Growth at Menstrupedia: Battling Social Injustice or Chasing Pure Profits?

When they are posed with two intriguing offers on the fund-raising television show Shark Tank India, the co-founders of Menstrupedia Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Menstrupedia), Aditi Gupta and Tuhin Paul, are faced with a tough decision. Should they forgo the social brand they have built over several years to pursue the seemingly smart business decision of becoming a sanitary napkin producer, or should they scale up their comic business despite so many competitors in the menstrual awareness landscape, or should they do both? Menstrupedia Comic is an educational comic book about menstruation for adolescents created by Gupta and Paul in 2009. Its aim is to shatter deep-rooted, widespread menstruation myths. Although Menstrupedia has started out as a comic book producer, the company’s social impact has been enormous, with Gupta having been recognized for her social outreach efforts by organizations such as Forbes Media limited liability company and British Broadcasting Corporation. By 2022, the co-founders seek to grow their impact, and the need to scale up Menstrupedia propels them to appear on Shark Tank India. Two “Sharks” (members of a panel of potential investors) each offer them a different avenue for growth. The first Shark is in agreement with the co-founders’ vision of social change and growth, while the other suggests that they diversify their business by manufacturing and selling sanitary napkins, an immensely profitable endeavour, while using their comics as a complementary product.

The case can be taught in postgraduate courses on social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, social welfare, and entrepreneurial finance and to Master of Business Administration students majoring in entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and new venture creation. It can be also used in management development programs concentrating in entrepreneurship and new venture creation. After working through the case and assignment questions, students are going to be able to do the following:<br><br><ul><li>Discuss the role of compassion and related emotions in the creation of a social enterprise.</li><li>Discuss and seek solutions to the competing tensions between a socially oriented and business-oriented logic for a social enterprise using the concept of social hybrids.</li><li>Discuss the idea of competitive advantage based on social hybridity and how social enterprises can plan growth in terms of type, timing, and scope of diversification.</li><li>Evaluate the marketing strategies of Menstrupedia as a social welfare brand.</li></ul>

• Social logic
• Business logic
• Social welfare
• Menstruation myths
• Comics
• Bundling