We reviewed over 200 businesses worldwide*, and have identified over 165 businesses operating in the care economy across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia who met the following 4 criteria:
1. Geography focus: operating in project target countries.
2. Care economy impact: business activities recognize, reduce, reward or redistribute care work.
3. Proof of concept: care economy activities at least at the launch stage (none of the businesses are at concept stage).
4. Market-based intervention: already or planning to be financially profitable or to generate income in the medium term.
Out of the mapping we selected 60 businesses to conduct a full profile and showcase potential investment opportunities. These profiles have been created from information and data provided by the business itself. Use the filter on the left to access the businesses profiled.
* Disclaimer: The data presented in the business mapping and profiles is based on information provided by the businesses and has not been independently verified
1. Geography focus: operating in project target countries.
2. Care economy impact: business activities recognize, reduce, reward or redistribute care work.
3. Proof of concept: care economy activities at least at the launch stage (none of the businesses are at concept stage).
4. Market-based intervention: already or planning to be financially profitable or to generate income in the medium term.
Out of the mapping we selected 60 businesses to conduct a full profile and showcase potential investment opportunities. These profiles have been created from information and data provided by the business itself. Use the filter on the left to access the businesses profiled.
* Disclaimer: The data presented in the business mapping and profiles is based on information provided by the businesses and has not been independently verified
Kiidu
Website: www.kiidu.com
Headquarters: Thailand
Country of Operations: Thailand
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions
About the organization: Kiidu’s model empowers domestic workers and care givers with jobs and helps parents find personnel such as nannies, tutors, maids, senior caregivers, nurses and drivers in Thailand. The solution has led to reduced care work through provision of domestic services. This for-profit company intends to expand its services to the Philippines.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Infant-care (children younger than 1-year), Child-care (Ages 1 to 5), Child-care (Ages 6 and above), Elderly-care (Ages 60 and above), Care for persons with special needs (disabled / differently abled persons), Care for people with illnesses, Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reduce, Redistribute
Koola Waters
Website: koolawaters.co.ke
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Koola Water is a for-profit company that focuses on manufacturing, distribution, treatment and packaging of pure drinking water in Kenya. Its products reduce the time spent by women to obtain clean drinking water in rural areas of Kenya.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable time and labour saving technology and products
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Lavapp
Website: www.lavapp.me
Headquarters: Argentina
Country of Operations: Argentina, Mexico, Other Countries
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions
About the organization: Lavapp is the first App in Latin America that connects people with the best laundry stores in their neighborhood, allowing them to manage their orders from their smartphones without leaving their homes and with free delivery. Lavapp’s team’s goal is to become an economic alternative for thousands of people who need an additional income. They are addressing the challenge of the lack of affordable solutions to reduce the amount of time spent on care and domestic work, and the limited redistribution of care and domestic work to other actors in the care economy. The app has been recognized as a dignified and rewarding work tool that helped more than 100 families in 2020.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers (e.g. technology that links employers to domestic/care workers), Provision of technology, services & policies/practice that improve condition for domestic & care worker (e.g. apps that calculate decent remuneration), Provision of affordable time and labour saving technology and products (e.g. product that makes washing, cooking more efficient)
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute
Lavuro
Website: lavuro.com.ar
Headquarters: Argentina
Country of Operations: Argentina
Women owned / led: At least 30% women in senior leadership positions
About the organization: Lavuro is a trusted community marketplace in Argentina that combines artificial and human intelligence to provide cleaning and other domestic services. Customers post their tasks to be solved by “lavurantes,” who generate extra income doing what they know best. Lavuro´s primary goal is to offer a product that resolves multiple issues in the range of the care economy so that their users have a multipurpose platform to find solutions to their care needs.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute
Lazarillo
Website: www.lazarillo.app
Headquarters: Chile
Country of Operations: Chile, Other Countries
Women owned / led: None
About the organization: Lazarillo is a Chilean app that helps people with visual disabilities to improve their independence with information on their routes to access physical or digital services. Lazarillo addresses the lack of affordable solutions to reduce the amount of time spent on care and domestic work by improving the well-being and independence of people with disabilities. They have benefited more than 400,000 people by delivering a simple platform that made it easier for people to have traveled more than 6000 times around the world independently.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Care for persons with special needs (disabled / differently abled persons)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers (e.g. technology that links employers to domestic/care workers)
