#WomensMonth: It all makes pads and cents for Ramona Kasavan
SANDTON – Mimi is far more than just a company that sells sanitary pads, the in-house enterprise development programme, Pads and Cents addresses the needs of underprivileged young women.
Durban-born Ramona Kasavan is the CEO of Mimi, a social enterprise she founded in 2013 to promote girl child education through the sponsorship of her own brand of sanitary pad.
Kasavan holds a triple major in media, marketing and communications and an honours degree in marketing strategy. She started her venture after reading for her honours degree in brand leadership and strategic marketing, and wrote her dissertation on the constructs of femininity in sanitary pad advertising. She has also completed her certification in social entrepreneurship at The Gordon Institute of Business Science.
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Kasavan chose to forgo a successful corporate career so she could pursue her dream to uplift and empower girls by reducing barriers to education. However, Mimi is far more than just a company that sells sanitary pads, the in-house enterprise development programme, Pads and Cents addresses the needs of underprivileged young women.
Pads and Cents, a direct selling model aimed at empowering unemployed female youths, teaches young women between the ages of 18 and 35 to save, secure and invest in their future. Pads and Cents is one of very few business incubators in the country run by women for women, and it gives women financial literacy and business skills in a bid to decrease unemployment levels in the country and encourage them on their own entrepreneurial journey.
Ambassadors are signed on as sales representatives of the Mimi sanitary pad which makes the pads affordable and accessible in the community, as well as provides them with a base to put their business training into practice and ensures they have a reliable source of income.
