Innovation

The company's CEO, Cherie Hoeger, is the person who decided to start this innovation. Cherie is from the state of Idaho and grew up in the city of Meridian, while her aunt lives in Venezuela. After a phone conversation with her, she learned that the stores where she lived had not had period care products for several years. It was in February 2018 when she decided to start this company after failing to find a sustainable alternative to expensive, single-use period products.

During her research she conducted before starting her company, Mrs. Hoeger observed that there are many countries in which these products were not sold, or simply do not exist, and that there are women who cannot get period products. That is why she decided to start this company with affordable products accessible to everyone. Being a woman, she knows how important and expensive these products are and she wants to help women’s health with sustainable and FDA approved products.

There are several solutions that the company is providing to contribute towards achieving a better world. Since the company's creation 5 years ago, Saalt has donated over 60,000 Saalt products to women and girls in need in 50 countries. By accepting donations, Saalt helps many women achieve better health and avoid spending their money on monthly period expenses. The company's directors explain: "As a B Corp, we work to be the change we seek in the world and use business as a force for good." They also help take care of our planet by supporting waste reduction efforts and creating sustainable products. One of their slogans is "Clean, Ethical, & Sustainable", and that's how they create their products. Their objectives are to achieve a clean period supporting a clean planet. It is an innovation that is not only based on reducing poverty, but also on preserving a sustainable planet.

Inspiration

What inspired the founder of this company was a phone call she had with her aunt who lives in Venezuela. Venezuela is a country that is not as developed as the United States and these products are not available in the vast majority of the country. That made her think, if she or her daughters did not have these products, their health would not be the same. She thought about all those women who do not have period products available and how much it can affect their health. After conducting research on this issue, Hoeger discovered that more than 62% of women around the world suffer from period poverty. This can cause young girls to miss school and even cause their health to deteriorate.

From there, she decided to do something to help contribute to the elimination of period poverty as much as possible. After not being able to find a sustainable and affordable alternative to the current period products, she decided to make custom-designed products to use herself and to share with her friends. Once she saw how successful her products became, she made the decision in 2018 to create the company of Saalt.

In our interview with the impact coordinator at Saalt, Alessia Love, she explains, “something that makes Saalt different is that we have three impact pillars. One is menstrual health, like taking care of people with periods and providing healthy products, but then also education specifically for women and girls throughout the world who have to miss school or drop out of school for their periods, so a lot of products are donated to them. Also we fund school days and things like that, as a certified B Corp we commit 2% of that revenue to these initiatives. And then the third pillar is sustainability, so you can see those numbers, almost 13 million waste products diverted. I think those three pillars make us really unique.” Saalt has set themselves apart from other companies by having a clear mission of sustainability for the environment, improving the health of women all over the world, and working to fight period poverty. Saalt has made it evident from their initiatives and objects that they are focused on bettering the lives of women with periods while keeping our planet safe.

Overall impact

Cherie Hoeger, started this idea of reusable menstrual cups at an affordable price to stop periods from affecting everyday life for women in period poverty. She realized how much of an impact it had and then founded Saalt in 2018. Saalt commits 2% of revenue to those in need of period care, health, and education. One of Cherie’s main goals is to help those in poverty by adjusting her prices and donating to those in poorer regions. Since starting, Saalt has developed into a great business model with a clear mission of reducing poverty in a sustainable way. Since their start in 2018, they have expanded into more than just period-use products. Saalt has impacted many women's lives throughout the world and continually looks to keep expanding. Saalt now even makes clothing for women that are eco-friendly and sustainable

While reducing poverty is an important goal for Saalt, so is sustainability. All of their products are eco-friendly and sustainable. They are actively trying to reduce the amount of single use tampons by designing sustainable alternatives like the menstrual cup. In addition to designing these alternatives, they are funding clean ups and diverting waste products. Saalt has a mission of bettering the environment for men and women alike. They have even won prestigious awards like the 2021 Beauty Independent’s prestigious Philanthropy Champion award, which recognizes great social impact.

Business benefit

Since opening in 2018, Saalt has employed between 11 to 50 employees while earning less than 5 million in revenues. This has not stopped them from donating and giving back to those in need. Having this company-wide vision has greatly impacted their employee's well-being and created a positive work environment. We interviewed one of their employees and when asked how their mission impacts the employees and the work environment, she states, “I think that all of us coming to work and having the same mission, which is impact and being able to serve regions and people in need throughout the world, when I can go to work and we are all just excited about the same thing and working towards that, really a vision that is bigger than ourselves, I think it's really motivational and it helps to create this really great group of people, who are each of them are in the right seat doing the right things, that creates a great work environment for sure,” (Alessia Love). In addition to fostering a better work environment, they make donations to help fund initiatives in menstrual health, education, and sustainability to regions in need.

Saalt is continuing to make lasting impacts and has many plans for the future. According to Payton, the impact coordinator at Saalt, “We are going to shift our impact strategy to try to address the root cause of period poverty in various regions in need throughout the world. Rather than just donating products, our next steps are to provide those regions with raw materials and hire people living there to manufacture our products with those raw materials. The goal is to provide work for people in those areas which will eventually lead to building or rebuilding their economies.” With goals like these, Saalt is not only making long-lasting, positive impacts in different regions, but also on their employees. They are creating a better future for women and helping to make a more sustainable environment in the process.

Social and environmental benefit

One of the main goals of this company is to help women and young girls who have a period and are not in the right financial or living situations to take care of their menstrual health. A large group of women benefiting from this is those in low-income countries that are suffering from “period poverty”. This is when the country is not providing women with menstrual supplies, so Saalt has stepped up and helped these regions. In addition to providing for poorer communities, they also take care of female students in the USA by partnering with universities and providing free menstrual supplies in bathrooms.

This initiative was originally created because the founder saw her aunt in Venezuela not have access to period products for several years. It has now grown into a company that is capable of accommodating and helping women all around the world. They are giving women access to the correct menstrual supplies they need while also educating them. They have donated 64,778 of their products to those who need them most and have also funded 373,700 days of school.

In addition to helping those struggling financially, they are also helping the environment. So far, Saalt has diverted 12,880,936 waste products, funded 89,374 pounds of clean-up, and repurposed 581,810 water bottles. By making reusable products, they eliminate the amount of waste produced by single-use tampons and lower the monthly expenses faced by women. This project is attacking an issue that not many people hear about. Personally, our group had never heard about this issue being faced all around the world before interviewing with this company. This project is allowing women in the world to know they have not been forgotten about and someone is trying to help them.

Interview

Alessia Love, Impact Coordinator