Pitch Please

00:01.88
mike_flywheel
What's up everybody welcome back to the pitch please podcast. It's Mike here today. I've got another amazing guest zion from for the menstrutor I'm excited to learn I'm going to be straight up. Honest I know very little about this space I'm not even sure how this business works. But. We're learn about that. We're going to learn about you and so I'm super excited. Zion tell us a little bit about you your role at for the Menstru and maybe a little bit about what what's brought you here today.

00:29.61
Ziyaan Virji
For sure. Thank you so much for having me Mike um I guess I'll start off from where I started. You know, um I was born in raised in Tanzania in East Africa um and from a very early age I grew up in a family and ah and in a community that I like strong values and you know service and giving back. And so from a very early age. You know my parents signed me up to every volunteer opportunity that was there in my community you know from visiting the hospital to working with elders to going to the orphanage and obviously growing up in East Africa like firsthand on a day to day the inequities um were there around me and I started to understand like the privileges that I had and so um I guess it was only until though I was 15 um I was in high school and I was required to start a personal project as part of my school curriculum and I could do anything on my choice but I was. Scrolling to my Facebook feed actually and I watched this really cool documentary on Al Jazeera named India's menstruation man now similar to you I didn't know anything about menstrual healths or periods at a time. You know my family um I don't have any like sisters or cousins. Um, my mom and I would never like talk about this and so I watched this documentary and I asked my mom I'm like yo did you know like you know people around the world. Don't have access to products um and she was like yeah when I was younger. Um I grew up in a single parent household and ah.

02:01.91
Ziyaan Virji
She didn't have proper access to products and what that meant to was every time she'd get a period every month. Um, she would use like old blankets and old cloth. Um, when when as in instead of like a mentro product and so. Ah, she told me so many stories about what that experience was like and then I go online and I find out that over 500000000 people that I menstruate don't have access to products and if you do the math that's like an average of 1 in 10 people that menstruate and so. That's quite a big number and and that kind of inspired me to start for the menstruate and go on this journey in the last six years

02:42.41
mike_flywheel
Wow, it's there's so much unpacked there like an inspiring story. Um I almost so this video um, clearly inspired you to be curious I want to come back to that video in a second but until this moment. Um.

02:51.40
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah.

02:58.92
mike_flywheel
You know you said you had strong family values around understanding acts of service and giving back and being involved in the community. Did you ever think that was going to lead you to entrepreneurship.

03:09.48
Ziyaan Virji
Honestly, no, but I would say like I feel like I was always someone that was rebellious like I I I was always someone like from a very early age I never wanted to just take the conventional path and I wanted to stand out and I think. Ah, you know even like in school before that moment I was always like prone to take you know leadership opportunities working teams um, start off like new projects and ideas do different types of fundraisers and so I think all those different seeds were planted. Maybe me for a very early age but you know when I look back like a lot of entrepreneurs um are inspired. Yeah by their parents that are entrepreneurs but for me like my parents who were like working class middle class families. You know, um, they would work at have a 9 2 5 and. Maybe looking at how much day how many sacrifices they had to make at work I was like you know what? like that made these sacrifices I don't want to live a life where I'm bound by a 9 to 5 job and so I think maybe those seeds were also planted at a very early age.

04:19.60
mike_flywheel
It's interesting and and so this video let's talk about it so you watch this video like it just randomly came up in your newsfeed you're like I'm curious of this thing I've never really understood or heard about what what was so powerful for you in the video.

04:24.45
Ziyaan Virji
Me.

04:36.57
mike_flywheel
That caused you to start asking more questions and like I mean technically a video and some conversations with your mother seem to have pivoted you into an advocate for this problem which spearheaded you into entrepreneurship.

04:37.18
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah.

04:48.67
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah.

04:50.77
mike_flywheel
And like you you became an entrepreneur without the goal of being an entrepreneur so I want to understand this video like what was it about the video that that really changed you.

