THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Enhancing the mother and baby friendly ambience at Technopark here, women-led venture ‘I love 9 Months’ (IL9) today opened a Lactation Pod on the campus, which will enable working mothers to pump and store breast milk in a safe, comfortable and private area.
The facility was inaugurated by CEO of Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) Dr Saji Gopinath and Tina James, President – eWIT and Co Founder and Director – 3E Solutions, on the ground floor of Thejaswani block at Technopark. The state-of-the art facility, ‘Domatio’, which comes as a trail-blazer in mother and child care in the country, can be used by all Technopark-based mothers free of cost, to start with.
Taking due care of the safety and privacy of mothers, its salient features include a two-way locked 8ft-4ft private room, comfortable chairs with footstool for relaxed pumping and clean and state of the art breast pump. It will also provide emotional and information support for mothers. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified breast-feeding friendly work place policy a critical component in mother and child wellness.
Kerala CEO of Ernest and Young Binu Shankar, Navigant India HR Director Jena Peter, KSUM Business Development Manager Mr Ashok Kurien, IL9 CEO B K Raj Kumar, COO Ganga Rajan, Kerala Operations Head Varsha K R and Kerala Field Manager Mahesh SS also attended the inaugural event.
‘I Love 9 Months,’ is a maternity wellness Start-up incubated by KSUM. It is co-founded by three women entrepreneurs, Ganga Raj, Anjali Raj and Suma Ajith. It works to providing products and services that help improve maternal and infant outcomes, and was selected the best startup in wellnes sector in India-Israel Innovation Challenge.
The startup has earlier launched a service called ’Sahodari’, to assist mothers with vital check, physical and emotional support and breastfeeding support. The startup has plans to partner with corporates and government offices to make workplace more mother- baby and breastfeeding friendly.
I Love 9 Months is also engaged in empowering women through various initiatives by educating, engaging and equipping them through a variety of products.
