Chechay Sanitary Napkin to hit the Bhutanese market soon

Pema Chozom, 28, a young entrepreneur from Trashigang intends to revolutionize menstrual health and hygiene for women and girls by designing a simple environment friendly sanitary pad called Chechay Sanitary Napkin.

Pema Chozom has been working on this project for about 7 months and is determined to provide affordable sanitary pads to those who need it.

She said, “I chose the word chechay because in Bhutanese context, chechay refers to softness or tenderness, and menstrual health is something that. We should take care of it with much softness and tenderness. And another reason for choosing chechay is that the product is Bhutanese so I wanted to give a Bhutanese brand name.”

The sanitary napkins are manufactured in Bhutan.  “Till date, our country import sanitary pads from neighboring countries, especially India, but with this new innovation Bhutanese don’t have to import pads from India or any other countries.”

She said, “After importing the machine and raw materials like top sheet, air laid, paper wood pulp and SOP sheet, I made a few sanitary pads. To make sure that the sanitary pad that I designed is usable, I tried it myself and also asked some of my friends to try it, and the feedback I received from them was positive. Upon receiving the feedback from them, I decided to make it big because the most users suggested that I make it bigger.”

“Being a woman, I can acknowledge that menstruation is a cycle and it is natural. People should accept and give importance to menstrual health rather than shying away,” she said. Chechay Sanitary Napkin venture received government funds and support.