04:58.94
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, so the video was about a man in India that um, ah created reusable ah created Menstru products that to support you know Menstrus in India and I don't know it was just like ah it wasn't even that long a video was just the fact that. Um, at the point I had to ideate and come up with something for my personal project at school and I could do anything on my choice and so as part of that ideation and brainstorming phase I think it will just like write timing and I'm like whoa like I've never heard about this. Let me just talk to my mom about it and. And then I think that just I just went down that rabbit hole after she told me that story of like looking at the numbers and seeing how big the problem is and also the fact that I live 15 years of my life and no one told me about this I feel like I was like this is a great opportunity for me to do something.

05:52.74
mike_flywheel
It's interesting. Yeah, sometimes everything happens for a reason right? You had your mindset with your hat on around this project that you had to do and then you sought ideas probably in a million other spots but like this inspired you to to learn and ask more questions which is so. So interesting. Um I want to hear your pitch on it but before that can you just like share a little bit about this space just to educate me and any other listener chiming in I want to make this super relevant to everyone I don't want like some bias to.

06:23.43
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, yeah.

06:27.44
mike_flywheel
You know, only women start to listen here forward I Want to like genuinely learn and understand myself and I hope others will you know stick around for the rest of the episode to do the same.

06:35.89
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, no for sure. So I guess to tell you more about the space. You know as most people know every girl gets their period once a month and um during that cycle. Um. People wear different types of products and so depending on your preference. So there's you know, disposable menstrual products that you'd see at like a supermarket There's like metro cups. There's tampons. There's all these different products and um, but. Specifically in the space that I'm working in you know I mentioned the stats around those that don't have access to to products right? And so um, the numbers are around 500000000 menstruators which is yeah.

07:17.94
mike_flywheel
And and and started just to interrupt like when you say products like the things that we're used to going to the the store for like the grocery store the shopping like the the pharmacecy store like the reality is in.

07:27.44
Ziyaan Virji
If.

07:35.24
mike_flywheel
North America or probably most of the developed world people are used to being able to go in and just purchase something generally disposable sometimes reusable. There's options. But what you're saying is like hey open your eyes a little bit the second you get out of some of these areas. The reality is people just use what they've got.

07:42.67
Ziyaan Virji
If.

07:52.84
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, yeah.

07:54.64
mike_flywheel
There isn't a product for them to go get a handle on or the luxury of being able to afford or get a product. So.

07:58.43
Ziyaan Virji
I Think so I think the issue is affordability right? and so even here access. Yeah, exactly yeah and so that affordability component is.

08:02.83
mike_flywheel
Okay, so it's not necessarily just access. Affordability is a big piece of this.

08:12.73
Ziyaan Virji
I think the issue event here in North America so Canada actually yesterday was menstrual healthy and planned Canada released a report that 1 in 4 canadian menstruators actually wear their products for longer because they don't they they kind of afford products. Um, and that's your ration and so um I thought that this was an issue only in like developing countries. But even here in North America um, in the U K and in in Europe like all these different countries. It's still an issue and and thats aspect around affordability is. Is is quite a big one and so you know for for me I look at like menstrual products as like a basic need for a lot of menstruators. But the fact that one they're expensive to um, there is in a lot of countries. There's this idea of like a paying tax. And basically menstrual products aren't considered necessity items and so there's an added tax on it. Um, compared to like other other basic needs right? And so when you go down systematically and look at this issue unfortunately and all lot of decision. Makers are men that. Don't really understand what a period is and so systematically, there's there's an issue around that too. Um, yeah.

09:35.57
mike_flywheel
Now talk to me about like just dumb it down for the everyday listener like why does this matter? Um I imagine there's some aspects of hygiene some aspects of health some aspects of comfort but like what are the what are the implications of not having. Affordable access or frequent access to products the way people need stuff.

09:57.96
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, and so for for those that don't have access you see there's a lot of issues. So one we mentioned that issue of hygiene right? and so people would use um old drags cloth the blankets leaves in some countries. Um. In order to you know, make sure that they they don't to bleed openly when they're going outside. Um and that is obviously unidnic and there's all this research on how that can lead to like cervical cancer. Um, and so forth. Um, but moreover in. Especially the community that we worked in you know, especially young girls that need to go to school um for them. They would you know miss school seven days a week every time they would get the period and that would ah, there's direct correlation to like dropout rates. Um, which is also related to you know them? not ah, eventually having employment and then being trapped in this poverty cycle and so there's that and then in some communities we see.

