Филми за Холокоста в час на класа пред 10 годишни деца

Case study: How a hemp tampon could change the fortunes of a depressed region

Pioneer: Valentina Milanova is turning hemp high-tech © Tolga Akmen
Valentina Milanova, a Bulgarian entrepreneur, is planning to launch an innovative female tampon, a product she claims has barely changed since the first modern version was introduced in the US in the 1930s.

Her start-up, Anne’s Day, is running clinical trials in Bulgaria of a tampon made from industrial hemp, rather than cotton or viscose, and infused with CBD (cannabidiol) oil derived from the hemp plant, which is used to manage severe pain and inflammation in people with cancer or arthritis.

The 23-year-old, who studied economics and business in the UK, says she came up with the idea while taking a graduate course at the Harvard Business School-affiliated Centre for Economic Strategy and Competitiveness at Sofia University.

She was looking for an innovative way to stimulate business in north-western Bulgaria, one of the EU’s poorest regions, and discovered that before the second world war the district had flourished as a producer and exporter of industrial hemp.

“I started researching hemp, and read every academic paper on it I could find. Two of its properties really struck me — improved absorption compared with current tampons and pain relief that could help with menstrual cramps,” says Ms Milanova.

The company is named after Anne Frank, the young Jewish Holocaust victim who greeted the onset of her period in her diary as “a momentous event”.

An angel investor provided seed funding, while PBG, a Bulgarian producer of CBD oil, is backing the clinical trials in co-operation with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The tampon is due to be launched in September, together with free access to an app for women to monitor their fertility, track their period and receive reminders to carry out breast self-examinations. “There’ll be more applications down the road — we’re working with some leading UK gynaecologists. I want Anne’s Day to be the go-to place for female reproductive health,” says Ms Milanova.