Lindiwe Sanitary Pads, a proudly South African, black-women-owned manufacturing company dedicated to addressing menstrual poverty and restoring dignity to women and girls across the continent took home the coveted win in Jacaranda FM’s Her Perfect Pitch competition. The radio station started the initiative to amplify female voices while empowering women-owned enterprises across the country. The platform helps female founders refine their business models, improve visibility, and access mentorship and advertising that can meaningfully scale their enterprises.
Founded by Tinny Masesi Nkuna, the company was born from a mission to combat period poverty by providing affordable menstrual products. This was inspired by the harsh reality of girls missing school or feeling excluded due to lack of access. Despite early challenges in navigating suppliers, ensuring compliance, and building a reliable stock system with limited resources, Lindiwe Sanitary Pads has grown into Africa’s first female-owned, large-scale industrial sanitary pad manufacturer. This growth has positioned the company as a trusted partner for schools, NGOs, and community organisations. It distributes millions of pads and fosters economic participation for women across the value chain.
Winning Her Perfect Pitch marks a pivotal milestone, validating the company’s vision and amplifying its impact. “It was more than an award; it was validation that our vision truly matters,” said Tinny Masesi Nkuna, Founder of Lindiwe Sanitary Pads. “It gave us credibility, momentum, and a platform to amplify the voices of women and girls. It symbolises empowerment, resilience, and the confidence to expand operations, industrialise further, and disrupt a market long dominated by global corporations.”
Reflecting on the inspiration behind Lindiwe Sanitary Pads, Nkuna shared: “Lindiwe Sanitary Pads was inspired by the need to take back the menstrual economy. For too long, menstruation, something deeply rooted in women’s lived realities, has been commercialised and controlled by entities that neither reflect women’s experiences nor invest back into our communities. I wanted to disrupt that model.”
“We didn’t want to create a small, symbolic solution,” she continued. “We wanted to build Africa’s first female-owned sanitary pads manufacturing company, operating at an industrial scale. This means producing millions of pads and creating real economic participation for women across the value chain, from manufacturing and logistics to distribution and market access. This was about dignity, ownership, power, and systemic change.”
Navigating business hurdles required resilience and strategic focus. “Disrupting an established market is never comfortable. The status quo resists change,” Nkuna said. “We faced challenges related to funding, procurement systems, regulation, and access to markets that were historically closed to women-owned manufacturers. We responded by strengthening governance, remaining compliant, and refusing to compromise on scale. We wanted to be big, industrial, and competitive.”
Nkuna entered Her Perfect Pitch to highlight women-led innovation. “I entered Her Perfect Pitch because it amplifies women who are building real, scalable enterprises,” she said. “It was an opportunity to show that women-led manufacturing businesses can operate at an industrial scale and be commercially viable.”
On the importance of competitions like these, Nkuna explains “They level the playing field by opening access to visibility, networks, and capital. They help change the narrative around women-owned businesses from being small or informal to being scalable and investable.”
As winner, Lindiwe Sanitary Pads, receives R500,000 worth of advertising on Jacaranda FM, including conceptualisation, production, and creation of a bespoke radio advert, as well as digital amplification. In addition, the winner receives a six-week mentorship programme designed to accelerate business growth through a tailor-made business model, research consultation, branding consultation, a digital and PR consultation and Spar support offering. This comprehensive package ensures that Her Perfect Pitch doesn’t just celebrate success, it actively builds it.
Reflecting on her journey, Nkuna says the biggest lesson has been learning to take up space. “Taking up space is leadership, not arrogance,” she says. “When women own the means of production, they influence access, pricing, employment and dignity. That is how real change happens.”
For Lindiwe Sanitary Pads, winning Jacaranda FM’s Her Perfect Pitch marks the beginning of a bigger movement, one that aims to transform menstrual health, empower women through ownership, and ensure that no girl is left behind because of her period. Through women empowerment and South African manufacturing excellence, the company continues to drive progress in combating menstrual poverty.