Arunachalam Muruganantham

Who is Arunachalam Muruganantham?

Arunachalam Muruganantham is a social entrepreneur from rural Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. He is the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad making machine, and has innovated grass-roots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India.

His mini-machines, which can manufacture sanitary pads for less than a third of the cost of commercial pads, have been installed in 23 of the 29 states of India, and plan to expand to 106 nations. In 2014, TIME placed him in its list of "100 Most Influential People in the World" - Pioneers.