Deep Bajaj, Founder and CEO, Sirona Hygiene Pvt Ltd (PeeBuddy)
Mr. Deep Bajaj, the Founder and CEO of Sirona Hygiene Private Limited, better known by his brand name PeeBuddy, has been awarded the social entrepreneur of the year award and has been recognized several times before.
Podcast
Overview
How frequently do you care about feminine hygiene? How frequently have you seen people talking about these issues publically? How comfortable do you feel discussing sanitary hygiene with your friends and family? Not much, right?
Today, we are honored to introduce the man who is fighting to solve these issues for women which are still a taboo in our society. Mr. Deep Bajaj, the Founder and CEO of Sirona Hygiene Private Limited, better known by his brand name PeeBuddy, has been awarded the social entrepreneur of the year award and has been recognized several times before.
Sirona Hygiene stands to solve intimate and menstrual hygiene issues faced by women by their unique products like stand-to-pee, menstrual cup, period pain relief patches etc. In the conversation with Mr. Ashutosh Garg, Deep talks about his motivation and what drove him to develop products for women hygiene. He tells us how he came with the idea and how it is going. He feels that people should be more open about it and should take hygiene more seriously. We also get to know how the world is reacting to the products developed by Sirona Hygiene.
Discussion
What gap did Deep see that motivated him to develop feminine hygiene products?
Deep shares that the idea for his first product ‘stand-to-pee’ came from a joke while he was on a trip with his friends. He tells us that he used to travel a lot with his wife for work and clean toilets were always an issue for them. Even when his wife was pregnant, it got very difficult for her to pee outside and they were in constant need of something that would help. In 2013, he was on a vacation with his friends, when one of his friend’s wife jokingly said she had once seen someone using a contraption to stand and pee. These words clicked Deep’s mind and he said that he will make this a reality.
Deep developed a funnel to stand and pee for women and named their brand “PeeBuddy”. In 2015, his company patented that design. When they started to promote their products and got responses from the women how peeBuddy has helped them, they realized it was bigger than they originally thought it to be. They realized that the product has great medical usages and decided to develop more of such products. Gradually, they understood the needs of the women and developed products like period pain relief patches, disposal bags, anti-chafing cream for rashes from sanitary napkins, intimate washes, menstrual cups and many more.
Challenges faced by Deep while building the business.
Deep told us that the biggest challenge he faced in this business is that nobody speaks about these issues and they are still considered a taboo in society. This is the reason we did not have any products other than pads for periods. He learned that no matter how big the industry is, if you stay in the game, you will find the solutions.
How is the prime minister talking about toilets and an incredible growth in public toilets, impacting and empowering the lives of women and children in India?
To this, Deep tells us that he is quite happy that at least a dialogue has started at this level. Previous governments did care about these issues as well, but it was not widespread. Today, each person who is connected to the internet is being made aware. But he also feels that we still have some distance to travel because the public toilets are still not completely clean. He says making people aware is one milestone, making them available clean public toilets is still something we have to achieve.
How are you developing the ‘stand and pee’ product to be more useful for women?
Deep says that he is aware that women need toilets to use PeeBuddy. Women cannot use this product without toilets like men do. He as a company would like to build something that women could use without toilets, but as a social entrepreneur he wants the toilets to be clean enough for women to use. He says that PeeBuddy would be useful for women who are pregnant, have arthritis or have any other intimate problems. This was the basic idea behind the product. It will take time to upgrade the toilets in the country.
What are some reasons for the fall in the number of people urinating on railway tracks?
According to Deep, the generation today is opinionated. Even younger children have perspectives of their own. They are aware of the things they should not do. This is the reason we see lesser people on the railway tracks these days.
How is the world leaning on you?
Deep tells us that his products are becoming popular among women worldwide. Six countries of Africa are buying from them. PeeBuddy has started to move to the US, the UK and Germany now. He is happy that a product made in India, designed in India is finding acceptance in the other parts of the world.
Three milestones in Deep’s career.
Deep considers leaving his well settled job of doing events in 2010 was a massive turning point in his life. He was told not to do this by many people but he took a stand and moved on. He did a start up that didn’t do well, he considers that to be his second milestone the third milestone he achieved was the decision to pursue Sirona Hygiene full time.
On the personal front he believes getting married has changed a lot of things in his life, then having two daughters is something he would call achieving a milestone.
Core values Deep believes in.
In Deep’s opinion, building persistence can be a virtue. He also believes that integrity is equally important. He stays truthful and expects truth in return. Another value he believes is in empathy.
What does success mean to Deep?
Professional success to Deep is how many people from his immediate team were able to shift their orbits. In the conversation we also get to know that Deep believes in mutual growth rather than just personal growth as he says, “how many people was I able to lift is a mark of a success”. On the personal level he believes success is giving a good upbringing to his children.
Who or what inspires Deep?
He tells us that he is largely inspired by the feedback and testimonials he gets. He adds that the people who dare to move from jobs to businesses, also inspire him. He also likes to watch Jim Crohn’s videos, it also keeps him motivated.
A piece of advice for young entrepreneurs.
Deep has three things to say to young entrepreneurs; give your idea a good thousand days, don’t leave hope too early, secondly, don’t go too much into analysis and third, stay away from energy vampires.
Profile
Founder& CEO, Sirona Hygiene Private Limited
An award-winning social entrepreneur, Deep Bajaj is the Founder & CEO of Sirona, a modern intimate and menstrual hygiene brand committed to solving those feminine hygiene issues that are not adequately addressed.
In Sirona, Deep leads major corporate decisions and manages cross- functional operations. Since 2016, Deep has won multiple recognitions and awards for his entrepreneurial efforts.
