By Maria Valdez Haubrich

As a fledgling entrepreneur, it’s all too easy to fall into the woe-is-me attitude, especially with the state of the economy, the constant stress of starting a business, the bootstrapping…well, you get it. Then along comes a business that slaps me back to the reality of how little some people have and the many (many) things I take for granted.

The business is SHE (Sustainable Health Enterprises) and it’s more than a trendy do-gooder business idea—it’s a movement meant to change the health and lives of women in underdeveloped nations. According to the Web site (http://www.sheinnovates.com/), millions of girls and women in developing nations miss up to 50 days of school or work per year because they don’t have access to affordable (and hygienic) sanitary pads when they menstruate. Brand name options are too expensive and many turn to unsanitary alternatives that could (and do) make them sick.

Elizabeth Scharpfs, the entrepreneur behind SHE, not only came up with the smart solution of supplying sanitary pads to these women by using local materials, but she has franchised the concept so local women can start their own businesses to manufacture and distribute the products. By doing so, SHE not only meets a consumer need, but helps build a future for many women who may not have had much of a life otherwise. SHE even helps finance the venture and trains the women to operate their own businesses. The first franchise went to Rwanda, where by partnering with existing local women’s networks they can start spreading good physical (and fiscal) health to millions of women.