SHE News, Awards, and Recognition

Simply the Best: SHE's 2012 Annual Recap
A lot happened at SHE in 2012, so we decided to do a little countdown of the events, milestones and people that made last year awesome! (Launch the 2012 Annual Recap)

SHE's Julian Ingabire is selected as an Acumen Fund East Africa Fellow, Class of 2013
February 18, 2013 SHE COO, Rwanda, Julian Ingabire was selected among 1,000 applicants to receive world-class leadership training along with the tools to accelerate the progress of their social project. Learn more about the program first-hand from Julian on our blog. (read more)

SHE's Julian Ingabire is a Rising Star in Global Health
December 4, 2012 SHE, along with our COO, Rwanda, Julian Ingabire has been awarded US $100,000 to our pursue bold, creative idea to tackle the problem of lack of access to menstrual pads with our social enterprise model! (read more)

Founder and Chief Instigating Officer Elizabeth Scharpf Named PBS Newshour's Agent of Change
November 28, 2012 Elizabeth describes how social enterprise ensures a sustainable solution towards addressing global public health issues (read more)

SHE wins 2012 Cartier Women's Initiative Awards!
October 11, 2012: Julian Ingabire and Elizabeth Scharpf are the 2012 Laureates for Sub-Saharan Africa in the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards! (read more)

Founder and Chief Instigating Officer Elizabeth Scharpf talks about innovation in social design at the School of Visual Arts
September 17, 2012: Graduate students of the Products of Design program at the School of Visual Arts engaged in an electric discussion with SHE's Elizabeth Scharpf about product design for Rwanda (read more)

SHE Instigates: Q2 2012 Quarterly Report that announces our industrial-scale pilot of the mass production of our menstrual pads, the SHE LaunchPads

SHE's Julian Ingabire and Elizabeth Scharpf selected as one of 18 Finalists in 2012 Cartier Women's Initiative Awards!
July 2, 2012: Julian Ingabire and Elizabeth Scharpf are the 2012 Laureates for Sub-Saharan Africa in the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards! (read more)

Vitamin W Interviews Elizabeth Scharpf on SHE’s Market-Based Approach
July 2, 2012:“Scharpf says, ‘There has been aid for the last 50 years, but it has been business as usual. There has a lot of wasting of funds -- there have been too many 4x4s. Being for-profit signals to the community that you have a different approach.” (read more)

SHE28 profiled in Ms. Magazine’s article ‘For the Price of a Pad’
Spring/Summer 2012: Linda Villarosa of Ms. Magazine puts a spotlight on SHE's efforts to tackle lack of access of menstrual pads by locally producing our SHE LaunchPads in Rwanda (read more)

SHE’s Global Fellow Connie Guest Blogs on Women Deliver about the SHE LaunchPad
June 11, 2012: SHE's market-based approach and disruptive product innovation with its SHE LaunchPad could be a powerful way to overcome menstrual taboos(read more)

Seventh Generation Features the SHE28 Campaign
June 11, 2012: “Women are spearheading the growth of the sustainable green economy across the world, not only as consumers, but also as business leaders and innovators. [SHE] …is part of this revolution with its first initiative, SHE28.”(read more)

Handing Bill Clinton A Menstrual Pad: One Way to Break Taboos on Women's Health
June 7, 2012: “If you are going to force the world to focus on a problem long ignored, it’s effective if you’re particularly bold about it."(read more)

Sustainable Health Enterprises Selected to be part of the 2012 Cohort of Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefit Incubator Program
April 18, 2012: "The program features mentoring by Silicon Valley executives and experts, collaboration for the social entrepreneurs, and MBA-caliber classes during the summer in-residence program."(read more)

An Unlikely Obstacle to Girls’ Education: Improving Hygiene Around the World
March 22, 2012: “We've helped 5,000 people, but we're not going to be able to go and train, one by one, every single person," [Scharpf] said. "We're hoping to reach 10 million in Rwanda alone." (read more)

SHE COO, Rwanda Julian Ingabire Interviewed about Women Deliver 50 Award
March 12, 2012: "We feel that this recognition is for all of us and the women we work with on a daily basis. We will continue building these partnerships," Kayibanda said.(read more)

SHE28 selected for the “Women Deliver 50” Awards.
March 7, 2012: The Women Deliver 50 Awards is a compilation of the 50 most inspiring ideas and solutions that are delivering for girls and women. (read more)