11:00.95
mike_flywheel
And Wow like hold on I Just I mean I got jump in there like it's crazy because because like even my initial assumptions were like health comfort but you're talking about like access access to education opportunities and equal opportunities at that.

11:11.23
Ziyaan Virji
Ah, yeah.

11:17.96
mike_flywheel
Degree like I had no idea so sorry continue on. It's just like a moment of reflection and pause as I learned about this here with you.

11:21.51
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, yeah, and and then and as you go as you go further you know down the line. There's communities. So in Kenya and in East africa there was a lot of like reports where ah people that wouldn't have access to products. Would actually trade sexual activities with local businessmen and bike drivers in return to get products and so there's a direct correlation to like teenage pregnancy. Um, and then you see situations where um, you know there's. A whole thing about not not being able to go to work. Um and then even the taboo around this topic right? and um and the way the fact that you know periods and menstruation is seen as something dirty. It's not usually talked about in the open and so we've seen cases where um. You know menstruators have ah ah, there's this idea of like being period ashamedd and and so they've been looked at as dirty or they're not able to go to the mosque or they're able to carry out like cook. Um and and so like I think a couple of years ago in Kenya we had a situation where. Um, a girl went to school. She got a first period um, in class. Um her teacher made her stand up and embar her in front the whole class when she went back home. Um, she was obviously sad and Costa Rica's kicked out of class just because she got a period and then.

12:48.93
Ziyaan Virji
Ah, couple hours later she took her life and then we saw a similar case in India as well same thing and so this issue of like the taboo um and and the fact that it's seen as something dirty is is like a whole other thing that that we may talk about.

13:04.41
mike_flywheel
That's crazy. So maybe now is right? Thank you for educating me. Obviously this is very new and I'm sure there's questions I'm missing or forgetting to ask so please fill in the gaps of where I might not be aware I should be asking questions. Um, but I'd love to learn about what.

13:10.82
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah.

13:20.87
mike_flywheel
For the menstrutor is so like all good pitch please episodes zion your pitch please.

13:29.72
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, so for the menstruator is a you know youth led organization that basically first produces and distributes reusable menstrual products that allows for 3 years one ah hundred percent bidegradable and extremely cost effective. Um, but what we also do is we have a sustainable model of approach when working with communities in which we actually empower them with the skills to make their own reusable menstrual products that obviously leads to entrepreneurial opportunities and so forth. Um, yeah, that's my.

14:03.27
mike_flywheel
I Love it and so I heard a couple things there he talked about actually having a physical biodegradable reusable product that you create you talked about the delivery of education. Maybe just as necessity or as part of your social enterprise tied to that product.

14:03.73
Ziyaan Virji
Quick friends.

14:13.74
Ziyaan Virji
Dip.

14:22.80
mike_flywheel
But then you also talked about the ability to empower others to make a product not necessarily having to use your product So Maybe by extension. There's the education the product and an empowerment to go create this within local communities. Um, so. That we're not going to be able to draw diagrams or anything but maybe like at the highest level talk to me about those 3 pillars both about how you got to and what you designed as a product that was different than what maybe existed out there talked to me about whether the education came before the product. And then a little bit about what you're doing in these communities and how you're empowering others.

14:58.31
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, for sure. So I'll actually share a story in terms of how we started and how we ended up on this this you know this approach and so when I started off, you know, found out about this issue I shared that story there and. Went online and looked at different solutions that are out there and I wanted to do something that was sustainable and so I came across reusables as a potential solution looked at different online proto tabs worked with a local tailor and actually learned how to stitch and I was able to use local materials. Um, and my initial product. Um, and my first broer tab only and lasted for six months um I gave it out to my friends to test it out. Got feedback and iterated and developed the product a little bit. Um, and then eventually for my very first project I worked with a local community of 22 menstruators and gave them these products at that time. There was no education provided. It was the product itself and I spent almost 1 year developing this product. Um. And then I cause it was a school project I presented it um, you know got a good grade got good feedback I actually actually didn't get the best grade like so I was out of 7 and I got a 6 so but I had friends that got like a way better grade than I did and at the time like didn't get as much traction as.

