What is the name of your solution?
S7 CARE
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
S7 CARE uses digital technologies and physical platforms to enhance home care services, valorize care work and dignify care workers.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
First, S7 CARE eases the difficulties faced by the elderly, terminally ill and persons in need of personal care assistance in accessing quality and affordable home care services. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), In 2015, there were 2.1 billion people in need of care (1.9 billion children under the age of 15, of whom 0.8 billion were under six years of age, and 0.2 billion older persons aged at or above their healthy life expectancy). By 2030, the number of care recipients is predicted to reach 2.3 billion, driven by an Additional 0.1 billion older persons and an additional 0.1 billion children aged 6 to 14 years.
Secondly, S7 CARE alleviates the difficulties professional parents (especially women working away from home) have in joining the labor force because of the need to fulfill their domestic care responsibilities. According to the ILO, In 2018, 606 million women of working age have declared themselves to be unavailable for employment or not seeking a job due to unpaid care work, while only 41 million men are inactive for the same reason.
Lastly, S7 CARE combats the challenges job seekers and care workers face within the domestic / home care sector. In A Handbook for Domestic Workers by Horizons Femmes 2011, less than 5% of domestic workers in Cameroon have an employment contract, 3 domestic workers out of 4 (72%) earn less than the minimum pay wage (50 U.S.D) monthly and over 90% of employers agree that domestic workers often suffer acts of violence.
What is your solution?
S7 CARE is a digital technology and physical platform that:
- sensitizes the public on the importance and need of professionalizing the home care sector
- identifies persons in need of home care services as well as persons willing to provide these services,
- trains persons willing to provide home care services to be professional home care workers using a nationally accredited curriculum.
- contracts trained professionals with person(s) needing home care services,
- monitors the daily home care delivery process to enhance the welfare of home care service users, ensure the productivity and respect of the rights of the trained professional caregivers.
Our physical platforms engage directly with home care service users through community care mobilizers who use S7 CARE resources in carrying out the processes of sensitization, identification, training, contracting and monitoring.
Our digital technologies optimizes the processes and operations of our physical platforms by engaging home care service users through tools (S7 CARE web and mobile application tools and other technologies) that enhance welfare and productivity.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
S7 CARE serves the following:
- The elderly, terminally ill and persons in need of personal care assistance, who face the following challenges:
- Poor access to home care services / providers.
- Poor quality and high cost of home care services / delivery.
By using our S7 CARE solution, they enjoy:
- access to home care services / providers.
- quality and affordable home care services / delivery.
2. Professional parents (especially women) working away from home and who are concerned about their home care responsibilities face the following challenges:
- Poor access to home care services / providers.
- Poor quality and high cost of home care services / delivery.
By using our S7 CARE solution, they enjoy:
- Access to home care services / providers.
- Quality and affordable home care services / delivery.
- Access into the labor force and productivity at their functions.
3. Job seekers and home care workers shying away from personal and home care jobs because of the deplorable working conditions that characterize this sector such as:
- The socioeconomic and psychological exploitation of home care workers.
- The devaluation of home care work
By using our S7 CARE solution, they enjoy:
- The valorization of their work.
- The respect of their rights.
- The opportunity to have access to employment and decent work
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
In 2015, my dad was diagnosed of an advance prostate cancer requiring palliative care and that same year, my niece was bunt in hot water by her untrained caregiver because both parents were at work. With these challenges, I wondered about the welfare of the terminally ill, elderly people, children and the safety of caregivers themselves as this is the reality of so many in my community today. This motivated me to form this team (of passionate and innovative leaders like myself from diverse backgrounds and with proven productive professional work experience records in the health / home care sector) to seek sustainable solutions to this challenge.
- Ndofor Nwana D. Sama
(Founder / C.E.O)
Certified clinical and community social worker, Certified social entrepreneur, B.Ed.
Mobilizes and coordinates the effective management of resources to guarantee maximum efficiency of the S7 CARE model.
- Nfebe Bless Shu
(IT officer)
B.Sc in Computer Networking and systems management
Supervises the development and effective functioning of the S7 CARE digital platform.
- Essomba Nkoulou Ghislain
(M & E officer)
Masters of Engineering in Statistics and applied Economics.
Leads the monitoring, evaluation, learning and research team of S7 CARE.
- Angwan Anita
(Head of Finance Department)
Master in Accounting and Finance
Data
Finance clerk of S7 CARE
- Nifor Bisanga J.
(Home Care Supervisor)
Certified state registered Nurse (SRN), MSc. In Food Sciences and Higher Diploma pedagogy (DEPES II).
Supervises the training, placement and work productivity of S7 CARE home care workers
- Nyonglema Noela
(Community Health Educator officer)
Master in public health (MPH) in community health, Bsc (Hon). In Food and Nutritional Science.
Coordinates the S7 CARE community health outreach team.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Establishing care work as a broadly respected profession, including reducing stereotypes around gender roles.
Where our solution team is headquartered or located:
Bamenda, CameroonOur solution's stage of development:
GrowthHow many people does your solution currently serve?
