UN Women Care Accelerator, a programme focusing on developing solutions for the care economy, has completed its 4-month intensive training schedule with 13 startups from the Asia Pacific region.
Malaysia’s on-demand babysitting platform Kiddocare and Indonesia’s homecare service application LoveCare emerged as the grant winners of the programme.
The two startups will receive US$5,000 each from WeEmpowerAsia (a UN Women programme funded by and in partnership with the European Union) and Seedstars (a technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem builder based out of Geneve, Switzerland).
Below is a snapshot of the 13 startups:
- LoveCare (Indonesia) saves clients time by matching them with the perfect carer that fits their needs and preferences in less than 5 minutes.
- Kiddocare (Malaysia) gives the tools to millions of freelance caregivers and nurses throughout Asia to better care for their clients while helping them grow their businesses through technology.
- Pillar Health (Malaysia) develops highly scalable tools that help independent care providers work more efficiently and operate their care services more effectively.
- Nannyz matches nannies and babysitters with families in the area.
- Kiidu (Thailand) is a care platform to find the most suitable nannies and caregivers in Thailand.
- Aseana Caregivers (Malaysia) connects parents with trained, vetted and certified Malaysian babysitters for personalised on-demand childcare.
- Carer (Singapore) provides caregivers with the most comprehensive in-home nursing help and guidance.
- Ayat Care (Bangladesh) facilitates empowerment without boundaries by providing care and coaching where it is needed and beneficial.
- Bihani Social Venture (Nepal) provides age-inclusive services focusing on mental and physical well-being for older people in Nepal.
- Mobiva empowers older people to live independently longer, healthier and safer while providing peace of mind to their families.
- JobNukkad (India) is an online portal that helps families connect with caregivers in their locality without paying commission to an agency.
- TiTLi (India) unlocks livelihood opportunities for millions of women by helping them become skilled early childhood educators and caregivers.
- Angels & I (Indonesia) provides a proprietary educational curriculum and certification for nannies to take care of and educate children at home.
Also read: A woman among women: 27 female-led startups in SEA that are going places
Launched in 2021, the UN Women Care Accelerator identifies and promotes women-led or women-impacting enterprises to turn the unequal care burden put on women into employment and business opportunities that benefit women, families, and communities.
The startups picked by the programme provide products, services, or tech solutions that can make care more accessible and affordable and improve the overall quality of care services online and offline.
Throughout the 4-month intensive training programme to fine-tune participants’ business strategies, the accelerator claims that it sees clear business growth and progress of the 13 startups in becoming more sustainable and gender-inclusive.
“However, it will require strong collaboration with policymakers and corporates alike to create an inclusive care economy,” said Katja Freiwald, regional programme manager at WeEmpowerAsia UN Women.
Besides Freiwald, Paul Ark (partner and head of ESG at Gobi Partners), Christina Teo (chief builder at she1K), Konstantin Hapkemeyer (investment manager in Africa & Asia at Seedstars) are on the jury to decide the two grant winners.
In the Asia Pacific region, women are often in charge of the household and take on a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work responsibilities.
OECD research shows that unpaid care is a critical reason for the poor participation of women in paid work. This is especially prevalent in Southern Asia, where female labour force participation is among the world’s lowest and has shown a downward trend since the early 2000s, as per a 2018 report made by International Labour Organisation.
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Image Credit: Care Accelerator
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