How One CEO Grows Her Business with Feeling
February 17, 2012: "Scharpf has experienced firsthand that what inspires people — a mission to improve lives — is also good for business." (read more)

Elizabeth Scharpf Presents SHE at the 2011 Idea Festival in Louisville, Kentucky
September 24, 2011: "Scharpf changing the lives of women in Rwanda by creating low-cost sanitary pads—a glaring need around the world." (read more)

SHE Named a Finalist for 2011 INDEX: Award
June 9, 2011: The 60 finalists for INDEX: Award 2011 have been carefully selected by the international INDEX: Jury as the best of the best Design to Improve Life. (read more)

Founder and Chief Instigating Officer Elizabeth Schaprf serves as a speaker at the 2011 Skoll World Forum
June 9, 2011: Elizabeth Scharpf describes how she used design thinking to address the problem of lack of access to affordable menstrual pads(read more)

SHE28 Featured on Beyond Profit
April 7, 2011: Beyond Profit profiles five barriers to education for girls and features SHE as one of five social enterprises working to remove them.(read more)

Elizabeth Scharpf names as one of UTNE’s 25 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World
November-December 2010: The “blood cost” of young African women was Scharpf’s reason for founding the she28 campaign, which aims to supply 1 million women with pads made from banana leaves.(read more)

New York Times Magazine Highlights SHE's Chief Instigating Officer Founder
Oct 20, 2010: Nicholas Kristof features Elizabeth Scharpf in the New York Times Magazine article, "D.I.Y. Foreign-Aid Revolution" highlighting SHE's entrepreneurial approach to sustainable socio-economic change with communities. (read more)

New York Times Highlights SHE's Eyes on the Prize | Design That Does Good
Oct 13, 2010: "Another design-for-good award, the Curry Stone Design Prize, has been given this year to Sustainable Health Enterprises, founded by Elizabeth Scharpf, a Harvard M.B.A. who is working with networks of women in Rwanda to make (and sell) sanitary pads from banana leaf fiber, a readily available local material." (read more) | (watch video)

SHE wins Curry Stone Design Prize
Oct 13, 2010:"The Curry Stone Design Prize honors an individual or group for developing and implementing a visionary design innovation. These emerging projects address critical issues such as access to clean air, food and water, shelter, health care, energy, education, social justice and the promotion of peace. Winning projects engage communities at the fulcrum of change, raising awareness, empowering individuals and fostering collective revitalization." (read more)

Sanitary Pads for the People
Oct 13, 2010: Elizabeth Scharpf Talks Banana Stalks with Studio 360’s Kurt Anderson (read more)

The Clue to Collecting the Dots in Women's Development
Sept 21, 2010: GOOD highlights SHE as an organization that is helping to keep girls in school. (read more)

Fast Company Highlights Why Elizabeth Scharpf Wants Rwandan Women Educated. Period.
Sept 30, 2010: "Not formally trained in design, her journey from Harvard Business School to social innovation has earned her a Curry Stone Design Prize nomination." (read more)

Hear More Why Not Investing in Girls' Education is an Economic Cost on the UnReasonable Blog
"Elizabeth Scharpf founded Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) 2 years ago in Rwanda and now serves as its Chief Instigating Officer (CIO). We had a wonderfully fun conversation over Skype. Check it out!" (read more)

Listen to Jessica Harris of NPR talk to Elizabeth Scharpf about Low-cost Methods for Menstrual Pad Protection
June 30, 2010: "Women in developing countries often do not have access to adequate sanitary protection. Jessica Harris speaks with Elizabeth Scharpf, founder of Sustainable Health Enterprises. Scharpf is addressing this issue by helping to create sustainable, low-cost methods of sanitary pad production and distribution." (read more)

Dowser Interviews Elizabeth Scharpf on That Time of the Month
April 21, 2010: "Elizabeth Scharpf, founder of Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), shares her start-up plan to distribute low-cost sanitary napkins for women in Rwanda and other countries, and establish women-owned and operated local businesses to manufacture the products." (read more)

The World Economic Forum's Debate on Sustainable Design Brings SHE to the Table in Davos, Switzerland
January 31, 2010: "What exactly is sustainable design? What constitutes success? And failure? On what criteria?" At World Economic Forum, Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, talks about SHE in New York Times article, "Debating Sustainability." (read more)

