Nyungu Afrika

Nyungu Afrika is a Kenyan material-science company developing a tree-free absorbent pulp made from agricultural waste — pineapple leaves and maize husks — intended as a drop-in replacement for imported wood pulp in the absorbent core of sanitary pads and diapers. The company is based in Thika, Kenya, where it collects feedstock locally and co-locates production with its raw-material source. Its stated positioning frames period poverty and deforestation as linked problems that converge in the pad core: the company cites figures that 65% of women and girls in Kenya cannot afford period products (attributed to FSG), that 1.5 billion trees are felled annually for wood-pulp cellulose, and that conventional pads can be up to 90% plastic with 500+ year breakdown times.

Alongside the B2B pulp material, the company is developing its own biodegradable pad brand, XETU, positioned as a consumer proof point rather than its primary business. As of the company's own description it is pre-market at technology readiness level 6, preparing a pilot, with none of its planned revenue streams live; it is recruiting beta testers ahead of launch. Founder and CEO Mary Nyaruai is described as the inventor of the process and a member of the Kenya Bureau of Standards technical committee (TC 069) working on Kenya's biodegradable-hygiene standards.

Founding story

The company's name, Nyungu, is Swahili for clay pot, used as a symbol of the womb. Founder Mary Nyaruai grew up in Thika, described as Kenya's pineapple capital, where she observed both large volumes of pineapple waste from local farms and girls missing school because they could not afford sanitary pads. The company was framed around the question of whether that agricultural waste could be turned into affordable period-care material, which led to the development of a patent-pending process for converting it into absorbent pulp.

Business model

The company plans three sequenced streams, none of which it describes as live: B2B supply of tree-free absorbent pulp to pad and diaper manufacturers as the first and core business; licensing of its patent-pending process to pulp mills worldwide as an asset-light scale channel from year 2 onward; and XETU, its own biodegradable consumer pad brand, distributed through retail and NGO/business-to-government channels as a pilot-stage proof point.

Planned revenue is to come from selling absorbent pulp to hygiene-product manufacturers, from licensing fees for its process technology, and from sales of its own XETU pad brand through retail and NGO/B2G channels. The company states none of these streams are operating yet.

Traction

Self-reported figures from micro-scale operations to date include more than 30,000 kg of agricultural waste processed, over 5,000 students reached with menstrual-health education, and more than 50 green jobs created in its value chain; the company also says it advances six UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its material has been independently lab-tested in five countries and its process published under the PCT. No products are available for sale.

Latest developments

The company reports its process patent has been published under the PCT, that its material was independently validated in five countries at TRL 6, and that it is preparing a pilot while recruiting beta testers for its XETU pad brand. Recognition listed includes TotalEnergies Best Female Entrepreneur in Africa 2022 and a Deep Tech Summit Most Promising African Startup award in 2025, alongside participation in Techstars Sustainability Paris, the Circular Valley accelerator, the What Design Can Do No Waste Challenge and USADF.