Pathway to impact: Reduce
LivelyHoods Kenya
Website: www.livelyhoods.org
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions, At least 30% of women in board of directors
About the organization: Livelyhoods Kenya is a non-profit social enterprise that provides last-mile distribution of essential items in slum communities of Kenya. Livelyhoods Kenya trains women who work as sales agents in the community. Through its intervention, Livelyhoods has enabled women to purchase products that have reduced their care work, including cookstove and solar lights. Adoption of these products has reduced household expenditures and drudgery for women.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Reward
LivUp
Website: www.liv-up.cl
Headquarters: Chile
Country of Operations: Chile
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women
About the organization: LivUp is dedicated to prolonging and protecting the vitality of the elderly. This Chilean platform promotes prevention to decrease the need for intensive care. LiveUp is addressing the limited redistribution of care and domestic work and creating affordable solutions to reduce the amount of time spent on caring f and domestic work. Between 2018 and 2020, LivUp has impacted 97 families with the innovative figure of autonomy’s promoter and by employing people over their 50s.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Elderly-care (Ages 60 and above)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers (e.g. technology that links employers to domestic/care workers), Provision of technology, services & policies/practice that improve condition for domestic & care worker (e.g. apps that calculate decent remuneration), Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas), Awareness raising on the care economy through marketing, information campaigns & programmes that raise awareness & increase motivation
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute
MyNurz
Website: mynurz.com
Headquarters: Indonesia
Country of Operations: Indonesia, Thailand
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: MyNurz is a for-profit company that provides home care health services in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Its services consist of non-hospital care, care training and advisory services, through provision of nurses (specialist and general, practical nurse, nurse aides), physical, occupational and speech therapists. It reduces the care work undertaken by households through provision of home care providers. The company has completed over 40,000 caregiving sessions.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: “Elderly-care (Ages 60 and above)
Care for persons with special needs (disabled / differently abled persons)
Care for people with illnesses”
Care for persons with special needs (disabled / differently abled persons)
Care for people with illnesses”
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Nannyfy
Website: nannyfy.com
Headquarters: Spain
Country of Operations: Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, other Latin America countries
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Nannyfy is a platform guided by “nannies” that promote learning in children to assist parents through digital content. Nannyfy allows parents to offer an interactive and exciting experience for their children from 3 to 12 years of age with live videos that stimulate kids´ learning skills. Nannyfy´s services also include enterprises’ solutions to implement corporate activities with families and their children, among others.
Stage of Growth: Established/Mature
Types of Services: Infant-care (children younger than 1-year), Child-care (Ages 1 to 5), Child-care (Ages 6 and above)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas)
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Nazava Water Filters
Website: www.nazava.com
Headquarters: Indonesia
Country of Operations: Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions, At least 30% of women in board of directors
About the organization: Nazava is a for-profit enterprise that produces affordable gravity based ceramic household water filters, replacing the need to boil water on wood or LPG. It reduces care work as women save 139 hours per year on boiling and collecting fuel using the water filters. Nazava purified water is 3 times cheaper than boiling and 9 times cheaper than buying water from refill-kiosks.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable time and labour saving technology and products
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Prime Indonesia
Website: primeindonesia.id
Headquarters: Indonesia
Country of Operations: Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Prime Indonesia is a for-profit enterprise that produces and distributes energy-saving biomass stoves. The company serves poor people in Indonesia by providing cheaper cook stoves. It reduces the amount of time spent by women in cooking and wood collection, and saves households from spending on refilling LPG or Kerosene. In addition, prime stoves are also healthy and energy-efficient products, reducing maternal and child mortality due to smoke when cooking using traditional stoves.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Domestic services
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology, services & policies/practice that improve conditions for domestic & care worker
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Sitly
Website: www.sitly.co
Headquarters: Netherlands
Country of Operations: Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, other Latin America countries
Women owned / led: Information not available
About the organization: Sitly is a platform that connects families with nannies and babysitters. Sitly is built by parents, for parents. They want kids to have the best care, and parents to have peace of mind when they can’t take care of their kids. Sitly is now the fastest-growing platform that allows babysitters, nannies, and families to connect while it recognizes and dignifies people’s work dedicated to childcare.
