Leaders

The FemTech industry has been gaining mo-mentum in recent years with an increasing number of organizations investing in women's health. MAS HOLDINGS' FemTech arm, Femog-raphy, has been a pioneer in the reusable feminine care arena, crafting uniquely designed lifestyle solutions that blend with everyday life. Ginnymarie Mendis, Chief of Consumer and Product Innovation at Femography, to-gether with her team, is on a mission to revolutionize the fem health industry by creating innovative solutions that meet the unmet and under-met needs of women at all stages, from Menarche to Menopause and everything in between.

Femography’s vision and drive to challenge the status quo and break down taboos surrounding femi-nine health and well-being are at the forefront of its mis-sion to reimagine the future of women's health. Through her leadership and entrepreneurial approach, Ginny-marie and her team is making a significant impact on the FemTech industry, empowering women to live with greater health, dignity, and confidence. We get to know more about Ginnymarie and her journey in this inter-view snippet, let’s read.

Can you introduce us to Femography and explain its key areas of specialization?

The name ‘Femography’ is a combination of ‘fem’ and ‘graphy’. ‘Fem’ represents the world of the inclusive fem-inine being - the minds, bodies, and souls that inspires the organization, while ‘graphy' comes from the Greek word ‘graphia', meaning a field of study that captures the continuous learning and desire for knowledge to under-stand the world of women and beyond. Combining these two words represents everything Femography is and as-pires to be. Femography is the FemTech division of the MAS HOLDINGS Group, and its mission is to ‘reimagine the fabric of an empowered feminine future’. We create solutions to meet the unmet needs of women from Men-arche to Menopause and beyond, aiming to bring greater health, dignity, and confidence to feminine lives through what they wear, supporting them across all stages of life. As pioneers in the reusable feminine care space, we design lifestyle solutions that blend with everyday life. Femography also challenges the status quo by speaking and designing boldly into the taboos surrounding femi-nine health and well-being.

As the Chief of Consumer and Product Innovation, what are your current primary focus areas for driving Femography's growth?

Our innovation process takes a holistic approach to de-sign inclusive solutions for all women across all life stages. My focus is on identifying unmet and under-met needs of women, finding new technologies to create im-pactful solutions, and exploring routes to market. Despite being a B2B brand, the consumer and their needs are at the heart of our designs, which is echoed in our brand tagline ‘Made to fit everything you are’.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a business leader in the FemTech industry, and how do you overcome them?

Challenges are inevitable when building a new business, especially when your, looking to go beyond the norm. Some challenges I face include breaking taboos and get-ting brands to speak about menstrual cycles and meno-pause, constantly changing consumer habits to opt for sustainable alternatives and the lack of global testing standards for reusable products. However, we as Femog-raphy remain committed to creating better outcomes for people and the planet, disrupting the industry.

Can you discuss the top three milestones you have achieved in your professional journey? What is your success mantra as a business leader?

My key to success is, that I always tell myself don’t just wish for things, but to work smart and creatively to make them a reality. People often expect more from stay-ing in their comfort zone, but to break boundaries, you need to step out of it. Being passionate about what you do is essential to inspiring those around you. Working at MAS HOLDINGS provided me with diverse experiences in different cross-functional teams, including sourcing, merchandising, operations, product development, and customer management. Later, I gained experience work-ing directly with two major retail fashion brands, where I was exposed to strategic business development and planning.

"We at femography are committed to creating better outcomes for people and the planet, disrupting the women’s health industry"

Then I joined MAS Innovation, also known as Twinery, where I explored new adjacent business oppor-tunities and recently focused on women's health, which is something I'm passionate about. As the Chief of Con-sumer and Product Innovation at Femography, I'm now reimagining the future of women's health in a new way to bring greater health, dignity, and confidence to all fem-inine bodies.

What is your perspective on the future growth of FemTech, and how do you see the industry evolving?

I believe that the FemTech industry has a bright future ahead. Seven years ago, the term ‘FemTech’ did not even exist, and only 3 percent of investment funds were fo-cused on women's health. However, it is encouraging to see more organizations, both startups and established businesses, now investing in women's health, as 50 per-cent of the world's population is female, and it's time to bring about a change. Taboos around women's health are slowly being broken, especially in the West, which is a positive sign for the global growth of the FemTech industry. However, in Asia, there is still more potential for gov-ernments, businesses, and communities to embrace this change by smashing taboos. As someone from Asia, I see many opportunities where we can overcome certain bar-riers. Finally, while we are witnessing a rise in women's advocacy, there is a need for more men to be part of the conversation to drive progress as a society.

Ginnymarie Mendis, Chief Of Consumer & Product Innovation, Mas Holdings

Ginnymarie Mendis Studied Electrical And Electronics Engineering Before Pursuing Marketing, International Business Management, Strategy, And Innovation. Her Career Began With A Focus On Technical Marketing, Strategy, And Product Innovation. As The Chief Of Consumer And Product Innovation At Femography, She Is Now Reimagining The Future Of Women's Health.