Period poverty refers to barriers to menstrual products, education, and sanitation, which can include social, economic, political and cultural causes. More specifically, it generally denotes the financial inability to afford sanitary products, coupled with a lack of knowledge about menstruation. The problem affects millions of young girls and women in South Africa every day, including in the Northern Cape, where Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining Proprietary Limited (Tshipi) operates.

“While this is a worldwide problem, in South Africa it is also exacerbated by a social stigma that is still associated with menstruation in some parts of the country, and which causes additional social and economic disadvantages to those affected,” says Mpho Sadiki, General Manager Corporate Affairs at Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining.

“With the district’s relatively high state of poverty, particularly in Ga-segonyane and Joe Morolong local municipalities, where there is a high unemployment rate and low payment for basic services, the majority of people are reliant on social grants and government relief programmes. With the prevailing triple challenges of inequality, unemployment and poverty experienced within the district, it is evident that too many young girls are forced to miss school due to period poverty.

“This is why Tshipi é Ntle mine has teamed up with Blossom Care Solutions to establish a small sanitary pad factory in Kuruman that will assist local schoolgirls and young women in the fight against period poverty, while also setting up a business supply chain in this part of the Northern Cape that will begin growing other small commercial enterprises.”

Tshipi é Ntle - which means ‘beautiful steel’ in the local Tswana language -  is an independently operated and managed, black empowered manganese ore producer, based in the Kalahari Manganese Field (KMF), the largest manganese-bearing geological formation in the world. Tshipi is the largest single manganese mine and exporter in South Africa, as well as one of the five largest manganese ore exporters globally.

Manganese is a mineral with a number of different uses in both everyday life as well as industry, for example being used in glassmaking, in steel production, to reduce the octane rating in gasoline, in dry cell batteries, as a black-brown pigment in paint, and in the production of aluminium soft-drink cans.

Shamiela Sarlie, Managing Director at Blossom Care Solutions, clarifies: “Blossom Care Solutions was established in 2019 as a mission-centric social enterprise: for women, by women. We exist to combat the issues brought about by period poverty in South Africa while also investing in sustainable job creation, and are able to offer our solutions country-wide. Our aims include increasing access to sanitary pads amongst girls and women in township and rural markets; educating communities to create positive awareness and take away the stigma around menstruation; creating jobs for young women; and establishing small black-owned, women-led businesses under a social franchise model.

“There is also a partnership between Blossom and the Youth Employment Service (YES). This partnership provides for the funding of staff salaries for the first year in each Blossom location. Salaries are paid for by YES’s corporate partners, who have partnered with YES for the purposes of improving their B-BBEE score.

Sadiki adds: “At Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining, we are in constant pursuit of opportunities that assist in job creation and poverty alleviation, and thus made a conscious decision to explore youth development initiatives that could stimulate active participation in the mainstream economy within our local community.

“The YES programme initiative resonates with the Tshipi leadership ethos of ‘being the change we want to see’ and creating a ripple effect of its value-adds. Blossom’s association with the YES programme made for an excellent fit.”

Sarlie notes: “A number of corporate and NGO partners have bought into the company’s mission, enabling Blossom Care Solutions to distribute sanitary pads at no cost to girls at school, from grades 4 to 12, specifically in township and rural communities. As a beneficiary of the Blossom Beneficiary Programme, each girl receives 10 pads per month.”

“Tshipi practices sustainable development through its social and labour plans and community social responsibility projects, as per section 23 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), the Mining Charter III, and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE),” continues Sadiki.

“Sustainable mining requires sustainable investment in its people, communities and the environment, and because of this Tshipi strives to go beyond compliance to create sustainability and shared value where it operates.

“The establishment of the new Blossom Care Solutions sanitary pad production facility in Kuruman will afford six young, previously unemployed local women the opportunity to be part of the Blossom Care Solutions family in partnership with Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining, and in this way work against the existence of period poverty in the area.

“Tshipi will continuously explore collaborative efforts with other mines, corporates and other stakeholders with the same vision within the district, because young girls missing school due to period poverty is an urgent call for both government and public sectors to act,” he concludes.

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About Blossom Care Solutions

Blossom Care Solutions is a mission-centric, social enterprise that exists to combat the issues brought about by period poverty in South Africa while also investing in sustainable job creation. Our aims include increasing access to sanitary pads amongst girls and women in township and rural markets; educating communities to create positive awareness and take away the stigma around menstruation; creating jobs for young women; and establishing small black-owned, women-led businesses under a social franchise model.