16:07.00
mike_flywheel
Yeah, yeah, yeah I was gonna ask like what grade did you get in this did you like rush it.

16:24.87
Ziyaan Virji
That's the other people at school that was smarter and got better better grades and so when I went to that first community I was I could have stopped pretty much at that point because you and I fulfilled that school requirement but when I went back to the community and talked to them I realized a couple things and so first they told me that. Ah, the product itself. Um, there were a lot of elements to it that could have been improved and so ah, the color of the product at the time was white and obviously blood is red and so when they would cause it's washable and they dry it out in the open a lot of them were embarrassed to actually. Dry out these products because you could see blood right? Um, and it would stay. It would stay like it would the blood could be seen and so so we change the colors of our product and then I realized like some of the girls.

17:15.67
mike_flywheel
To to what color just said a curiosity.

17:19.24
Ziyaan Virji
So now it's like a dark red and so you can't even see the bloodstainins. Um, and then we realized they told us that some girls didn't even have access to underwears and so in order to wear the product. You need to like put it on an underwear.

17:21.78
mike_flywheel
Kind of.

17:37.20
Ziyaan Virji
Um, and so now in our packages we actually include underwears as as a whole package. Um some of the girls didn't have soap. Um and so we include a soap in our in our packaging. Um, and then there were elements around you know, um the fact that.

17:41.34
mike_flywheel
And.

17:56.40
Ziyaan Virji
Um, when they go to school and they wear the product. You can only wear the product for around 5 hours and so if you have an 8 hour school day. Um, you need to like change the product but um, in order to change it. You need a bag um to put like the ones that's used and so now we include like a waterproof bag to. Um, and so we spent a lot of time with the community who get that feedback? Um, but what we also found out is you know the product only lasted for six months and the people that we worked with told us that what was what's going to happen to us after the six months right? Um, do we go back into the.

18:29.23
mike_flywheel
and and six months because the product are because the consumable items that you are attaching with the sale. Okay.

18:36.48
Ziyaan Virji
The the product. The reusable product itself. Yeah, um, just because the materials that we used at the time and so yeah, so it was it was biodegradable but there was certain things like our buttons that we used that weren't like biodegradable.

18:42.79
mike_flywheel
And was it was it biodegradable then too.

18:54.37
Ziyaan Virji
Um, but yeah I was like I try to incorporate that sustainability aspect from like the very beginning. Um, and so we got that and so they told me after the six months what's going to happen and I realized in reality actually created contributed more to the problem than solving it because now they're dependent on an external code. Someone external to come and help them. Um and and you're creating like a dependency ah dependency syndrome. So it's actually harming more than helping you know and so I went back ah to school and I'm like okay I definitely want to continue working on this first thing I did was I start up a team and so we were on 7 to 10 people at the time. And what we changed was as I mentioned the product so we actually worked with a local community-based organization that employed women with disabilities and they used to make their own products from before and and so we kind of partnered up with them and decided to come up with. Ah, product that combined both of our existing products and so now our product as I mentioned last ah three years comes with all these different things. Um, and and you know it has all these aspects that I didn't think about before. And that just shows the power. You know, especially when you're starting off of really working with the community and understanding their needs. Um, and then what we also realize is in the a lot of those schools that we were talking to none of them had like that educational component. So none of them had.

20:13.24
mike_flywheel
Yeah.

20:26.60
Ziyaan Virji
Ah, like sex Ed or um, learned about like periods and a lot of the programming that would be there would only be for ah the girls that would menstruate and so the boys didn't know anything about and about this and. In a lot of these communities. They usually end up being decision makers in their families and so we heard a lot of cases where the family could afford ah could afford the products but because the dad is the one that you know gives out money in the house and there's a taboo. Um, they would be so scared to ask your dad for the money and so we would have to educate the the dads and the families to to also do that and and that starts from when they're at School. Um, so that was ah that's why we incorporated this you know educational workshops at.

