An entrepreneurial project developed by four students from the Design degree program at the University of the Republic of San Marino won the 'Open Call Alternative' launched by Primo Miglio, a responsible startup accelerator based in Rimini, together with Figli del Mondo, a leading association for corporate social responsibility.
Of the 78 projects submitted, including stories and ideas developed with the aim of offering innovative insights for ethically contributing to the post-COVID-19 recovery, three were selected to receive an incubation program for entrepreneurial support and development.
Specifically, the proposal from four students from the University of San Marino, coordinated by professor Karen Venturini as part of the Economic Evaluation of Projects and Products course, includes an intimate hygiene kit for homeless women: "In Italy, they represent 14,3% of people" facing this situation, according to the project presented by Eleonora Lazzari, Enrico Giunchedi, Alex Giuliano, and Martina Montemaggi. "These women have an average age of about 45 and have been homeless for an average of 2,7 years." For them, the group has designed an intimate hygiene kit that ensures proper hygiene even in difficult situations: it includes products such as disposable sanitary pads, intimate wipes, and panties.
The project, called “KIT – keep it together”, was selected “for the high degree of innovativeness e frugality because it responds to a personal hygiene need with a simple and highly efficient solution, generating a positive social impact,” the call organizers commented in the results published online on July 17.
The kit for homeless women is complemented by two others: the first is aimed at women traveling, the other at women from certain Eastern communities, who are sometimes "victims of prejudice and superstition that keep them away from school and society during their periods," the project's presentation continues. "Our goal is to put women at ease and demonstrate to society that menstruation is natural and makes a woman healthy, not different. In fact, our kit will be launched as part of an awareness campaign featuring posters throughout the city, social media pages, and a website, to try to defeat these taboos and the shame that hides within so many girls around the world."
