Access is everything: Atlas Vending’s Amy Gan on repurposing tech to bridge Malaysia’s period poverty gap

Oct 24, 2025

Cover What started with a vending machine has sparked a movement helping girls to get access to sanitary pads, says Amy Gan of Etika Group (Photo: Fady Younis)

What started with a vending machine has sparked a movement helping girls to get access to sanitary pads, says Amy Gan of Etika Group (Photo: Fady Younis)

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What started with a humble vending machine and a simple idea has sparked a movement helping girls to access sanitary pads where and when they need it most. Amy Gan of Etika Group shares what drew her to this project

We live in an era defined by artificial intelligence and technological acceleration, but the true measure of innovation may lie not in its sophistication but in its capacity for quiet dignity.

Whilst Malaysia's corporate landscape races towards digital transformation, one question persists: who gets left behind?

For Amy Gan of leading integrated beverage company Etika Group, the answer arrived in an unexpected form—young girls missing school, resorting to newspaper and coconut husks during menstruation. What followed was a little ingenuity, resourceful thinking, and a fundamental reimagining of what vending machines could achieve.

Above For Amy Gan of integrated beverage company Etika Group was struck by the compounding health issues surrounding period poverty in Malaysia

For Amy Gan of integrated beverage company Etika Group was struck by the compounding health issues surrounding period poverty in Malaysia

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The statistics arrived unbidden on Gan's screen some years ago—a jarring interruption to the usual rhythm of marketing campaigns and quarterly targets.

Five per cent of young Malaysian girls can’t afford sanitary pads, resorting to newspaper and coconut husks during menstruation. One in four missing school at least once monthly. The words "period poverty" crystallised a crisis hiding in plain sight.

“Imagine having to skip school because you can’t afford sanitary pads. I couldn’t fathom it,” Gan says. “We talk about AI and other advanced innovations today, but somehow girls are still using newspapers to manage their periods? We felt that we [Etika Group] had a role to play and that’s what we did.”

For most, these figures would have prompted concern, perhaps a donation. For Gan, who is vice president of marketing at Etika Group—parent company of Atlas Vending, Malaysia and Singapore's largest food and beverage vending operator—they sparked something more impactful: a recognition that technology could either deepen society’s divides or bridge them entirely.

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"This is not the first time Atlas is looking into how we use automated dispensing to address a human issue," Gan explains.

The company had already pioneered Malaysia's first Braille-enabled vending machine and wheelchair-accessible units. But period poverty demanded a different response. When the Perak state government issued a public call for sanitary pads in schools, Atlas saw an opportunity to reimagine what their infrastructure could achieve.

“For young girls in their first few years into menstruation, it’s not always stable or regular. Some girls get it as early as nine years old,” Gan says, highlighting the importance of facilitating accessibility to personal care products in a timely way.

The resulting Hygiene Aid programme, launched in 2024 with support from Dato’ Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was a roaring success and a great pilot programme for more to come. Unlike traditional sanitary pad distribution—samples handed out at school assemblies, promptly forgotten in backpacks—these vending machines provide personal care products at the moment they are needed.

Above Amy Gan is the vice president of marketing at Etika Group—parent company of Atlas Vending, Malaysia and Singapore's largest food and beverage vending operator

Amy Gan is the vice president of marketing at Etika Group—parent company of Atlas Vending, Malaysia and Singapore's largest food and beverage vending operator

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Each machine, installed in school compounds and hostels across B40 communities, issues one free pack monthly via access card to 100 students per location. Timing is everything, and menstruation's irregularity amongst young girls means unpredictability, chaos, the mortifying stain.

“When it happens during school hours (and who is to say it won’t?), the girls can simply run to the vending machine, tap, and then get a pack for free,” Gan notes. The technology serves biology, not the reverse.

The programme's expansion to 10 machines this year, with ambitions for 100 by 2029, depends entirely on ecosystem support. Atlas's backend telemetry system transforms each redemption into data—tracking monthly usage patterns from office dashboards, flagging anomalies when cards go unused for three consecutive months.

“We can identify certain issues prior to it cropping up," Gan explains. The technology enables collaboration with teachers to monitor school attendance improvements, addressing not merely sanitary needs but cascading consequences: health complications from poor products, dignity compromised by inaccessibility, education interrupted by absence. One vending machine, multiple interventions—data as preventative care rather than mere metrics.

“Future generations shouldn't think of menstruation as a taboo anymore,” Gan says. “We love those moments when the girls feel courageous to walk up to the vending machines and get pads, even if the boys feel uncomfortable about it. And honestly? Men should feel it’s alright to buy sanitary pads for their sisters or daughters, as easily as they buy toiletries or toothpaste.” she says.

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What emerges from conversations with Gan is a philosophy refined through projects like the Braille vending machine—where a 28-year-old Malaysian Association for the Blind employee, wept upon independently purchasing a drink for the first time.

“The simple fact that buying a can from a vending machine is such a simple thing to us,” Gan reflects. That moment crystallised everything: technology's highest purpose isn't sophistication but service to fundamental human dignity.

As the Hygiene Aid campaign shows us, data points can inform better care solutions. Automated dispensing can become social infrastructure. You can accept the status quo or you can turn the tables on it altogether, without breaking the bank on your brand.

And vending machines, those mundane fixtures of modern convenience, transform into instruments of equity—ensuring that in Malaysia's rush towards artificial intelligence and digital futures, no young girl is left behind.

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Credits

Photography: Fady Younis

Topics

Atlas Vending Changemakers Period poverty Etika Group

Tania Jayatilaka

Digital Editor, Tatler Malaysia

Previously contributing to Esquire Malaysia, Expat Lifestyle and Newsweek, Tania oversees digital stories across Tatler’s key content pillars, also leading the Front & Female platform exploring issues and topics affecting women today.