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Business
商业报道
Social entrepreneurship in India
印度的公益创业
Cut from a different cloth
开辟出另一片天地
Building a business around solving a chronic female health-care problem
创立产业以解决长期困扰的女性保健问题
RATAN JADHAV, a shy, slight woman in her 30s, works on a farm in Osmanabad, a remote part of the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
年过三十的Ratan Jadhav是一个害羞,纤弱的女性。她在印度奥斯曼阿巴德的一个农场工作，那里是印度马哈拉斯特拉邦的偏远地区。
Her tiny mud-brick house boasts such modern conveniences as a computer bought with a loan from relatives, while arranged neatly on the kitchen window sill are her teenage daughter's cosmetics.
一台向亲戚借款而买的电脑也给住在低矮泥砖房的她带来了一丝现代生活的便利，而放在厨房窗台上女儿的化妆品则显得整齐有序。
Yet when it comes to personal hygiene, both women prefer a cotton rag to a branded sanitary pad.
然而当提及个人卫生问题上，这两位女士都偏爱棉布胜过品牌的卫生护垫。
Why buy one, asks the mother, when a homespun substitute does the job?
母亲不解：自己做的东西就可以替代卫生巾，为什么还要买这个？
Ms Jadhav is one of300mmenstruating Indian women who eschew sanitary pads in favour of rags, dry leaves, straw or newspapers.
印度有300万月经来潮的女性用碎布，干叶，枯草或者报纸来替代卫生棉条，Jadhav女士就是其中一位。
AC Nielsen, a research firm, says that 70% of women in India cannot afford sanitary products.
一家名为AC Nielsen的研究公司称，印度70%的女性买不起卫生用品。
Many who can pay do not, as they hate having to ask for them in drugstores that are usually run by men.
即使付得起，很多女性也拒绝购买。他们恨透了向药店人员索要卫生棉条，因为这些商店通常是由男性经营。
This has serious consequences.
这个情况后果严重。
Adolescent girls miss up to 50 days of school a year.
印度的青春期女孩每年旷课高达50天。
Some 23% drop out altogether.
大约23%的女生干脆完全退学。
Working women lose their daily wages.
上班族女性也会因月经缺勤被扣掉当日工资。
The social and economic benefits to be had from resolving this problem are potentially so large that doing so is now a focus of social entrepreneurs in many developing countries.
解决这个问题在经济和社会上的潜在利益是十分巨大的。
They include Jaydeep Mandal and Sombodhi Ghosh of Aakar Innovations, a Delhi-based start-up.
对于许多发展中国家，解决这个问题是公益企业家现在关注的一个焦点。
They have developed a machine that produces low-cost sanitary napkins using as raw materials agri-waste such as banana fibre, bamboo and water-hyacinth pulp.
企业家们已经研发出一种可以生产廉价卫生棉的机器。该棉条使用的原材料为工业废品，比如香蕉纤维，毛竹以及水葫芦纸浆。
Each machine can churn out 1,600-2,000 pads a day, to be sold for 40% less than branded mass-market products.
每台机器每天可以制造出1600-2000个棉片，出售价格比畅销的品牌产品要低出40%。
To bypass the current female-unfriendly distribution system, Aakar aims to sell its machines for 250,000 rupees a time to groups of women.
为了避开当前对女性不利的流通体系，Aakar公司计划以每台25万卢布的价格出售该机器给特定群体的女性。
The finished item will be sold door-to-door by village saleswomen who also hawk solar lamps, stoves and saris.
这种成品将由村民中的女销售员进行上门推销。她们还会兜售太阳能灯具，炉灶和印度莎丽服。
It will be distributed, too, in women-run grocery stores and beauty parlours.
由女性经营的杂货店和美容院中也会有该机器出售。
Aakar hopes to profit by selling the raw materials and the machines.
公司Aakar希望能从销售原材料和该机器中获得利润。
This is hardly a new idea.
这不是什么新点子。
Arunachalam Muruganantham, another Indian entrepreneur, is a pioneer of low-cost pad manufacturing.
