{"id":64645,"date":"2025-04-23T13:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=64645"},"modified":"2025-04-23T13:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:11:13","slug":"biochemist-transforms-banana-trunks-into-reusable-pads-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/04\/23\/biochemist-transforms-banana-trunks-into-reusable-pads-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Biochemist Transforms Banana Trunks into Reusable Pads in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ad\u00e9 Y\u1eb9m\u00ed<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Joy Mamkwe, a Biochemistry graduate of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), has developed an innovative reusable sanitary pad made from banana trunks \u2014 an agricultural byproduct widely available in southern Nigeria.<\/p>\n

The Abia State-born innovator says the eco-friendly pads are entirely locally made, hygienically produced, and tailored to help low-income women and schoolgirls cope with the soaring cost of disposable sanitary products.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanitary pads are simply unaffordable for many, especially rural girls and peasant women,\u201d Mamkwe said. \u201cI wanted to create a sustainable and affordable alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her research began in her final year in 2022 and progressed through her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).<\/p>\n

Now in small-scale production, Mamkwe says she needs about N1.5 million to rent a space and purchase equipment to establish a standard factory \u2014 a key requirement for NAFDAC certification.<\/p>\n

While some organizations have started placing bulk orders for schools and communities, she revealed she turned down an investor who demanded to be named co-founder, based on her mentor\u2019s advice to retain full ownership.<\/p>\n

Abia State Commissioner for SMEs, Mike Akpara, urged her to approach the ministry for possible support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are willing to evaluate her invention and escalate it to the Governor if necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Prof. Mabel Onwuka, Director of the Centre for Gender, Youth and Child Development at MOUAU, praised Mamkwe\u2019s ingenuity.<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s women\u2019s association has already purchased and distributed her pads during this year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day celebration.<\/p>\n

Mamkwe, who plans to pursue a master\u2019s in Public Health, remains focused on scaling her innovation, empowering women, and fighting period poverty through science-driven solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ad\u00e9 Y\u1eb9m\u00ed Joy Mamkwe, a Biochemistry graduate of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), has developed an innovative reusable sanitary pad made from banana trunks \u2014 an agricultural byproduct widely available in southern Nigeria. The Abia State-born innovator says the eco-friendly pads are entirely locally made, hygienically produced, and tailored to help low-income […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":64646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64647,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64645\/revisions\/64647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}