"We aim to raise our first round of funding early next year": Deepanjali Dalmia

Heyday is leading organic & biodegradable sanitary brand launched by Delhi based entrepreneur Deepanjali Dalmia. The brand was started with a vision to fill the huge gap that exists in the menstrual hygiene segment. In an exclusive conversation with Deepanjali Dalmia, Founder, Heyday sheds light on the growth strategy of the company.

Interview Excerpts..

What is your assessment about menstrual hygiene market in India? It would be great if you can highlight few numbers to quantify the same.

India is an emerging superpower yet it is in the face of a personal hygiene crisis. Roughly only 12% Indian women are able to afford sanitary napkins on their periods and even those 12% are unaware that the pads they are using are composed of plastics, bleaches, polymers, perfumes, antibacterial agents and other toxins that can leave them susceptible to a host of problems harmful for their body like cervical cancers, urinary tract infections, rashes, allergies and general skin sensitivity. Not only this, every year 9000 tonnes (432 million pads) of soiled sanitary sanitary waste is dumped in acres of landfills with no solution for decomposition thereby harming the environment endlessly. We saw this as a major issue and took on the challenge to find a better safer answer to this problem with Heyday.

 Tell us about your product USP over contemporary brands such as Whisper, Carefree amongst others? What are the added features of your product which makes periods less boring?

The technology that is required to produce a napkin and napkin cover made from natural plant based fibres has taken years to develop. Creating the product prototype required intensive testing to establish the right combination of bamboo fibre for high absorbing capacity and antibacterial properties along with corn starch for the softness of the pads. We wanted to use organic raw materials to ensure that chemicals and pesticides that cause birth defects, miscarriages, infections and even cervical cancers could be kept away from contact with the skin. For this we found areas where bamboo and corn had been grown organically keeping the soil chemical-free for over a decade. A lot of thought and care has gone into producing a superior quality and absolutely safe finished product that is finally available to Indian women at extremely affordable prices. 

We want our customer to be unafraid on her period. Unafraid of harming her body, of staining, of worrying that she cannot be active, of being impure, of polluting the environment, of murmuring or giggling or being hush hush about menstruation as if it is something unacceptable and of all the insecurities and taboos associated with a natural biological process of a woman's body. Our campaigns are built around these empowering ideals and we hope to reach as many women as we can.   

Economic barrier is one of the biggest reasons women remain deprive of using sanitary pads especially in rural India. How do you ensuring your product is accessible all? Kindly shed light on your pricing strategy?

A Heyday sanitary napkin is softer, healthier, safer, eco-friendly and most importantly affordable. Even though the natural raw materials and production process costs much higher than the production of plastic pads, we aim to make every menstruating Indian woman who use sanitary napkins to have access to a better alternative. Our pads start at Rs. 99/- for a pack of 7 napkins which is very close to a commercially available pad unlike other new brands in this space that might be tripling the price of their pads.

kindly shed light on your current distribution in the online as well as offline space? Are you working with any modern retailer as the part of distribution strategy? Going  forward, what are the plans to scaleup the distribution?

Heyday is available on online and offline channels in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Jalandhar, Cochi, Telangana, Kolkata, Guwahati, Siliguri among the top selling cities in more than a 100 stores like Spencer's, Godrej Nature's Basket, Guardian Pharmacy, Health & Glow, Le Marche, Modern Bazaar, Garg Dastak etc. as well as Big Basket, Nykaa, Amazon, Flipkart, 1mg, Pharmeasy, Netmeds and on our website . We are distributors in all four zones and we are expanding to list in more stores at an exponential rate given the increase in demand and awareness for our product. 

Have you raised any sorts of funds so far or plan to?

Currently we are completely bootstrapped. We aim to raise our first round of funding early next year. 

At last, kindly highlight your growth plans?

We aim to grow in terms of placement of our products across more regions. We also aim to grow our 12 member team and hope to have some more passionate individuals on board at Heyday!