Experts

Mary Nyaruai Mureithi

Product Designer & Entrepreneur

Powerful advocate for dignity, gender equality, and a sustainable future by amplifying grassroots voices on global stages. Beyond Nyungu Afrika, she empowers the next generation of female entrepreneurs as a pan-African pitching and entrepreneurship trainer, helping young women confidently present their ideas and reach their full potential. For Mary, design is activism, and every product is a step toward systemic change.

Driven by an activist heart and firsthand exposure to the harsh realities of period poverty, where girls are forced to exchange sex for pads, use unsafe alternatives, or suffer health issues from poor-quality products, Mary designed a better solution. Through Nyungu Afrika, she pioneers a circular economy model that transforms agricultural waste, like pineapple leaves and maize husks, into a patent-pending, biodegradable, tree-free pulp for eco-friendly sanitary pads. Her innovation tackles both period poverty and the harmful impact of imported disposable pads on health and the environment.

When we are designing we should design things that are kind to the environment, that honour nature because it is nature that has given us the opportunity to create these things for our convenience.