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
Bidhaa Sasa
Website: www.bidhaa.co.ke
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya, Uganda
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women
About the organization: Bidhaa Sasa is a for-profit company that supplies a range of products to customers in rural communities of Kenya. Its products include solar lamps, systems and radios, efficient cookstoves, LPG cylinders and cooking accessories, as well as water tanks and agricultural tools. More than 70% of the company’s customers are women. Bidha Sasa products enable women to operate in cleaner and safer environments and reduce the drudgery associated with domestic work. The company also provides nano-credit to its customers to make the products affordable.
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
BURN Manufacturing
Website: burnstoves.com
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Somaliland, Somalia, Tanzania, DRC, South Sudan, Puntland, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi, Australia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Canada, Germany, Ivory Coast, India, Thailand, Malawi
Women owned / led: At least 30% of women in board of directors
About the organization: BURN is a for-profit company that manufactures affordable clean cookstoves for households in sub-Saharan Africa. To date, BURN has sold over 1.2 million stoves. BURN’s cookstoves save money, fuel and time for its customers and help reduce harmful indoor smoke emissions which can cause significant health problems. The company’s products are instrumental in reducing the burden of collecting firewood, which typically falls on women, and potentially exposes them to risk of physical and sexual violence.
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
CACEH
Website: www.caceh.org.mx/
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women, At least 30% of women in board of directors
About the organization: CACEH (Centro Nacional para la Capacitación Profesional y Liderazgo de las Empleadas del Hogar) is a Mexican non-profit organization founded and led by women who are former household workers. The organization promotes the professionalization of household workers and advocates for their rights.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Domestic services
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), Awareness raising on the care economy through marketing, information campaigns & programmes that raise awareness & increase motivation
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reward
Emerging Cooking Solutions Sweden AB
Website: www.supamoto.co.zm
Headquarters: Sweden
Country of Operations: Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique
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: Emerging Cooking Solutions is a for-profit company that manufactures and distributes SupaMoto® clean-burning stoves and biomass cooking fuel for low-income urban families and businesses in Zambia. The company’s products have not only helped reduce the care work undertaken by women in fuel collection but also reduced the fuel cost associated with cooking. Since 2013, the company has reached 20,000 households. For every 2 households that switch from charcoal to pellets, the savings in carbon emissions is 8 tonnes per year.
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
Green Girls Organisation
Website: www.greengirlsorganisation.org
Headquarters: Cameroon
Country of Operations: Cameroon, Central African Republic, DRC
Women owned / led: At least 51% owned by women, Founded by at least one woman, At least 30% women in senior leadership positions, At least 30% women in board of directors
About the organization: Green Girls Organization is a non-profit organization that trains women and girls across African rural communities on generating energy from the sun and waste. The entity create markets for these women to sell the solar lanterns and organic fertiliser obtained from the biodigesters. Through its work, the entity helps women make their lives safer, healthier and more secure, by providing access to livelihoods and through the provision of clean energy to customers. Its products reduce the time spent by women on domestic work.
Stage of Growth: Established/Mature
Types of Services: Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of technology & services that train/upskill domestic & care workers
Pathway to impact: Reduce
HIPOCAMPUS
Website: www.hipocampus.mx
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
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: Hipocampus is a social enterprise that provides high-quality and affordable early childhood care and education for working families in Mexico. Hipocampus partners with employers to provide on-site childcare services fully aligned with parents´ needs. With a B2B business and distribution model, Hipocampus operates under a community-centered approach (ie. providing opportunities to educators-mostly women- from the same communities where the centers operate.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: 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 (e.g. technology that links employers to domestic/care workers), Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work (e.g. affordable daycare services in rural areas)
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reduce, Redistribute
Homely
Website: www.homely.mx
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman, At least 51% owned by women, At least 30% of women in board of directors
About the organization: Homely is a digital platform that connects clients with a trusted cleaning professional for their home or office more easily, quickly, and securely. Employees can choose to provide hourly or fixed contract work. In both cases, domestic workers receive all the legal and social benefits. Homely´s mission is to provide adequate tools for the economic independence of cleaners/keepers and continue expanding to other domestic and care jobs such as caregivers and nurses.
Stage of Growth: Mass roll-out/Expansion
Types of Services: Domestic services
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), Awareness raising on the care economy through marketing, information campaigns & programmes that raise awareness & increase motivation
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reward, Redistribute
Imvubu Projects Pty Ltd trading as Hippo Roller
Website: www.hipporoller.org
Headquarters: South Africa
Country of Operations: Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and most sub-saharan African countries
Women owned / led: None
About the organization: Imvubu Projects is a for-profit enterprise trading as Hippo roller. The rollers are an appropriate technology solution designed for tough rural conditions where access to water and water infrastructure is unstable. The rollers are used to transport more water using minimal effort. This reduces the care work undertaken mostly by women, children, and the elderly. Hippo roller’s capacity of 90 Liters provides adequate water for least 2 people to sustain themselves on a daily basis.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Child-care (Ages 6 and above), Elderly-care (Ages 60 and above), Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable time and labour saving technology and products
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Isla Urbana
Website: islaurbana.org
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
Women owned / led: Information not available
About the organization: Isla Urbana is a company that strives to make rainwater harvesting an autonomous, sustainable, and resilient alternative for the water supply of the most vulnerable. Its principal goal is to promote sustainable development in water based on rainwater harvesting. Isla Urbana’s main challenge is to create solutions to reduce the amount of time spent on care and domestic work. Its main motivation is that their country (Mexico) is going through a water crisis and millions of people lack dignified and safe access to this service.
Stage of Growth: Small scale roll-out/Early stage
Types of Services: Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: 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
LavanderiApp
Website: www.lavanderiapp.io
Headquarters: Mexico
Country of Operations: Mexico
Women owned / led: Founded by at least one woman
About the organization: LavanderiApp is a platform of high social impact that generates sources of self-employment for women through the provision of laundry services. It aims to reduce the amount of time spent on domestic services and to provide flexible jobs for women. They plan to expand through Latin America and to become a flexible and marked-based solution for both employees and clients.
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)
Pathway to impact: Reduce
Made To Clean Pvt Ltd
Website: www.madetoclean.co.zw
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
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
Xalco Ltd – Trading as “UJUZI FURSA AFRICA” “HOMECARE360” “COMFORTCARE360”
Website: www.homecare-360.com
Headquarters: Kenya
Country of Operations: Kenya, South Sudan
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: Xalco Ltd is a social enterprise that trains and certifies caregivers in Kenya and South Sudan. Its services include provision home health care services such as asssitance to daily living, companionship to elders, post operation/surgery patients, mentally ill elders, among others. The enterprise leverages an online platform to connect caregivers to customers. Its services not only reduce the burden of care work but also provide trainings to caregivers.
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, Labour saving solutions
Activities in the care economy: Provision of affordable services that provide care & domestic work
Pathway to impact: Recognize, Reward, Redistribute