Feminine Hygiene Package Startup that’s Changing How Men and Society Think of Periods While Innovating the Industry

Nicholas R. Fernandes, Founder, and CEO of Memmzy tells us how period needs are taken care of every month.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Nicholas R. Fernandes: My family and I are safe and healthy. We have been staying home and following the state guidelines during these trying times.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Memmzy.

Nicholas R. Fernandes: I had always worked for startups, even before I started Memmzy. Memmzy came to me one day as I was walking by a homeless woman, and she asked me for money, but I told her I’d come with her and buy her whatever she wants to eat, and she was embarrassed to tell me that she needed it for feminine products. As men, we have it much easier, and that experience opened up my eyes. How many times do we think of the homeless, especially women? 40% of the homeless population in the US are women, and they must choose between hygiene products and food. Nobody should go through that! That is why our business from the very start was to somehow integrate to help the women in the community, help us reshape the community, educate men in the process and shine some light on this issue. We wanted to give back from day one, and hence we added a clause in our mission statement to give back 5 percent of our profits every month to help less fortunate women. The way we do that is we partner with all women shelters to purchase women’s hygiene products for them every month and supply them too. In essence, subscribing to Memmzy helps the community as well. Because how many times have you thought about a homeless person while passing them? We want to be leaders in driving change to help the community we live in.

How does Memmzy innovate? 

Nicholas R. Fernandes: We give women convenience to their needs, unlike any other period package company, we just focus on the needs, that’s why our packages are cheaper than all other competitors and comparable to your neighborhood supermarket. We are also currently working on an App that will track your period and help us deliver your package 2 days before your period. This will change the way women stress to get hold of their feminine products before their period as we will help ease their stress.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Nicholas R. Fernandes: Even though we have been in development since May of 2017, we officially launched in 2020, we started off the year slow, but the word of mouth and the unique selling point of the product and service has gotten us, several customers, in the past few months, we just launched our corporate subscription for companies to show appreciation towards their female employees and it’s been a hit in just 2 months we have had over 11 companies sign up for our corporate subscription.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Nicholas R. Fernandes: We had to restructure some aspects of the business and raise some funds to have some cash reserves in place to meet order requirements. What we have learned from this pandemic is that no company can really predict the future, and the only way to stay afloat during trying times is to innovate.

What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?

Nicholas R. Fernandes: We, like almost every other company out there, had to move our day-to-day operation remotely and communicate via zoom and phone calls, and for management, we used Slack and Trello. We still use these software and management tools to track our work and communicate with each other.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Nicholas R. Fernandes: We don’t really have direct competitors but rather companies who are working in the organic feminine hygiene product space that offer something we will be offering in the future. As mentioned above, we offer convenience to their needs and are constantly innovating in our space to be leaders in the feminine hygiene product industry.

Your final thoughts?

Nicholas R. Fernandes: This pandemic has taught me that as a company, you got to adapt with time and plan for the future. We at Memmzy strive to innovate to meet and accommodate our customers and future customers. I want to encourage ladies to subscribe to Memmzy and let us take the tension out of their period. 

Your website?

https://www.memmzy.com/