21:14.47
mike_flywheel
So the the workshops were like brought into schools like when they were younger were you also educating adults at the same time.

21:19.52
Ziyaan Virji
Exactly so so depending on the community that we worked in. We would definitely have the schools um that we would working in the boys will learn um that and would have programming for that. But in certain scenarios we would have like town halls where we call all the parents and and engage them to. Um, and then lastly we realized okay now our product last 3 years about what's going to happen after the 3 year Mark and so what we do now is when we do give out the products with going to community and then work with them as like an afterschool programming to actually teach them how to make their own products. Um, and so the good thing about that is you know it's this whole idea of don't give a man a fish but teach them out of fish right? And so um, they would now have the skill to actually make your own products and since all the materials are locally sourced wherever we have worked in. We know that after the 3 years they can you know. Ah, use local materials to get access to these products and what we've also seen with that is it usually has an exponential effect right? And so there's a group of like a thousand girls in a community and if we just worked with like ten girls. Those 10 what we've seen usually pass on that skill to 10 others and those 10 pass on to 10 others and then eventually the whole community has access to this product and in some situations what we've also done is we've ah we have done workshops where they can actually use the skills.

22:50.94
Ziyaan Virji
To make more products and sell it in their communities so that they can earn a living out of it. Um and create entrepreneurial opportunities for themselves. Um, and so yeah, now it's been like 6 years and um, it's definitely. Our team has gone to over 150 volunteers and we've worked with 20000 menstruators in 10 countries. Um, and it's honestly been such a journey and we hadn't perfected this model and it's roughly come over time and even until today we're learning and going and try now. Develop as as we move forward.

23:27.00
mike_flywheel
That's amazing congratulations on like the massive impact huge milestones there's so many things I just took away like the first which most people probably are would I don't even know if they picked it up but we joked a little bit about how did you grade at the end of the day. It's not about necessarily getting the highest grade. It's actually.

23:41.62
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

23:44.69
mike_flywheel
Person with the most persistence and that's what got you through this. It was the persistence and desire to be curious and learn and like when you speak about this space which I know very little about but what you can tell and take away is how much time and energy you spent with the individuals in the community.

24:03.38
Ziyaan Virji
Ah, yeah.

24:03.60
mike_flywheel
To co-author solutions and to think purely about them at the core of this where you're going to give them a product. Some people might rebuy that product but you're not, there's education challenges not just for the end user. But for others in the community.

24:15.22
Ziyaan Virji
And.

24:17.53
mike_flywheel
And then when you do that the reality is they might need more and they might not be able to buy it so you've empowered them to go do this and create other role like it's so special. How deep you've gotten on this problem. Um I I mean generally we talk about how you make money or how much it costs. Maybe maybe just talk to us about how much. It's a social enterprise. So I care less about how you make money. You're probably going to charge for the product tell us a little bit about like what you've been able to get this product down to for what you sell and also like how do you you said? 6 years that's like phenomenal man for social enterprise.

24:38.93
Ziyaan Virji
Um, if if.

24:45.37
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah.

24:52.44
mike_flywheel
Where at the end of the day that people might not have a lot of money. How are you keeping this rolling up.

24:56.52
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, um, so in terms of our I guess how we you know sustain ourselves from a financial perspective so on the cost side of things we have 3 different packages. Um. 1 is costs us $2 to make one's five dollars and 1 ne's $8 and the differences between the packages is mostly the number of items and so the additional items that I talked about but also um, the way our products work is we have. A pad base and then we have inserts and so the number of fad basees are inserts but when in terms of the communities that we work in we we've never sold the products to the communities because they can't afford it. Um, and so from how we have been able to.

25:39.88
mike_flywheel
Yeah.

