First all-female team wins International Business Model Competition with product that treats menstrual cramps
Brigham Young University seniors Abby Warner, left, and Taimi Kennerley pose for a portrait Wednesday, July 17, 2019, at the Daily Herald in Provo. The two women, along with fellow student Zoia Ali, created a "cramp belt," which utilizes warming inserts to help women deal with menstrual cramps. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Brigham Young University senior Abby Warner models her product, nicknamed the "cramp belt", on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, at the Daily Herald in Provo. The belt, which is typically worn beneath clothes, utilizes warming inserts to help women deal with menstrual cramps. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Brigham Young University senior Abby Warner displays three different "cramp belts" on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, at the Daily Herald in Provo. The belt, created by three BYU students, utilizes warming inserts to help women deal with menstrual cramps. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Brigham Young University senior Taimi Kennerley models her product, nicknamed the "cramp belt," on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, at the Daily Herald in Provo. The belt, created by three BYU students, utilizes warming inserts to help women deal with menstrual cramps. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
In 2019, the number of female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies is higher than ever before, at 33, a big jump from last year’s 24 women CEOs.
But considering that’s still just 6.6%, it serves as a reminder that there is still work to be done when it comes to supporting female business leaders.
So, when Brigham Young University students Zoia Ali, Taimi Kennerley and Abby Warner became the first all-female company to win the International Business Model Competition earlier this year with a product catering to women, it was a pretty big deal. They’re also the first BYU team to win the competition in six years, competing against teams of students from hundreds of universities and dozens of other countries.
“I have never screamed louder in my life,” Ali said, when they heard their company name called.
The International Business Model Competition is a student startup competition sponsored by the Rollins Center in the Marriott School of Management at BYU. Not only is the company, aptly named The Girls Co., all women, the product the three came up with is meant just for women as well — a belt designed to ease menstrual cramps.
When the team first got together during the 2018 fall semester at BYU for a class, they knew they wanted to design a product for women, and immediately went to a product that eased periods. After speaking to a few dozen women, the group decided they specifically wanted to tackle period pain.
Kennerley said they searched and searched to make sure they weren’t going to recreate something that already existed, and they were shocked to discover that there really weren’t any products on the market meant to ease period pain, outside of medication or “tips and tricks.”
“When you Google solutions for cramping, like one of the top ones that comes up is ‘eat a banana,'” she said.
One solution they knew was common for easing menstrual cramping was heat. But, Kennerley said, when women are using heat to ease cramps, they’re typically stuck with a heating pad that has to be plugged in or heated up, something bulky and difficult to transport. Many women would be forced to miss school or work, or would go to the effort of stuffing a heating pad in a hoodie or in their waistband.
“That’s absolutely ridiculous,” Kennerley said. “So we decided we need portable heat.”
The first versions of what would become “The Belt” were made up of things like the inside of a spandex tank top or a couple of spandex bralettes they sewed together, creating pockets they could stick hand warmers in.
Product testers loved it, Kennerley said. Now, with their winnings from various competitions but especially the $40,000 from the International Business Model Competition, “The Belt” will soon have a much sleeker look, featuring a thin spandex belt and oxygen-activated warmers that can slide into pockets in the front and back of the belt, easily fitting under most clothing. The new warmers can last up to 12 hours, based on some tests.
The best part of winning, the three girls agreed, is the fact that they won with a product to help women.
“From the very beginning, we wanted to do something that was focused on women,” Warner said. “It was really cool to be able to talk to women about their periods … they were just grateful that someone was asking them about it, and wanted to find a solution.”
Although women have dealt with period pain since time began, only recently has that pain been taken seriously. When a reproductive health professor at University College London told a news organization that period cramps could be “almost as bad as having a heart attack,” it made headlines around the world.
The lack of general knowledge about periods also meant that Ali, Kennerley and Warner spent much of their class time answering male students’ questions about periods, rather than their product, at the beginning.
“Over time, that changed,” Ali said.
The other thing The Girls Co. said changed, especially after winning the International Business Model Competition, was how people treated them and their product.
“We have faced a lot of that where we don’t feel like we’re taken 100% seriously, because it’s about periods,” Warner said. When they placed in past competitions, Warner said they would get comments about how they made it through because they were “fun” and/or “cute.”
“We have a calculus-based regression model,” Kennerley said, joking, “If I had known that being cute would have gotten me through, I wouldn’t have made the model.”
Scott Petersen, executive director of the Rollins Center in the BYU Marriott School of Business which runs the International Business Model Competition among others, mentored The Girls Co. after they placed in the Business Model Competition in January. He said he told them they were not ready for the international competition and would have to put a lot of work in to be ready.
“They assured me that … there wasn’t anything that they weren’t willing to do,” Petersen said. “And then they went to work, and they did it. And frankly, they just knocked the lights out of it, they just absolutely crushed it and exceeded my expectations, which is pretty hard.”
The Girls Co. plans to have The Belt ready to purchase from their website in October of this year, but people can join the waiting list. They’re not sure what will happen after the launch of their initial product — after all, they will all be getting ready to graduate — but they hope to continue creating products for women, and building up the community they’ve created.
“We know that from our interviews that women have felt really alone … on their periods,” Kennerley said. “We’re building a product, but we’re also building a community … that’s why we’re The Girls and when you join, you’re one of our girls too … we take care of each other.”