We're excited to announce that Global Citizen has selected Saathi as the 2022 Waislitz Global Citizen Award Winner. We're grateful to the Waislitz Foundation, Global Citizen, and Mesoblast for making this possible and helping us reach new heights. Please see the official press release below.

NEW YORK, August 4, 2022 - International advocacy organization Global Citizen and the Waislitz Foundation today announced Kristin Kagetsu, Co-Founder and CEO of Saathi, from India, as the 2022 Waislitz Global Citizen Award winner. Other award recipients include Naomi Monari, Founder and CEO of BENA Care Ltd, from Kenya, as the Waislitz Global Citizen Disruptor Award winner and Oladiwura Oladepo, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Tech4Dev, from Nigeria, as the Waislitz Global Citizen Choice award winner.

The Waislitz Global Citizen Awards are annual cash prizes that recognize the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty. All applicants were evaluated based on individual merit in five key areas, including: 1) global citizenship, 2) proof of concept, 3) disruption, 4) scalability and 5) adaptability.

Presented by the Waislitz Foundation and Global Citizen, the award is supported by leading U.S. and Australian-based cellular medicine company, Mesoblast Ltd.

Liza Henshaw, President of Global Citizen said: “We congratulate this year’s remarkable group of courageous and determined Waislitz Award winners who persist in their fight to End Extreme Poverty NOW. Given the urgent need for innovative solutions, we need grassroots leaders like our awardees that create positive impact in their local communities. We are proud to continue our partnership with Alex and the Waislitz Foundation and champion these changemakers in building a better future.”

Since 2014, The Waislitz Foundation has committed more than $2 million to the Waislitz Global Citizen Awards and the organization’s efforts to End Extreme Poverty NOW.

Alex Waislitz, Founder of the Waislitz Foundation, said: “Since the Waislitz Foundation and Global Citizen initiated these awards in 2014 we have honored over 20 young leaders in 14 countries who are not only changing thousands of lives in their local communities for the better but also inspiring people around the world to take action and create impact, at a time when the world needs it most. I am very proud that the Waislitz Global Citizen Awards have grown from strength to strength, becoming one of the world’s leading philanthropic initiatives that recognises and supports those who are making a real difference towards ending extreme poverty at a grassroots level. I congratulate this year’s winners and look forward to continuing to champion grassroots leaders in the years to come.”

Kristin Kagetsu is one of the co-founders and CEO of Saathi, a social enterprise from Ahmedabad, India. Saathi is a purpose driven manufacturing company that makes eco-friendly hygiene products. The company are innovators in the use of alternative materials and zero-waste production, with the mission is to create hygiene products that are good for the body, environment, and community. Kristin has worked on multiple projects including plastic recycling, waste management & natural product development with MIT Design Lab (D-Lab) in Brazil, Nicaragua, & India. Saathi’s aim is to drive systemic change around how menstrual hygiene is addressed thus driving the shift to a circular economy. The team creates pads from renewable materials, making them accessible to women no matter where they live and collaborate to ensure products get upcycled. The company measures their impact according to the nine UN SDGs: increasing farmers' income by $97.2K, employing 350 women in manufacturing & distribution, providing access to pads & education to 40k+ women/girls, measuring 50MT plastic waste eliminated & 58MT CO2 emissions reduced. This award will enable Saath to fulfill its aim, over the next 5 years, to reach 10M women and eliminate 18k MT of plastic waste.

Naom Monari, is the founder and CEO of BENA Care Ltd from Nairobi, Kenya. As a student nurse, Naom was confronted by the harsh realities of chronic illnesses - expensive healthcare, coupled with the impoverishing economic and emotional effects this had on patients and their families. Determined to narrow the gap, she founded Bena Care. For 5 years, Bena Care assembled a network of more than 9,800 healthcare workers to provide affordable preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative care to over 4,000 people with life-limiting illnesses at the comfort of their own homes. Their online platform connects families in need of homecare equipment (like hospital beds) to families with used equipment, hence the affordable access, saving them over 50% in healthcare costs. This award will help build their health technology to scale to other countries.

