Actress and activist Stephanie March has officially opened a new fully automated manufacturing facility in Mbita, Kenya. The launch marks the formal commercial debut of GalCare, a social enterprise co-founded by March to combat period poverty. While the project began as a small-scale manual microplant, this new industrial site represents a significant scale-up in production capacity.

The automated factory is designed to provide high-quality sanitary pads to 500,000 women over the coming three years. This development is aimed at addressing a global crisis where approximately 60% of women lack access to affordable menstrual hygiene products. By manufacturing locally, the enterprise seeks to remove the logistical and financial barriers that maintain period poverty in the region.

March attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Mbita following the completion of the factory. She emphasised that while the project received initial charitable backing, it is structured to become a self-sustaining, for-profit business. The operation is currently being transitioned to a group of local women known as “ChangeMakers” who are receiving professional training in accounting, distribution, and entrepreneurship.

“The idea is that we build a fully profitable, sustainable business that we can then hand off to the people whose idea it was: these amazing [local] women,” March said. “It creates a whole ecosystem that is vastly more helpful.” She noted that the goal is to create a model that is both replicable and sustainable across East Africa.

The facility produces “Galentine Care” pads, which are designed to meet high quality standards while remaining affordable for the local market. Public health expert McOdida, who helped scout local talent for the project, stated that the factory will eventually be fully operated by the community. Career development and the mapping of distribution models are the primary focuses for the next three years.

March described the enterprise as a “conduit” between a solvable problem and a local solution. “Find a smart woman working on the ground — hyper locally — and give her what she needs to get things done, and then get out of her way. That’s it. That’s the most sustainable, best use of any charitable or investment dollar that I can think of,” March said.