First Time Reading Lifestyle Magazine, Marie Claire? SHE On the Online Front Page Is a Good Reason to Start!
January 22, 2010: "Sanitary Pads Made from Bananas?" (read more)

The Segal Family Foundation Invests Financially in SHE
January 1, 2010: The Segal Family Foundation has a vision with a purpose and makes "efficient investments and effective charitable solutions that improve the lives of others in sub-saharan Africa." (learn more)

The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof Names SHE One of the Most Meaningful and Unique Organizations Bridging Business and Charity
December 24, 2009: In the most emailed New York Times article in late December, Kristof filled his stocking with the most unusual gifts this 2009 holiday season, including SHE. (read more)

Leading Eco-Company, Seventh Generation, Partners with SHE to Provide Advisory and Financial Support
December 10, 2009: Seventh Generation, a multi-million, eco-friendly company with household products in Whole Foods, is inspired by the Green Law of Iroquois Confederacy: " In every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on next seventh generations." (read more)

The World's Top Designers along with SHE and UNICEF Tackle the Menstruation Challenge at Aspen Design Summit
November 2009: "A select group of 60 designers, change leaders, NGOs, foundations and experts coming together to engage actively in opportunities to demonstrate design thinking in crafting solutions for large social problems." (read report and watch slide show)

SHE Joins Other Local Women's Groups as Supported by the Como Foundation
October 28, 2009: "The [COMO] Foundation furthers the [COMO] Group’s core commitment to diversity, celebrating individuality and entrepreneurship while recognising the richness of traditional culture. Over the last six years, the COMO Foundation has supported local grassroots non-profit organisations that work to improve the lives of women and girls." (learn more)

SHE founder, Elizabeth Scharpf, talks innovation at The Feast Conference
October 1, 2009: "The Feast Conference gathers the world's greatest innovators from across industries and society to empower, inspire and engage each other in creating world-shaking change." (learn more) And watch Elizabeth's talk at Feast (third to last speaker)!

Elizabeth Scharpf talks entrepreneurship at the African Social Enterprise Forum
September 26, 2009: "The Africa Social Enterprise Forum gathers the world's preeminent thought leaders and innovators in the African development space to inspire, engage and enrage these social change-makers to action." (learn more)

Elizabeth Scharpf to speak at NYWSE
September 21, 2009: "NYWSE (the New York chapter of Young Women Social Entrepreneurs) supports and promotes women social entrepreneurs through workshops, networking opportunities, an incubator, a mentoring program, and a book club forum." (learn more)

Clinton Global Initiative Invites SHE to Annual Event in New York City
September 2009: The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting 2009 is the only venue where business, government, and civil-sector leaders work together to plan and launch specific projects – Commitments to Action – to address global economic, environmental, and social challenges. (learn more)

Nicholas Kristof Gives SHE a Shout-Out in New York Times Magazine
August 17, 2009: The Women's Crusade: "The injustices that women in poor countries suffer are of paramount importance, in an economic and geopolitical sense the opportunity they represent is even greater. . . . SO WHAT WOULD an agenda for fighting poverty through helping women look like? You might begin with the education of girls — which doesn't just mean building schools." (read more)

SHE Receives Presidential Innovation Award from the Global Fund for Children
June 2009: Annually, the President of the Global Fund for Children picks a handful of innovative initiatives to support that reflect four specific issues: Learning, Enterprise, Safety, and Healthy Minds and Bodies. (learn more)

The Rwandan New Times Reports on SHE and Rwandan Partner's Efforts to Reduce Girls' School Absence Rates
June 14, 2009: Sanitary Pads Too Expensive: "Something so natural and so satisfying has always turned to a nightmare to girls in Sub-Saharan Africa. Imagine dreading to go to school at a particular time of the month, imagine missing exams due to this uncontrollable factor that every woman should be proud of. This is the ordeal our young women go through every month due to either poverty or lack of awareness. According to UNICEF, more than one in ten school girls in Sub-Saharan Africa skip school for more than a day when menstruating due to lack of awareness of affordable pads in the market." (read more)

Business Week Features Innovative Start-up SHE
June 9, 2009: Do-Gooder Stanford Startups: "Some girls in Africa miss many days of school or drop out entirely when they start to menstruate. Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) tries to address this challenge by helping local women start their own businesses manufacturing and distributing low-cost sanitary pads." (read more)

