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
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
OneSky
Website: www.onesky.org
Headquarters: United States of America
Country of Operations: Vietnam, China, Mongolia
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: Onesky is a non-profit that trains women operating daycares out of their homes in Vietnam’s industrial zones. These daycares serve children of women labouring in nearby factories who do not have access to quality care for their children. It empowers caregivers to establish a responsive relationship with children and create a safe and nurturing learning environment, thereby redistributing care and domestic work whereby young mothers leave their children in the care of onesky trainees to pursue employment or education. Onesky has trained over 75,984 caregivers and impacted 247,753 children.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Child-care (Ages 1 to 5)
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reward
Prosperia
Website: es.prosperia.health
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women
About the organization: PROSPERIA is a social impact spin-off from the MIT Media Lab created to massify early detection and treatment of chronic diseases in emerging markets through solutions based on Artificial Intelligence
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Care for people with illnesses
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: Redistribute
SerCuidado APP
Website: servicioinmediatodecuidadores.com
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Ser Cuidado App is a digital platform that offers care services for dependent and non-dependent people who require home care. Their mission is to satisfy the social and physical needs of any person that requires care: children, the elderly, people with illnesses, and people with special needs or disabilities. Ser Cuidado APP provides training to care workers to guarantee good service delivery. Ser Cuidado APP aims for care caregivers to be recognized, better rewarded, and ultimately improve their economic situation.
Stage of Growth: Conceptualization/Design
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 (e.g. technology that links employers to domestic/care workers)
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reward, 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
Tierra Grata
Website: tierragrata.org/en/home
Headquarters: Colombia
Country of Operations: Colombia
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% of women in the Board of Directors
About the organization: It’s a social enterprise that provides access to clean energy, drinking water, and safe sanitation. They design solutions adjusted to rural contexts accompanied by a social intervention process. Tierra Grata’s mission is to accelerate the productivity and economic growth of rural families through access to basic services. They expect to contribute to time reduction in care work and the redistribution of domestic activities to third parties.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of 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
Usound
Website: www.usound.co
Headquarters: Argentina
Country of Operations: Argentina
Women owned / led: At least 30% of women in board of directors
About the organization: uSound is an Intelligent Hearing System that transforms smartphones into listening devices for hearing assistance. The device’s cutting-edge technology is interactive and can learn and grow from the user’s needs, helping to improve people’s quality of life for essential communication and other benefits. uSound also contributes to preventing future hearing loss by dynamically adjusting the intensity of sound frequencies to an optimal level according to the patient´s demands.
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 affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas)
Pathway to impact: Recognize
Yana
Website: yana.com.mx
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women
About the organization: Yana is an application that provides access to mental health tools to millions of Spanish-speaking users around the world. Yana accompanies people on their path to emotional well-being through strategies based on CBT.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Care for people with illnesses
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: Redistribute