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

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10 listing found

Arogga

Headquarters: Bangladesh

Country of Operations: Bangladesh
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Arogga is a a for-profit digital pharmacy and healthcare startup in Bangladesh. It has developed an app that enables patients to manage, order and track the delivery of medication and healthcare products in and around Dhaka. Arogga increases affordability and availability of medicines by buying in bulk and passing a percentage of the manufacturer’s discount to its customers. The platform also provides services such as doctor consultations, laboratory testing and insurance. Its services reduce the burden of unpaid care work involved in taking care of family members with chronic illnesses that require frequent follow-ups and medications. It enables customers to sources all prescribed medications from a single source.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: “Care for persons with special needs (disabled / differently abled persons) Care for people with illnesses”
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work
Pathway to impact: Reduce

AYAT Care

Website: ayatcare.com
Headquarters: Bangladesh

Country of Operations: Bangladesh
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions
For more information, download the full
business profile here

About the organization: AYAT Care provides personnel for care services which are tailored to the needs of the care receiver and includes health monitoring, mental health support and medical advice, in addition to traditional care for children and the elderly. It makes professional care services available to its customers by providing training for its care-givers. It provides employment opportunities to mostly female youth, who have dropped out from school, while serving customers who find it difficult to find trained and dependable caregivers. Although profit oriented, AYAT care is not profitable yet. It plans to become profitable in the next 3 years.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: 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
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reward, Redistribute

Earlybird Educare

Headquarters: South Africa

Country of Operations: South Africa
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
For more information, download the full
business profile here

About the organization: Earlybird is a social enterprise that seeks to address the shortage of high-quality early childhood development (ECD) services in South Africa. The entity uses multiple delivery channels to provide children from across the socio-economic spectrum with the tools that they need to thrive at school and beyond. Earlybird has helped reduce the career-family trade-off that particularly affects women as 61% of non-working women in South Africa cite ‘family responsibilities’ as the primary factor that curtails their labour force participation.
Stage of Growth: Established/Mature
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

Eau et Vie

Headquarters: France

Country of Operations: Bangladesh, Philippines
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
For more information, download the full
business profile here

About the organization: Eau et Vie is a non-profit that develops water networks in slum areas to provide affordable and sustainable tap water at home. The organization is able to serve tap water in locations where operators of municipal systems are unable to reach. This enables time savings for women and reduces drudgery in accessing water from inconvenient locations. Furthermore, it not only promotes urban inclusion but also has impacts on aspects such as hygiene (personal and menstrual), fire-fighting, waste management and sanitation.
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 & policies/practice that improve conditions for domestic & care worker
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reduce

Folia Water

Headquarters: United States of America

Country of Operations: Bangladesh
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
For more information, download the full
business profile here

About the organization: Folia Water is a for-profit company. It provides affordable and effective water filtration systems to communities that lack access to safe and potable water. Its patented silver-infused filter papers kill bacteria and viruses and filter out dirt and larger parasites. Its water filteration systems reduce the drudgery in collecting water from inconvenient places, especially for women. Other associated impacts include reduced negative health impacts from unsafe water and associated time and capital costs for low-income households.
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

Lively Minds

Headquarters: United Kingdom

Country of Operations: Ghana, Uganda
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Lively Minds is a non-profit entity that ensures that children in highly deprived communities in Ghana and Uganda receive quality education and care in their early years. Working through government, the Lively Minds programme builds the skills and confidence of marginalised, rural mothers to run educational Play Schemes, and provide nurturing care for their children at home. This improves the quality of life and life-chances for rural children, whilst empowering parents and communities.
Stage of Growth: Established/Mature
Types of Services: 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
Pathway to impact: Reduce

Phulki

Headquarters: Bangladesh

Country of Operations: Bangladesh
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
For more information, download the full
business profile here

About the organization: Phulki is the pioneer in establishing early childhood development programs in Bangladesh. Phulki provides various training on health issues, woman rights, and vocational trainings such as caregiver training, supervision training and others, to increase women’s financial stability. It has setup childcare facilities in the workplace for women that are employed in garment factories in Bangladesh. Phulki also works with domestic house helpers building their capacity.
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, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute

Ponaa Briquettes

Headquarters: Ghana

Country of Operations: Ghana
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: Ponaa Briquettes is a for-profit social enterprise that provides clean cooking solutions in Ghana. The company recycles agricultural waste such as rice husks into clean smokeless charcoal briquette as alternative to wood fuel for cooking. It offers affordable cooking solutions to reduce amount of time spent on care and domestic work. Additionaly, the business model supports waste management by converting bio-waste into valuable household fuel. Every year the enterprise recycles 10,000 tones of rice husk into briquettes
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
Pathway to impact: Reduce

Prime Indonesia

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

SweepSouth

Headquarters: South Africa

Country of Operations: South Africa
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: SweepSouth is an online home cleaning platform that facilitates the connection between homeowners and cleaning professionals in South Africa. Within a matter of minutes, customers can book a home clean for as early as the next day. This for-profit entity has engaged over 7,000 cleaners and thousands of satisfied customers are being served monthly. On average, domestic workers receive 80% of the booking fee (plus tips) for their services.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Domestic services, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology, services & policies/practice that improve conditions for domestic & care worker
Pathway to impact: Reward