25:46.17
Ziyaan Virji
Do do this is when we started off and I was like ah 15 at the time and so every time I'd reach out for donations or sponsors or work with corporate. Um I'd obviously get rejections and so I just started at my school man like i. Ah, we used to have events every Friday and I went to a boarding school and showarmas were very popular and so what we would do is we would put up a stand by shawarmas for two dollars and I just put in mal and money and take that risk um and then sell them for 3 and make a dollar every shawarma and every night we would sell um we would sell three hundred four hundred chiarmas at an event and if you do the math if it let's say we do our $5 packages 400 chiwarmas would you know ah would be able to help around. Um. 80 girls right? Um, just just from one one week of selling showarmas and so we started off like that when we're super early and as we started getting traction. Um, one big source of revenue for us was like our corporate partnerships and so. Um, in kenya we worked closely with one of the biggest banks in the country. Um, and they our first partnership was them with them was they gave us $12505 grant and um.

27:15.50
Ziyaan Virji
The way we approached it was although we were young and we weren't even registered as a charity at the time but we somehow through connections got into um, got into the room with them and we. We try to pitch them what the benefit for them would be and so since our packages would come in these bags. Um, we were like look we will blast your logo on that bag. Um, and think about the fact that all over Kenya. There'll be girls going to schools with these bags. Um, and and we show them the marketing value of that and. And so we they set up this sponsorship for us. Um, and the day they announced our sponsorship. This is in Twenty Twenty right before covid hit um they put out a press release saying that they are Committ committing $500000 to ah ah to causes related to menstrualhealth for the next five years um and fortunately we've been the only organizations that they've worked with um and so we we renewed that partnership after and we are one of our long-term partners and and so that's been one of our biggest sources of of support and then obviously there we still do events in schools. Fundraises dinner gala online crowdfunding um, weirdly, we've never really applied to major grants because it's really hard to access those in in in and developing countries. It's not like here in Canada. Um, but yeah, that's that's been how we've been able to sustain ourselves.

28:44.15
mike_flywheel
That's amazing man like like true grit hustle dedication to this cause like selling $2 shoremas for three bucks to impact eighty people a week like that is a grind and dedication good on you man and I'm so happy that. You know you were able to kind of parlay that over time to this bigger component with this this bank's mandate around this um, the journey six years is a long time. Um, do you have like. Maybe ah, a most memorable either an enjoyable memorable or like a hardship or maybe both that you you sort of want to share.

29:23.96
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, there've been a lot of moments like I think um, I'm trying to think of a lot. But I think one that I'm really or a couple that I'm really proud of is we've been able when we've been able to you know work in situations of. Um, situations of hardship and crisis and so I remember with the Ukraine crisis that happened we were able to support the refugees at the time that were trying to escape to Poland and so we partnered up with. Actually 1 of my favorite Youtube channels yes theory um, they were doing ah, ah they were supporting refugees on the ground and so and they put ah outreach for menstrual products and so we were able to we we had saved up admin costs that were never used. Um, because we never. We've never like paid ourselves. Um, and and I was like dude this crisis is happening. We want to support these people need the money on ground and so we fully put all of our admin administration costs that we had ah saved up over the years and sent that all on ground in Ukraine. Um, to support them. We did something similar with the turkey earthquake recently and we were able to support you with that and I think what I what I'm really proud of of what we've being able to do as an organization is you know I've never been to turkey I've never been to Ukraine.

30:53.67
Ziyaan Virji
Um, out of the 10 countries that we've worked in I've only visited 2 of them and but our impact has has reached there right and that just shows the power of you know collaboration. Um, especially like in in spaces where it's all it's like social enterprise I think um. It's really powerful to to come together and do stuff together like that I think um I also remember when so I I remember I mentioned when we got that funding right before covid and that was our because we're all volunteer student run and we were all based out of my boarding school in Kenya. And covid hit it was lockdown and we all had to go back to our own countries and so I received this huge amount of funding and I'm like okay what the hell do I do now? Um, we were also getting way more requests for donations because you know a lot of these communities that would that we would support. They would get their products in schools but now schools are closed and so they would all go to their homes and so what I did for my room in in my home country in Tanzania is I mapped out all the different organizations in the space in Kenya the time and I'm like look we have funding. Our production partners are these women with disabilities that work full time to make these products and so if we don't give them orders. They're not also going to get employment. So I asked them to take their machines back to their houses. Um, they had materials and I told them just make as many products as you can.

