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Sherie De Wet

Pads designed for girls & the planet

Sherie De Wet in her Palesa Pads factory © Thom Pierce 2023

The numbers that Sherie De Wet reels off are staggering, and the pride that she exudes as she does so says everything you need to know about her journey from corporate accountant to social entrepreneur, and founder of Palesa Pads.


780,000 reusable pads sold.


120,000 girls helped.


156,000,000 disposable pads kept out of the environment.


Sherie had her ‘road to Damascus’ moment in 2017 whilst on a business trip to Kinshasa in DRC. Seeing a young girl on the side of the road, abandoned by her parents because they did not have the means to raise her, and the realisation that this was not an isolated incident, was the motivation that she needed to do something with her life that had more purpose.


She read a Facebook post about girls missing out on school because they could not afford to buy sanitary pads, ran the numbers and made a decision.


Overnight Sherie’s world changed and an obsession began; to create and produce an affordable, high-quality, reusable sanitary pad; for the environment, for young learners and for every other person who menstruates.


Over the next six months, she researched, created and tested dozens of designs, combining different materials and shapes to find the best combination for the product. She tested every design on herself, every month whilst she had her period, and made notes on each of the different prototypes. 


“If it isn’t good enough for me why should it be good enough for anyone else”


Eventually, she settled on a combination of fabrics and a design that worked and she hasn’t looked back. These days Palesa Pads produces around 400 pads a day from a small factory in Meyerton, Gauteng. Most of these are donated to girls who need them through sponsorship programs, allowing corporates and individuals to buy the pads at a low price and distribute them.


The pads themselves last for five years and are incredibly efficient and hygienic. They come in five different sizes and work out to approximately 10% of the price of disposable pads, over a five-year period*.


Looking back on the journey, Sherie is clear about the fact that she makes a lot less money now than she did as an accountant, but the impact that she is having on the environment and the lives of others is well worth the sacrifice. 


* 5 years' worth of disposable pads would cost approximately R3000, not accounting for inflation, as compared to R300 worth of reusable Palesa Pads for the same length of time. 



CREATED FOR positive activism © 2025

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