Stage of Growth: Established/Mature
Types of Services: Infant-care (children younger than 1-year), Child-care (Ages 1 to 5), Child-care (Ages 6 and above)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas)
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Reward, Redistribute
Strong Start
Website: www.strongstart.co.ke
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions, At least 30% of women in board of directors
About the organization: Strong Start is a for-profit company that provides caregivers and domestic staff in Kenya with technical skills training in early childhood development, household management, self advocacy and job search training. It connects with caregivers and domestic staff through community micropods and blended trainings to support them in advancing their technical and advocacy skills at their workplaces. The enterprise has trained 144 caregivers via live blended trainings and worked with 634 caregivers in micropod & playgroup programs. The company’s services not only reduce the burden of care work but also upskill caregivers and domestic workers.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Infant-care (children younger than 1-year), Child-care (Ages 1 to 5), Domestic services
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reward
Te lo lavo
Website: telolavo.cl
Headquarters: Chile
Country of Operations: Chile
Women owned / led: Information not available
About the organization: Te lo lavo brings cleanliness everywhere to improve people´s lives. The company aims to help reduce the time people spend on household chores and positively impact their lives by offering cleaning services for houses, clothes, and other facilities.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable time and labour saving technology and products (e.g. product that makes washing, cooking more efficient)
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute
TeleCuidado
Website: telecuidado
Headquarters: Chile
Country of Operations: Chile
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women
About the organization: Telecuidado is a telemonitoring system for the elderly. The innovative service consists of a wearable device connected 24×7 to a monitoring center, which receives the user’s vital signs, location, and signals from the patient. If an emergency is detected, the user, their family members, and health emergency professionals are immediately contacted if necessary.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Elderly-care (Ages 60 and above)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas)
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute
The Mother Goose Kenya
Website: themothergoosekenya.com
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions
About the organization: The Mother Goose Kenya is a community-based organization (CBO) that focuses on helping communities improve the quality of child-care focusing on the following themes: empowering women and parents, parenting solutions and quality childcare solutions. The entity’s services reduce the burden of unpaid care work families through provision of domestic workers. Furthermore, the entity also empowers domestic workers by providing trainings and placements.
Stage of Growth: Established/Mature
Types of Services: Infant-care (children younger than 1-year), Child-care (Ages 1 to 5), Child-care (Ages 6 and above), Domestic services
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Redistribute, Redistribute, Reward
Through My Eyes
Website: Not available
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions
About the organization: Through My Eyes is a social enterprise that trains and accredits caregivers to serve children with special needs. Once caregivers have been contracted, they go through daily inspections to ensure they are presentable and in the most positive state of mind. The trainings are categorized according to the diagnosis and the specific needs of the children. Through My Eyes rewards the accredited caregivers with better placement opportunities on mastering the art of caregiving. The enterprise’s services reduce the burden of care work and improve skills of caregivers.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Care for persons with special needs (disabled / differently abled persons)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Timbrit
Website: www.timbrit.com.co
Headquarters: Spain
Country of Operations: Colombia, Argentina, Chile, other Latin America countries
Women owned / led: Information not available
About the organization: Timbrit is an all-in-one platform that offers an array of home services that connects readily to help professionals with any project, including cleaning, caregiving, among others, such as home repairs or emergencies.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Child-care (Ages 6 and above), Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable time and labour saving technology and products (e.g. product that makes washing, cooking more efficient), Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas)
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute
Tiny Totos Kenya
Website: www.tinytotos.com
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya, Rwanda
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Tiny Totos is a social enterprise that aims improve informal daycare by partnering with private, informal daycare entrepreneurs and delivering training and investment to upgrade standards, foster business sustainability and deliver improved care to children in Kenya and Rwanda. The enterprise redistributes care work by providing training and content on how to run profitable childcare businesses, create user-friendly childcare content that ensures child, health, development and nutrition is upheld.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Infant-care (children younger than 1-year), Child-care (Ages 1 to 5)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work
Pathway to impact: Reduce
UGOGO
Website: ugogo.co
Headquarters: Argentina
Country of Operations: Argentina
Women owned / led: At least 30% women in senior leadership positions
About the organization: Ugogo is a technology-enabled home care provider that uses digital and artificial intelligence to improve elderly care services in Latam. Ugogo offers technology-based tools for patient history and personalized care plans drawn up by professionals, among others. They aim to change the care culture and raise awareness around caregivers’ burnout while improving the quality of life of the elderly and their families.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Elderly-care (Ages 60 and above)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers (e.g. technology that links employers to domestic/care workers), Provision of technology, services & policies/practice that improve condition for domestic & care worker (e.g. apps that calculate decent remuneration), Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas)
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reduce, Redistribute