Startup Story

Girls in Mozambique have a number of challenges to overcome, and one of those is getting access to menstrual products, menstrual education and addressing social stigma around menstruation. But that is now changing, thanks to entrepreneurs like Diana Sierra, a Columbian designer and social entrepreneur who is the founder of Be Girl Inc. in Mozambique.

LoA chatted to Diana Sierra recently to find out more about this high impact social venture.

What does your company do?

Be Girl is a social venture launched in 2014 that works for a world where being a girl does not stand in the way of health, opportunities, and success. Specifically, we focus on addressing the massive market gap in menstrual products, working in three ways: First, we distribute our line of patented, sustainable period products through commercial channels and nonprofit partnerships. Second, we deliver our SmartCycle® menstrual education to girls and boys through nonprofit partnerships, fighting stigma and misinformation and building demand for our products. And third, we partner with influencers and leverage major media platforms to address stigma around menstruation through positive marketing messages.

“At Be Girl, our aspiration is to be the world’s top provider of sustainable menstrual products in underserved markets and to be a transformative force in positive public perception of menstruation.”

“Be Girl works for a world where being a girl does not stand in the way of health, opportunities, and success.”

What inspired you to start your company?:

“What I like most about these pads is that somebody, somewhere loves me because she made these beautiful pads for me and I feel proud to be girl.”

These words – written to me by 13-year-old Alphosine in rural Tanzania – were the spark that inspired me to create Be Girl five years ago, with a promise to replicate that feeling in every woman and girl. Because everyone deserves to feel loved, celebrated, and proud. Since that initial pilot that led to the creation of Be Girl, we have gotten over 60,000 of our sustainable, quality menstrual products in the hands of girls across 30 countries. And during 2018, we tested our first markets-based initiative in an emerging market selling Be Girl products at affordable prices in Maputo, Mozambique. With the success of the pilot, we have opened Be Girl Mozambique, Ltd., where we make our products available and affordable to consumers through commercial channels. Why? Working to innovate markets with alternative products and solutions is our long-term vision to make opportunities accessible to everyone, whether it is in the form of a panty or the job to sell it. We cannot disrupt the status quo unless we invest in girls’ access to products and information and body ownership. But when a girl can own her body and feel comfortable in her own skin, she can have the confidence and the ability to move and to access the full range of opportunities available to reach her full potential. This is true impact.

What makes your business, service or product special?

I created the first prototype of our pads from an umbrella and a mosquito net to form a reusable, leakproof menstrual pad with a pocket to hold absorbent material – designed to work around the solutions that girls already used to manage menstruation. After testing the pads, I found that pads were only half of the solution. Girls who struggled to afford pads often struggled to afford underwear as well, which meant the pads were useless. With this learning, I created our flagship product, the PeriodPanty™, a 2-in-1 product that combines beautiful underwear with our patented pocket technology to holds absorbent material for menstrual flow. The product is made from breathable sports fabric that is easy to wash and dry, resists stains and mildew, and lasts two years or longer. Our high-quality materials and exacting standards meet global market expectations: we believe girls and women everywhere should have access to the same high-quality menstrual products.

But we are more than a products company. We have built out an educational tracking tool complete with age-appropriate workshop methodology called the SmartCycle®, and we deliver workshops to young people to help them understand menstruation. Finally, we address stigma through our Period-Positive Marketing™ approach, delivering communication campaigns in collaboration with national influencers who break the silence around menstruation and redefine periods as something normal and even positive.

“When a girl can own her body and feel comfortable in her own skin, she can have the confidence and the ability to move and to access the full range of opportunities available to reach her full potential.”

“We address stigma through our Period-Positive Marketing™ approach, delivering communication campaigns in collaboration with national influencers who break the silence around menstruation.”

Learn more about Be Girl. View PDF Profile.

Tell us a little about your team

Our team in Mozambique consists of five highly skilled and motivated young women, in addition to myself. This team is divided into two departments: 1) a Commercial and Operations team, led by Malaika Mongo, which oversees sales to consumers along commercial channels and 2) a Social Impact team, led by Cídia Chissungo, which manages partnerships with nonprofits and delivery of SmartCycle® educational workshops with data collection. Supporting Malaika and Cídia are Júlia Lourino as Data Manager, Cristina Brito as Partnerships Manager, and Eleutéria Nhatave as Sales Manager. Júlia, Cristina, and Eleutéria have worked with Be Girl from its inception in Mozambique, conducting SmartCycle® workshops and leading sales during the 2018 market pilot. Collectively, our team brings extensive experience in sales and marketing, youth engagement and education, and social activism.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

I am an industrial designer by trade. In my career, I have designed for brands such as Nike and Panasonic. When I designed the first prototype of Be Girl pads, I did it to fill a need that I saw – I never set out to create a company. But after hearing the words from Alphosine that I have shared above, I knew that creating Be Girl was my calling. I do not come from an entrepreneurial background; I have never felt that I needed to be an entrepreneur simply for the sake of starting and running a company. But I needed to bring Be Girl to life, and that meant becoming an entrepreneur.

What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?

At Be Girl, our aspiration is to be the world’s top provider of sustainable menstrual products in underserved markets and to be a transformative force in positive public perception of menstruation. We do this in several different ways: First, we work to make our products available and affordable through commercial channels, so that any girl or woman can afford high-quality, long-lasting products to manage menstruation – and feel beautiful at the same time! Our products are intentionally created with love and care so that girls not only can manage their bodies but can love their bodies at the same time. And secondly, we work with nonprofit partners to distribute products to girls who otherwise could not afford them. We seek to take both of these approaches to scale – throughout Mozambique and replicating our business model in other countries to make period protection radically accessible.

“Life has to be more than getting profits and market share, and that is why being an entrepreneur and designing your own work and doing what you love is what really matters in life.”

What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?

As a social entrepreneur but also as a designer, the most satisfying part of this journey is to know your work touches and improves the life of people. That your energy and dedication translate into opportunities for others who are in more difficult conditions and your work in some way enables them to propel towards their potential. There are many ways you can earn a living, but very few give you purpose. Life has to be more than getting profits and market share, and that is why being an entrepreneur and designing your own work and doing what you love is what really matters in life.

What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?

Believe always that you have what it takes! No matter if you walk in a room full of overachiever men and woman who shoot down all your ideas because your pitch was not perfect, because your projections did not meet their expectations, because you are not aggressive or “Alpha” enough, remember that you have what it takes! Girl, that is all you need to go after that dream.

Contact or follow Be Girl

Why LoA loves it….

If you are going to make big change in the world, you need to have big ideas and the passion to make them happen. Diana Sierra is one of those entrepreneurs who has big ideas and big ambitions for their businesses. She wants to make a difference by innovating to create new solutions, by addressing social issues through her work, and challenging ideas and opinions. She is a real game-changer in the world of social entrepreneurship, and it will be interesting to see just how far this business can grow over the coming years, impacting so many young girls and women positively in their lives. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo of Lionesses of Africa