Oladiwura Oladepo is the co-founder and executive director of Tech4Dev from Lagos, Nigeria. Oladiwura’s inability to secure a job post-university graduation in her suburban town of Ibadan, Nigeria, fuelled her passion to create a platform that democratizes access to economic opportunities through technology skilling for young Africans. She is the co-founder and executive director of Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev); a non-profit that creates access to work and entrepreneurship opportunities through digital skills empowerment and advocacy. Over the last six years, Tech4Dev has directly impacted over 41,000 Africans and 10 million Africans indirectly through her programs, with beneficiaries from 15 African countries. Winning the Waislitz Global Citizen Award will accelerate her cause and Tech4Dev’s mission in empowering more young Africans with digital skills, especially women in underserved communities – reducing poverty lines across Africa.

Previous Waislitz Global Citizen Award winners, include:

Bina Shrestha, Co-Founder of Build Up Nepal

Haroon Yasin, Co-Founder and Chairperson of Orenda

Charlotte Magayi, Founder and CEO of Mukuru Clean Stoves

Koketso Moeti, Founder and Executive Director of amandla.mobi

Wilma Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of Saahas Zero Waste

Clarisse Uwineza, for her work converting organic waste into fertilizer in Rwanda

Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, the director of Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project working to make education more accessible to AIDS orphans in Uganda

Anoop Jain, Founder of Humanure Power for his work in rural India building sanitation facilities.

Global Citizen has grown into one of the largest, most visible platforms for people around the world calling on world leaders to honor their responsibilities in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and End Extreme Poverty NOW.

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About Saathi:

Saathi, an award-winning social venture, has patented technology to convert agri-waste into absorbent materials. It is known for its 100% biodegradable and compostable sanitary pads made from banana and bamboo fiber. Saathi pads are better for the body🩸, community 🌎 and environment 🌱. We are on a mission to make products sustainably and responsibly. 

We are recognized by the UNDP Growth Stage Impact Ventures, UNESCO Green Citizens project, Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, University of St. Andrews, and Global Cleantech Innovation Program among others for our innovative, social impact, and sustainable work. We are working towards 9 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Check out a short video of our story here and follow us at @saathipads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, and Youtube to know how menstruation can be sustainable and stigma-free.

About Global Citizen:

Global Citizen is the world's largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to Ending Extreme Poverty NOW. We post, tweet, message, vote, sign, and call to inspire those who can make things happen — government leaders, businesses, philanthropists, artists, and citizens — together improving lives. By downloading our app, Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards, which can be redeemed for tickets to concerts, events, and experiences all over the world. For more information, visit www.globalcitizen.org and follow @GlblCtzn

About The Waislitz Foundation:

After many years of involvement in private philanthropic giving, Australian investor and businessman Alex Waislitz founded the Waislitz Foundation in 2013. The foundation represents a new approach to giving. It aims to invest in, and have a direct social impact on, some of the world’s biggest social problems through active participation in the projects it supports. It aims to improve the quality of people’s lives through innovative initiatives and partnerships.

About Mesoblast:

Mesoblast is a world leader in developing allogeneic (off-the-shelf) cellular medicines for the treatment of severe and life-threatening inflammatory conditions. The Company has leveraged its proprietary mesenchymal lineage cell therapy technology platform to establish a broad portfolio of late-stage product candidates which respond to severe inflammation by releasing anti-inflammatory factors that counter and modulate multiple effector arms of the immune system, resulting in significant reduction of the damaging inflammatory process.

CONTACT:

Global Citizen Inquiries: media@globalcitizen.org

Saathi Media Inquiries: outreach@saathipads.com; Whatsapp +91 7874539394

Saathi Investment Inquiries: deals@saathipads.com