The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a €20 million ($21.16 million) loan with the Hayat Kimya Vietnam Company Limited (Hayat Kimya) to support the ongoing construction of a manufacturing facility for baby diapers, wet wipes, and women’s hygiene pads in Vietnam.
The project aims to expand consumer choice and improve the affordability of these products, which will also be exported to Malaysia and Thailand. An additional loan of €15 million ($15.87 million) was issued by Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH.
“Proper menstrual health management and childcare sanitation is crucial for women, and yet they not only lack access to hygiene products but also face stigma linked to menstruation,” said Ms. Suzanne Gaboury, Director General of the ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department. “Our support will help Hayat Kimya to continue empowering women and improving their health and education, leaving them in a better position to share in the country’s rising prosperity.”
In Vietnam, it is estimated that only 43 per cent of women have access to sanitary pads, while only 52 per cent of mothers use diapers on their infants. At the same time, Vietnam has one of the highest female labor force participation rates in the world. Even so, most working women still have primary responsibility for house, child, and elderly care duties.
The ADB will also help Hayat Kimya develop a gender-inclusive action plan that includes promoting gender equality in their branding and marketing, the implementation of an awareness campaign on the benefits of hygiene products, and development of a gender-inclusive corporate framework, including anti-sexual harassment policies and career development programs for female professionals.
The company also aims to open an internship program for female graduates of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
This project has qualified for a 2x gender financing rating, a challenge launched at the G7 summit in 2018 to encourage gender lens investing among development finance institutions.
“We believe that everyone has the right to access quality sanitation products and we work towards this vision, especially in a region like Southeast Asia and particularly in Vietnam, where women are extremely active in both home and business life, ” said Mr. Hüseyin Okur, Vice President of Finance at Hayat Kimya. “It inspires us to know that we add comfort to their lives.”
Hayat Kimya is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hayat Kimya Sanayi, the world’s fourth-largest branded baby diaper manufacturer, and was established over 50 years ago in Turkey. The company owns 16 brands across multiple consumer product categories, operates 21 manufacturing facilities with 9,000 employees globally, and is among Turkey’s top 50 industrial entities.
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