for social enterprise and philanthropy.
