Hyderabad: Aruna Dara, 48, did not hesitate to start her firm, Apna Green Products, which deals with sustainable sanitary napkins, after working in the telecom sector for five years before taking a 15-year break.

This idea came to Aruna and a friend while they were researching the dangers of using plastic sanitary napkins and their environmental consequences. Apna Green Products was founded in 2019 when they came up with the idea of introducing biodegradable sanitary napkins.

"We both first started gaining knowledge about the environmental hazards that the existing plastic sanitary napkins cause. And when we spoke to many girls in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, we realised that there is a lack of awareness about using these napkins. That is when we thought of solving two problems with one solution. While our sanitary napkins are chemical-free and plastic-free, the units that we have are run by women of the local community, and we are supporting many sick units," Aruna was cited in the media.

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Wanaparthy, Siddipet, and Nirmal are the three Apna Green Products locations now operating in Telangana. It has a branch in Jharkhand as well.

Apart from revitalising sick units in Telangana and cooperating with over 20 NGOs, the firm has agreements with several schools to offer students biodegradable napkins.

Aruna claims that her SME (small and medium enterprise) is also a member of the Vriddhi programme offered by the global retailer Walmart. This has aided her in gaining access to the e-commerce sector as well as supply chain and logistics information. "I have registered my company on Flipkart, and e-commerce gets 10% of the interest," Aruna boasts.

What is the Vriddhi programme at Walmart?

The programme began in the year 2019. Its goal is to provide free direct training to 50,000 micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) (MSMEs). The training covers the business skills needed to flourish as a Walmart, Flipkart, and other global marketplace platform provider.