When women have access to resources and opportunities, they strengthen families, uplift communities, and open pathways for others to thrive.
In 2007, violence swept across Kenya following disputed election results, forcing a 10-year-old Nancy Nyaleso to witness something that would quietly shape her life’s work.
In 2007, violence swept across Kenya following disputed election results, forcing a 10-year-old Nancy Nyaleso to witness something that would quietly shape her life’s work.
Families were displaced. Food and shelter became urgent priorities. But there was another need – unspoken, invisible, and no less urgent. Girls were menstruating in crisis, without access to sanitary products, without privacy, and without dignity.
“That experience never stopped bothering me,” reflects Nyaleso. “It made me understand that menstrual periods don’t stop during emergencies. But support systems often do.”
“That experience never stopped bothering me,” reflects Nyaleso. “It made me understand that menstrual periods don’t stop during emergencies. But support systems often do.”
“Nearly two decades later, she is building solutions. Nyaleso has transformed that early insight into practical, scalable systems that address not only access to menstrual products but also the financial and social barriers that prevent girls and women from managing their health with dignity.
Through the Empower HER Initiative, which she formally established in 2019, Nyaleso is helping create both opportunity and infrastructure. Today, the organization’s production center employs ten staff members and, during peak seasons, engages up to thirty women in specialized roles such as cutting fabric, stitching, overlocking, buttoning, and garment assembly.
Through the Empower HER Initiative, which she formally established in 2019, Nyaleso is helping create both opportunity and infrastructure. Today, the organization’s production center employs ten staff members and, during peak seasons, engages up to thirty women in specialized roles such as cutting fabric, stitching, overlocking, buttoning, and garment assembly.
The Dignify E-Wallet: A New Model for Menstrual Health Access
One of the initiative’s most innovative solutions is the Dignify e-wallet, a digital platform designed to make menstrual health products more accessible and affordable for families. The system allows users to gradually save and redeem funds specifically for menstrual health products using a simple USSD code, meaning it works even on basic mobile phones without internet access.
By enabling parents and caregivers to deposit small amounts over time, the wallet helps households plan for menstrual health needs even when incomes are irregular. Today, the Dignify e-wallet has more than 800 active users, demonstrating how locally driven social enterprises can combine technology, financial inclusion, and community insight to solve everyday challenges.
The innovation reflects Empower HER’s broader philosophy: social challenges require solutions that address both economic realities and human dignity.
By enabling parents and caregivers to deposit small amounts over time, the wallet helps households plan for menstrual health needs even when incomes are irregular. Today, the Dignify e-wallet has more than 800 active users, demonstrating how locally driven social enterprises can combine technology, financial inclusion, and community insight to solve everyday challenges.
The innovation reflects Empower HER’s broader philosophy: social challenges require solutions that address both economic realities and human dignity.
Unlocking Women’s Economic Potential
Since its founding, Empower HER has focused on expanding opportunities for women through entrepreneurship training, mentorship, and economic empowerment. So far, more than 2,000 women across western Kenya have been trained in business development and income generation.
The results have been powerful.
The results have been powerful.
Many of these women have started small businesses and are now supporting their families. What we realized during the training is that women already have incredible skills and creativity. What they often lack are platforms and opportunities.
Nancy Nyaleso
But innovation often emerges from unexpected places. As the team produced garments, leftover fabric scraps began to accumulate after cutting patterns. Instead of discarding the materials, the team saw an opportunity.
Turning Waste into Dignity
Using those fabric remnants, the women began producing Tunza washable sanitary pads, a soft, hygienic, and reusable menstrual product designed to last up to two years. The pads not only provide a sustainable menstrual health solution for girls and women but also create income opportunities for the women producing them.
“It became a solution that supports dignity and livelihoods at the same time,” Nancy says.
“It became a solution that supports dignity and livelihoods at the same time,” Nancy says.
A Future Where Women Thrive
Nancy’s long-term vision is ambitious but deeply practical. She imagines a future where women and girls from underserved communities have access to meaningful economic opportunities. A future where they are not excluded from employment and enterprise but equipped with the skills and resources to participate fully in local economies.
Through Empower HER, she hopes to continue building pathways that generate jobs, unlock women’s potential, and strengthen livelihoods for families and communities. Because when women have the resources to thrive, she believes, the ripple effects extend far beyond individual success.
Nancy’s long-term vision is ambitious but deeply practical. She imagines a future where women and girls from underserved communities have access to meaningful economic opportunities. A future where they are not excluded from employment and enterprise but equipped with the skills and resources to participate fully in local economies.
Through Empower HER, she hopes to continue building pathways that generate jobs, unlock women’s potential, and strengthen livelihoods for families and communities. Because when women have the resources to thrive, she believes, the ripple effects extend far beyond individual success.
They educate their children, support other women, and strengthen entire communities.
And in those quiet ripples of opportunity, the dignity she once watched communities struggle to maintain begins to take root.