32:21.92
Ziyaan Virji
Um I reached out to all these different organizations that had access to going on ground um and what we did was we sent all the products we made by a bus to all these organizations and they went door to door during covid to distribute these products and ah. Before covid or numbers were only 500? Um, at the end of 2020. We had support 8500 people. Um, and so we you know went 10 x during covid um, and that was all the support of like you know all everyone coming together.

32:54.71
mike_flywheel
It's crazy man.

32:59.52
Ziyaan Virji
Um, at that time.

33:01.64
mike_flywheel
Crazy dude the work you've been doing is unreal like the taking your administration funds pouring it back into this business. Dude your heart is in this? um. It sounds like you've made no money but have done massive things to drive massive impact over 6 years you've got this amazing story of like becoming an entrepreneur like this is like you felt so passionate. You know how they talk about people that are like entrepreneurial then. There's people that are like so passionate about a problem that they it doesn't matter turns them into an entrepreneur and that's your story. Um, this can't be the only thing you're doing now I see like this grin in your face this twinkle in your eye. What else are you up to right now. Is it just ah for the menstru. Obviously it's still going.

33:33.12
Ziyaan Virji
Ah.

33:46.58
Ziyaan Virji
Um, yeah, yeah, so yeah, it's definitely been six years now and I think this opened you know a lot of opportunity for me and really showed me like my passion for entrepreneurship as you mentioned right? and so obviously on the side i.

33:46.77
mike_flywheel
But is that the only thing on your plate. Are you up to some other new stuff that you can talk about.

34:04.14
Ziyaan Virji
My creative outlet is my podcast I run a podcast called leaders of today where um, our whole goal is to inspire young people that do want to start something to just go for it and so we interview young people in different spaces. You know artists activists entrepreneurs. Um, and I say it's a gift to my 15 year old self when I started off. It was really lonely and I had never heard stories of people my age that were doing stuff and so um I do that as my creative outlet. But right now I'm working on a startup idea. Um that addresses this issue of. You know, sustainable sources of funding for charities and donor retention and so when I started as as part of you know my work with for the menstruate I got an opportunity to work with a lot of charities and I realized one charities are spending you know most of their time trying to fundraise and less of their time. Time being able to do the work that they're doing um and there's all of these issues around not having sustainable sources of funding around donor retention. But what really I guess pissed me off a lot was the fact that there's a lack of innovation in in the social impact space right? because. Um, charities and nonprofits don't have incentives to innovate and so for me obviously I just finished my 30 year doing my business to via uvc and um I being able to you know, learn a lot about entrepreneurship and and business and so.

35:31.52
Ziyaan Virji
Want to use my experiences and tie in that aspect of like how do I create a platform that can create sustainable sources of funding and retain donors using technology and innovating there and so mostly it's been one month I'm currently part of the next thirty six program and I've been just spending my time. Trying to innovate there.

35:54.23
mike_flywheel
Like social impact on steroids. My friend you're just killing it 1 time after another um, we'll bring you on separately to talk about that like let's let it stew a little bit but I mean you you have a podcast to inspire the younger.

35:56.83
Ziyaan Virji
Okay.

36:11.67
mike_flywheel
Generation or maybe current people just thinking of taking the Leap. You've obviously done it once you're continuing to do it to drive things. What are like the biggest takeaways from your first. Um, entrepreneurial journey to this entrepreneurial journey and. You know what are some of like the advantages disadvantages things you're learning along this that people should be like paying attention to and weaving into the things that they're thinking or doing themselves and.

