Digital service platforms have proliferated in the world and in Latin America, mainly in services such as transportation and home delivery. services such as transportation and home delivery. In the region, however, platforms focused on care services are slowly beginning to emerge. in the region, however, platforms focused on care services are gradually beginning to emerge.

It is an incipient market but, in the opinion of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), it has an important transforming potential, both in terms of social and economic aspects, professional training and bankarization, among others. These applications are focused on a segment of workers who in Latin America are mostly low-income women and who move in a mainly informal market (more than 90% in many countries of the region).

In a recent study, the IDB analyzed six digital care platforms in the region -TuNanny (Uruguay), NannysApp (Bolivia), Cuidarlos (Argentina), Helpers (Paraguay), Wi Help (El Salvador), Zolvers (Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico) and Hogaru (Colombia)- that focus on different objectives -childcare, eldercare and home cleaning- with different business models.which focus on different objectives -childcare, elderly care and home cleaning- and have different business models. However, they have in common the need and ambition to promote the formalization and inclusion of female workers.

Of the platforms analyzed in the study, Zolvers is the most developed. It manages 160,000 workers and is the only one that has received financing (US$2.2 million from NxtpLabs, Jaguar Ventures and the IDB itself). and, in Argentina, offers services for the payment of social and tax obligations on behalf of the client.

According to the IDB, these platforms can, among other things, promote the professionalization of women workers in the sector, their digital and financial inclusion, formalization, and establish regional benchmarks to improve knowledge about the needs of women workers in a changing and expanding market.

You can see the study here.