SHE Places Second in Stanford Social Venture Competition
May 29, 2009: "SEE College Prep, a student initiated grassroots approach for college test preparation, and Sustainable Health Enterprises, a nonprofit developing a market-based solution to manufacture and distribute affordable, high-quality, and environmentally-friendly sanitary pads, tied for second place and will receive $4,000 each." (read more)

The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof Highlights SHE
May 6, 2009: Getting Girls in School in Africa: "Over the last decade or so, it has become increasingly evident that one reason girls in Africa drop out of school is menstruation." (read more)

Notre Dame Social Venture Business Plan Competition Winner!
April 21, 2009: University of Notre Dame's Mendoza School of Business awarded SHE first place in the Social Venture Plan competition. The Social Venture Plan Competition is an opportunity to combine entrepreneurship with a social mission or purpose, often referred to as serving a “double or triple bottom line” of sustainable profitability and social purpose and/or environmental awareness. (read more)

Protopad Complete With Local Fibers From Rwanda
April 5, 2009: The senior design class from North Carolina State has sent their first editions of the SHE protopad! (read more)

SHE Featured on Salon.com's Broadsheet
March 31, 2009: Maxi Pads to the Rescue!
"It may be hard to imagine from here in the U.S. tell-all-of A., where an enterprising young gal can edit and publish an entire anthology about getting your period for the first time, that in other parts of the world menstruation and lack of supplies to deal with it remain a real barrier to education and employment for women and girls." (read more)

SHE Featured in Harvard Crimson
March 29, 2009: HBS Extends Efforts in Social Enterprise
"Elizabeth M. Scharpf, a 2007 graduate of the Business School and the Kennedy School, will receive $25,000 to fund a social venture she has started. Her business, Sustainable Health Enterprises, aims to make low-cost sanitary napkins from locally-sourced materials for women and girls in developing countries." (read more)

Harvard Business School's First Social Enterprise Fellowship Winner!
March 25, 2009: "Elizabeth Scharpf (MBA 2007) has been named the first Harvard Business School Social Entrepreneurship Fellow for her work in launching Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE). The HBS Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program is designed to support the efforts of recent HBS graduates who are launching social enterprises - nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid organizations - with a central focus on the creation of social value." (read more)

SHE OpEd Lands on Front Page of the Huffington Post for International Women's Day
March 8, 2009: When a Period Ends More Than a Sentence
"Why spend money on pads when AIDS remains to be solved, when countries desperately need infrastructure, when the economy is collapsing? Because it turns out that providing pads does much more than prevent embarrassing stains. It is a simple solution that can change the standing of a gender, and thus an economy, across a continent." (read more)

Yale Conference for Social Enterprise
February 21, 2009: SHE Founder, Elizabeth Scharpf, Keynotes Yale Conference for Social Enterprise

Rwanda Workforce Development Authority
February 15, 2009: Rwanda Workforce Development Authority Incubates SHE. (read more)

Starting Bloc Social Innovation
February 13 and 28, 2009: SHE Founder, Elizabeth Scharpf spoke about Social Entrepreneurship in Action at Starting Bloc Social Innovation Institute, in both Boston and New York.

Hannah Poole Leads Rwanda
February 11, 2009: Hannah Poole returns to Rwanda as SHE's Operations Wizard: "If an organization was a person, SHE would be that fearless, resourceful, yet open-hearted female entrepreneur who’s intrepid and tenacious attitude gets her where she needs to go as she forges ahead with strategies to bring true meaningful change to the world." (read more)

Rwanda or Bust!
June 2008: SHE is assessing the feasibility of launching a franchise in Rwanda this 2008. We will be conducting focus groups and interviews with girls and women and working on prototype design. More details to follow in our new blog! (read more)

Echoing Green Winner!

Elizabeth Scharpf, SHE Founder, was just selected as an Echoing Green Fellow out of 2,000 candidates worldwide. Echoing Green is a premier seed investor for social entrepreneurs. Check out the pitch here.

MIT IDEAS Winner!

The SHE Team from Harvard-MIT won an award for low-cost innovation at the MIT IDEAS Competition. This year, three team members will be going to Rwanda to join the feasibility assessment. Learn more about it here.