另一个印度企业家Arunachalam Muruganantham是廉价卫生棉条产业的先驱人物。
Gandhigram, a non-profit organisation in Tamil Nadu, has developed similar technology in partnership with engineers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras.
位于印度泰米尔纳德邦的非营利性组织Gandhigram已同位于马德拉斯的印度技术研究院的工程师共同合作研发出类似的工艺技术。
Goonj, an NGO, sews and sterilises discarded old clothes into sanitary pads.
民营机构Goonj则将废弃的旧衣服进行缝纫消毒制成了卫生护垫。
Many start-ups process cotton fibre from old knitwear into pads.
许多新兴企业通过加工棉布纤维将旧的针织品制成了护垫。
Mr Muruganantham reckons that the country is awash with hundreds of local brands.
先生Muruganantham认为印度已经充斥着成百上千种本土品牌的卫生护垫了。
Yet, unusually, Aakar's product meets the standards of the Western world and can compete with all global brands, says Ronald van het Hof of Women on Wings, a Dutch-based consultancy focused on creating jobs for women.
来自挥着翅膀女人的Ronald van het Hof称，Aakar的产品却出乎意料的达到了西方国家的卫生标准并且可以与所有的国际品牌一较高低。挥着翅膀的女人是一个位于荷兰的咨询公司，其致力于为女性增创就业机会。
After studying sanitary-pad markets in four states, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the Dutch outfit decided to help Aakar grow.
通过对印度的比哈尔，西孟加拉，马哈拉施特拉和泰米尔纳德这四个邦的卫生护垫市场进行研究，这个荷兰公司决定扶持Aakar发展壮大。
Aakar's founders see a big opportunity.
Aakar公司的创立者们看到了巨大的商机。
Despite the challenges, the 13.5 billion rupee sanitary-pad industry in India is growing fast.
尽管竞争激烈，印度总资产达到135亿卢布的卫生护垫产业也在迅猛发展。
Established firms, including global giants such as Procter & Gamble, hold sway in towns and cities, though still only 25% of women use their products.
上市公司在印度城镇地区的地位不可动摇，其中包括诸如宝洁公司在内的国际巨头。但是，仍然只有25%的女性在使用它们的产品。
In the countryside the proportion is lower still.
在乡村地区这些产品所占份额则会更小。
By bypassing middlemen and using existing rural retail networks the founders believe they can win6mcustomers and provide direct employment to 11,000 women in the next five years.
通过避免雇佣中年男子和借用现存的乡村零售网络的方法，公司创立者们相信在接下来的五年里，他们可以赢得6百万客户并为11000位女性提供直接的就业岗位。
Yet many similar ventures have failed due to problems ranging from a lack of standardisation to inadequate saleswomen.
但仍有很多人遭遇了创业失败。或是因为标准化系统的缺失，或是合格女推销员的匮乏。
Aakar has forged a partnership with Swayam Shikshan Prayog, an NGO in Osmanabad which will be responsible for manufacture and distribution.
公司Aakar已经与Swayam Shikshan Prayog 达成合作关系。后者是一个设在奥斯马纳巴德的非政府组织，它将负责产品的生产和分销。
It will also promote awareness by asking local doctors and health-care workers to push the pads at workshops and monthly village gatherings.
它还会请当地医师和保健部门的工作人员在工作间及每月的村庄集会时推广卫生护垫产品，借此提高公众的卫生意识。
A start will be made next month in Osmanabad, with the aim of catering to about 20,000 women.
首次活动将会于下个月在奥斯马纳巴德邦举行，该活动的目的在于迎合约20000名女性的需求。
This may reveal whether the pad has genuine appeal in India's hinterland.
这个活动可能会检验这些卫生护垫是否能真正引起生活在印度穷乡僻壤的女性们的注意。
It surely will, says Devkanya Jagdale, leader of a group of local saleswomen.
它绝对会有吸引力，当地某女性推销员组织的领导Devkanya Jagdale称。
And Ratan Jadhav will be my first customer.
而且Ratan Jadhav将会是我的第一个客户。
