Avoid Dirty Toilets, Just Stand & Pee – Use Sanfe

Brief about Sanfe:

Problem Statement

A toilet is a necessity and so is washroom hygiene. Sadly, the washrooms are not maintained and lack hygienic amenities. According to a report by ActionIndia, about 71% of the public washrooms are in unusable conditions. As a response, women tend to withhold from urinating or do so by semi-squatting. This leads to the formation of kidney stones and the weakening of the bladder muscles. Moreover, pregnant women and patients of arthritis find it difficult to squat or hover over the dirty utilities. They thus have to suffer immense pain and discomfort to fulfill a basic bodily function. While traveling and during field visit, women have to spend hours to search for a clean utility and face inconvenience during the time. Also, Portable toilets are deployed at the places of public gatherings and their condition for use is of major concern.

Solution by Sanfe:

With their primary objective of providing “Quality life to women“, they have designed a novel, biodegradable and disposable device which safeguards women from catching the infection by providing freedom to stand and urinate eliminating physical contact of the body with unhygienic toilet seats. An IIT Delhi organization has come up with an advanced design in accordance with women anatomy for better user experience and comfortability while using. Whole perineum region is covered by the close design eliminating any chances of spillage. This enables the device to used during menstrual cycle also. The biodegradable paper has very high wet strength, providing leak-proof experience.  Single-handed grip enables better holding, pressing which the user can adjust the size according to her shape and size of the body. Flaps are provided to safeguard skin from paper cuts.

Scope of Sanfe

Their early innovators for the product would be in the age group of 18 years to 22 years whereas early adopters would be in the age group 22 to 30 years spanning from college going to the working women and pregnant women. The Primary beneficiaries of the product are women who find it difficult to use unhygienic public washrooms and face the risk of infections. Around 27 percent of the women are working and regularly use public washrooms. Women who travel a lot and are employed in jobs with a field visit, need not spend hours to search for a clean utility and face inconvenience during the time. Also, pregnant women and women with joint problems find it difficult to bend and urinate. They can lessen their sufferings and benefit from the product. The unhealthy condition of portable toilets at places of public gatherings are a place of application for our innovation.

Urban women will be targeted initially because of more awareness and high education standards than rural women.

Mission & Vision –  Sanfe

Sanfe aim to improve health standards of women by providing them a cheerful and disease free life. Their innovation has a potential of involving itself in the daily life of every woman who cares about themselves and is aware of the risk of infections. Also, they would like to make their product more affordable to reach women with less financial capabilities.

By the time, government schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan yield results, it is required to keep our body safe and uplift the standard of women of developing India. There is a huge market for women healthcare products with increasing awareness about hygiene and high standards of education especially in urban women accounting for almost 15 percent of India’s population.

Why Archit & Herry choose Health Industry

They both have been working on projects on health for 2 years and have led a few projects in their college. They love to find solutions to the problem and contribute to the growth of the country for the development of future generations. While they were working on a project on auto-cleansing toilet machines, they was awestruck by the unhygienic conditions of public washrooms. Further, when they researched, they got to know about the difficulties women have to face during urination. They thought to solve the problem theirself as it was the need of the hour.

They are planning to launch other healthcare product like biodegradable sanitary napkins down the journey.

Reach, Revenue Model & Expansion Plans – Sanfe

Revenue Model

The principle they follow for revenue generation is “Produce and Sell”. The supply chain is capable of producing 10 lakhs unit a day. The channels of distributions are both online and offline. E-commerce websites, big retail chains and Pharmacy stores like Apollo will be the prime source of distribution.

Currently, They are selling through e-commerce websites. They have covered 18 pharmacies near AIIMS, Delhi and expanding their offline network in NCR Delhi.

Along with this, their revenue generation will be aided by B2B distribution to Travel Companies, Hotels, and Restaurants, Railways etc.

Expansion Plans

In India, the market entry strategy would be to market their product on their own and sell the distribution rights in a Joint Venture with FMCG companies. They will initiate talks with these and are identifying the offline distribution channel. The online distribution and sales rights will be theirs at mutually decided terms between the JV partners.

The marketing strategies at the initial phase would be:

1. Awareness campaigns via offline events in locations with the large heterogeneous target audience for sampling to record feedback and analyze user experience and use this data later on consumer-driven platforms like social media to drive viral campaigns.
2. Collaborating with B2B segments to drive a fixed demand and hence revenues – currently, initial targets identified as Sulabh International is to drive sales in the Manufacturing Industry.
3. Collaboration with giants in Railways and Metro for marketing exposure via pamphlets, posters and other avenues. Along with marketing, distribution collaterals to sell their samples to the commuters of the aforementioned modes like vending machines at metro stations, hotels & distribution via railway staff inside the train along with marketing material.
4. Digital Media Campaigns Social Media buying, video campaigns, user review visibility, etc. accompanied by online sales portal will be carried out in this phase

It is important for a new technology to be accessible and affordable. So, they will be distributing their product via both offline and online channel. They will tie up with pharmacy chains like Apollo, SRL etc. and increase their reach to offline customers. Also, they will be tying up with organizations like Sulabh International and look for the possibility of installation of the dispenser.

Online distribution will be done on eCommerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart etc.

For an increased number of sales, they will be doing both online and offline marketing. Online marketing will include Facebook, website and e-mail marketing. Offline marketing will be done using posters and leaflets. They will be launching a gifting campaign in order to create awareness about the innovation.

For the further boost in sales, they will get their product endorsed by as many gynecologist associations as possible. They will get news coverage and also IIT Delhi organizes a lot of events, displaying their product there can act as a promotion for their innovation – Sanfe.

AVOID DIRTY TOILETS, JUST STAND & PEE – USE SANFE