At the 10th annual Social Venture Plan Competition hosted by Seattle Pacific University, a taboo topic and a team of five undergraduates with a self-sustaining business plan impressed the judges and took home the gold.

The team included Fall City resident Emma Wright, a senior majoring in global development studies and history, and fellow global development studies classmates Carla Walp, Kaitlin Paull, Josiah Gaede and Alsea Fishel.

Their project, a self-sustaining business plan that addressed the need for affordable feminine hygiene products in Africa, won the Herbert B. Jones Grand Prize with $3,000 cash and the Don Summer’s People’s Choice award for another $1,000 at the April 14 awards.

In Africa, young women rarely have access to feminine hygiene products and during menstruation; this causes them to miss out on school and work opportunities.

The team met in a social enterprise class at Seattle Pacific University and realized their common passion for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and decided to create a business that would cater to one of women’s most basic needs.

They created a company, Afya International, which produces menstrual cups in South Africa, and has a business model that revolves around an educational mission.

The competition encourages students to develop entrepreneurial projects that addresses dual bottom lines: social and financial. Business people, entrepreneurs, and other community partners evaluate and score the plans, after which competitors present their projects to faculty, staff, students, and judges at a live trade-show display event on the SPU campus.