726
Why are you applying to Solve?
“Social enterprises are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will continue to evolve until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.” My team’s mission is to revolutionize the home care industry in Cameroon and beyond. Accomplishing this vision requires financial resources, knowledge and skills in handling technical, legal, cultural and market challenges. With the wealth of experience gained this far in enhancing home care services through our S7 CARE platform, we have successfully build a credible physical platform enhancing home care services. Our interest in applying for this program is to connect to the resources and partners of this rich network (Solve) in order to enhance the development and deployment of our digital technology platform which will quickly scale our model of care in Cameroon and beyond, thereby enhancing the welfare, productivity and self-actualization of all service users.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design, data analysis, etc.)
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Ndofor Nwana Davidson Sama
What makes your solution innovative?
S7 CARE is unique in the following ways:
- It is among the only solution in Cameroon that professionalizes home care services,
- it dignifies home care service providers,
- it increases women participation in the work force,
- it enhances individual and community psycho-social support services,
- its improves accessibility to health care services
With these unique features, investing in a digital platform will optimize and scale this new approach to revolutionizing home care services which is no doubt the game changer in averting a possible global care crisis by 2030.
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?
Developing and releasing the S7 CARE digital prototype (Mobile web and application) for care service users to test the effectiveness of how it enhances their welfare and productivity is our major goal for the upcoming year.
Fine-tuning the digital prototype taking into account the feedback of care service users and scaling the fine-tuned S7 CARE digital platform into the global care market is our goal for the next five years.
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
We shall measure our one year goal from the number of home care service users who will subscribe to use our digital prototype as well as provide us with feedback concerning the efficiency of our product.
we shall use the indicators of SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 17 to measure our 5 years goal.
What is your theory of change?
The S7 CARE solution builds its strength from the Gender Bias and the Devaluation of Care Work Theory. According to this theory, some argue that female-dominated jobs involving care are especially devalued because care is the quintessentially female-identified activity (Cancian & Oliker 2000, England & Folbre 1999, England et al. 2002). To test this, researchers examined whether those in care work earn less than other workers after controlling for jobs' requirements for education, skill, and working conditions, and even their sex composition.
S7 CARE is therefore a solution that redefines the concept of this theory as its objective is to Valorize Care Work and dignify Care Workers thereby creating opportunities for professional women to join the labor force and promote gender balance in our societies.
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
The core of our solution (S7 CARE) is a digital technology platform (mobile web and App) that optimizes and the processes and operations of our physical platform.
This digital platform revolutionizes care work in the following ways:
- It facilitates the sensitization and education process regarding the need and importance of professionalizing care work.
- It facilitates access to care services and providers for persons needing these services.
- It facilitates the identification of persons willing to serve as care workers.
- It facilitates and optimizes the Training of persons willing to serve as care workers.
- It optimizes the monitoring or the care giving process to ensure maximum productivity and professionalism.
Other technologies that complement our S7 CARE solution are: SMS of things, internet of things and soft-wares that manage the daily activities of our service.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successful
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
Full Time Staff = 10, Part Time Staff = 4, Contractors or Other Workers (Care workers) = 234
How long have you been working on your solution?
5 years now (since 2016)
What is your approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusivity into your work?
The S7 CARE TEAM is rich in diversity. Its core team of 6 members is gender balanced (3 females, 3 males). The members of this team come from various religious back ground and one of them is physically challenged. Coming from a country (Cameroon) comprised of over 230 ethnic groups, grouped into 4 geographical regions, made us constitute our team to have at least a representation in each region.
What is your business model?
Value Proposition
- Professionalize home care services
- Dignify home care service providers
- Increase women participation in the work force
- Enhance individual and community psycho-social support services
- Improve accessibility to health care services.
Key Partners
- Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training
- Ministry of Social Affairs
- Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family
- Ministry of Public Health
- Publicity Agencies
- Social Service Institutions
Key Activities
- Sensitization
- Identification, training and follow up
- Placement and or referral
- Monitoring and Evaluation
Key Resources
- Financial Resources
- Human Resources
- Instructions Technologies
Customer Relationship
- Monitoring and or Followup of client service delivery
- Prompt response to client concerns / feedback
- Friendly customer services
Channels
- Social Media Handles
- Website
- Referrals
- One on one marketing
- Print and Local Media
Customer Segments
- Independent children earning a livelihood away from their ageing parents and concerned about the care of their parents.
- Professional parents (especially women) concerned about their home care responsibilities.
- Social service institutions.
- Individual and households.
- Prospective care workers.
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable?
Cost Structure
- Rents
- Utility bills
- Salaries
- Running cost
- Investment in Human, instructional and infrastructural resources.
Revenue Streams
- Client registration fee
- Client service charges
- Investment capital (shares)
- Goodwill donations
- Grants
Solution Team
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Ndofor Nwana Davidson Sama Founder / C.E.O, SAMA CARE (S7) LTD
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Our Organization
SAMA CARE (S7) LTD