36:40.63
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, um, a lot for sure I think the first main one especially now that I'm starting this new venture is um, one of my favorite Ted talks says want to help someone shut up and listen and I think that's you know, been such a big lesson. For my for my first venture spending time with those communities and truly understanding their pain points and so as I'm starting this this new venture I've just been spending so much time truly just listening to to our potential customers right? and and figuring out what your pain points are I feel like a lot of the times entrepreneurs. Um, you know come up with an idea and and things that's the best solution. Um, and they're so obsessed with the idea and not the problem and so I think spending the time to truly understand the problem and and not having the rush of like I guess trying to make money or or trying to. Do a hustle I think being obsessed with a problem and figuring out what it what it is there and so literally with this new venture like I'm pivoting every day with my idea because I'm finding out that the problem is something completely different and so going through that process of you find a problem. Um, come up with ah a turnoff hypothesis um create an Mvp and then experiment. Um and go through that whole journey until you eventually you know find um product market fit or um, have someone that's actually willing to pay for your product and.

38:13.81
Ziyaan Virji
Um, being patient with it I think it's it's also a tough one especially as like young entrepreneurs. You know we see on social media people just blowing up and starting up companies about honestly entrepreneurship is thinking of it as like a long long-term game. Um and really being in their um. For the right reasons right? And um I think every day I I you know I with this new venture since it's also has a social impact component people tell me every day. There's no money in this space man like and and and. Why are you doing this or I just find a different problem to solve for it. But I think for me just reconnecting me with my whyi and and and thinking about why is it that I started this in the first place and went on this journey right? Um I think has has been a big one.

39:03.68
mike_flywheel
That so important the connecting with the why the shutting up and listen the focusing on you know, truly solving the problem not just rushing to market with your own conclusions. Really good sound advice. Um, we've covered so much while I.

39:21.38
mike_flywheel
We're definitely going to leave ways for people to follow your journey. Um for the menstrutor but I I definitely think people are going to want to follow you and your journey you're just so inspiring to like hear what you're up to I'm sure a bunch of people are going to want to help. Support these causes and learn more from you. Um, where can people find out more about for the menst straight or we'll link these things to but where can people find out more about for the Menstru or find out more about the things you're up to or your podcast like just just just shamelessly plug yourself right now. Man just learned it. Yeah.

39:53.98
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, yeah, so for for for the Menstruator. You can just search us up on any social media ad for the menstruator. Um leaders of today pod is our handles for the podcast. And then lastly my personal one is adc and vg on all platforms. Um, yeah I think I'm I'm someone that as as part of this journey. There'll been so many people that have you know, supported me and and help me get to the next level and and so I also just spend a lot of time trying to mentor. Other folks and so if anyone has any questions or is just looking to find someone that can be a soundboard I love to you know, chat and help out. Um and and once again I appreciate you. You know, giving me this platform too.

40:42.00
mike_flywheel
I haven't done anything man I've tried to shut up and listen I've been itching to ask more questions but I've been trying to listen. Thank you for teaching me about something I know very little about. Thank you for teaching me about your inspiring journey and so many words of like wisdom that I think others can take In. Um. Any closing like thoughts or final words on your sides. Yeah, and that that you want people to hear and take away.

41:05.39
Ziyaan Virji
Yeah, know for sure I I think there's a couple things. Firstly um, one of my favorite codes says the energies and the purpose nullapon and so before you start off anything really take the time to be intentional about that why and that purpose um because no matter what you end up doing right? like even if it's a shit show even if it's like the best idea in the world. Um, if you don't know the why or what you're doing. Um, it's it's going to be tough and it's goingnna be hard to be anchored and so I recommend people checking out this concept of akiga that has been. So tremendous to my life to figure out what your why is and then second thing um just just talking about the concept of my podcast Our whole thing is you know as young people we're not only leaders of tomorrow. We're leaders of today and my great 3 teacher used to tell me. When I used to submit my homework page and say I'll submit it to mar you would say tomorrow never comes and so if you have an idea if you have an itch to start something if you want to just do something. Don't wait for tomorrow just start today because truly tomorrow never comes and and. The best way to do something is is to start now.

42:19.53
mike_flywheel
Got amazingly inspiring words to close out again. Zian Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Everyone who tuned in and stuck through this inspiring journey I Hope you learned as much as I did about a topic you might not have thought you would discuss. On a podcast. Yeah, and again, thank you for sharing the time with us today. Everyone catch you on the next episode.