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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76 listing found

Kanguritos

Headquarters: Colombia

Country of Operations: Colombia
Women owned / led: Kanguritos is an education and care agency that offers teachers at home able to tailor children’s and parents’ educational needs reliably and safely to contribute to kids’ development. Kanguritos focuses on 0-7 years old children for whom they have developed innovative tools, such as the “neurolab kits,” a toolbox with a pedagogical approach that seeks to strengthen the basic and essential elements for children’s learning.
About the organization: Kanguritos is an education and care agency that offers teachers at home able to tailor children’s and parents’ educational needs reliably and safely to contribute to kids’ development. Kanguritos focuses on 0-7 years old children for whom they have developed innovative tools, such as the “neurolab kits,” a toolbox with a pedagogical approach that seeks to strengthen the basic and essential elements for children’s learning.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Child-care (Ages 6 and above)
Pathway to impact: Reduce, Redistribute

Kidogo

Headquarters: Kenya

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

About the organization: Kidogo is a non-profit social enterprise that improves access to high-quality, affordable early childhood care & education in Kenya’s low-income communities. Kidogo supports women entrepreneurs to initiate or improve the quality of their own, community-based childcare micro-businesses. Kidogo reduces care work as parents have access to quality childcare service at the centres. 82% of Kidogo kids hit developmental goals. Kidogo kids receive health and nutrition interventions, that have also led to a 41% reduction in stunting.
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: Recognize, Reward, Redistribute

Koola Waters

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

La Lavanderie

Headquarters: Colombia

Country of Operations: Colombia
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: La Lavanderie is a digital laundry service company that operates through its app to facilitate washing, drying, ironing, dry cleaning, and tailoring to its clients, all from their homes or office. “Launderers,” the trained staff in laundry services, pick up and deliver customers´ garments, and customers can pay in cash or by card.
Stage of Growth: Not available
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, Redistribute

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

LivelyHoods Kenya

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
For more information, download the full
business profile here

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

Made To Clean Pvt Ltd

Headquarters: Zimbabwe

Country of Operations: Zimbabwe
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women, At least 30% women in senior leadership
For more information, download the full
business profile here

About the organization: Made To Clean is a for-profit company that aims to standardize domestic work in Zimbabwe, by providing training and placements to domestic workers. Through its operations, it seeks to reward domestic workers for their work by increasing their skills.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Domestic services
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Reward

mDoc Healthcare

Headquarters: Nigeria

Country of Operations: Nigeria
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: mDoc is a digital health company focused on providing people living with chronic disease with 24/7 access to integrated care support in sub-Saharan Africa. This for-profit company reduces the time spent on care work by supporting people with illnesses to manage their health.
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
Pathway to impact: Reduce

Me Cuidas

Website: mecuidas.com
Headquarters: Colombia

Country of Operations: Colombia
Women owned / led: Information not available
About the organization: Me Cuidas is a company that offers flexible care services for children and the elderly, full-time or hourly. Me Cuidas cultivates families’ trust by hiring experienced caregivers with the skills and knowledge to provide high-quality services. Over the years, the company has collaborated with female heads of household, professionals, technicians, and students of careers related to the care of people, contributing to their personal and professional growth.
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), 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

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

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
For more information, download the full
business profile here

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

Oolu

Headquarters: Senegal

Country of Operations: Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cameroon
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: Oolu Solar is a for-profit company that provides affordable solar home systems to rural households in Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso. These solar home systems provide households with brighter, more efficient lights and in-home chargers at a small fraction of their standard monthly energy expenditure. Its products have helped reduce and eliminate the need for rural people to travel kilometers to nearby electrified villages to charge their phones. Lighting from the solar home systems allows children to study an average of one to two hours longer each night. The company has sold over 60,000 solar home systems to customers in the region. 91% of solar light users who previously used kerosene lamps experienced an improvement in their health.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Domestic services
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable time and labour saving technology and products
Pathway to impact: Reduce

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

Powerstove Energy

Headquarters: Nigeria

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

About the organization: Powerstove Energy is a social enterprise based in Nigeria that provides cookstoves and biomass pellets for clean household cooking. The company offers pay as you go cook financing for purchasing cookstoves. The product reduces the amount of time that is spent in cooking and saves labour in collecting of wood. Powerstoves have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2,660,000 tons of carbon (a single Powerstove saves roughly 5 tons Co2 per annum), contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change.
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

Saber Vivir S.A.S

Headquarters: Colombia

Country of Operations: Colombia
Women owned / led: Information not available
About the organization: Saber Vivir S.A.S is a laboratory borne in 2002 whose mission is to contribute to the well-being of the elderly through the development of products that contribute to preserving their autonomy and maintaining an active lifestyle that allows them to share and live new experiences.
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

SerCuidado APP

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

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

Sitters4U

Headquarters: South Africa

Country of Operations: South Africa
Women owned / led: Information not available
About the organization: Sitters4U is a for-profit childcare placement agency in South Africa. It services inclued placing long term and short term, part-time to full-time professional au pairs, professional nannies, infant care specialists, homeschooling teachers, tutors and night nurses. Through its services, the company reduces time spent on unpaid care work.
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 technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers, Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reduce

Solar Sister

Headquarters: United States of America

Country of Operations: Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda
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: Solar Sister is a social enterprise that empowers women with economic opportunity and clean energy in Tanzania and Nigeria. It recruits, trains and supports women entrepreneurs to build business around clean energy. It reduces care work through increased access to cookstoves and solar lighting products in communities dependent on poor quality fuel. Solar Sister has reached out to over 3 million people in Africa with solar energy and cookstoves and kickstarted 6,690 entrepreneurs.
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