Gwiji for Women is a social enterprise that economically empowers marginalized women, primarily from informal settlements, by providing them with income-generating opportunities in the on-demand cleaning space.
Founded by Elizabeth Mwangi, an architect by training, Gwiji for Women leverages technology to connect women to households, offices, and serviced apartments in need of cleaning, helping them gain financial independence while improving their livelihoods. Gwiji connects vetted casual cleanes locally known as ‘Mama Fua’ with clients in need of their services. Place your cleaning order today and empower our cleaners support their families.
Gwiji, provides women with digital literacy, professional training, and access to dignified work, ensuring they can support their families. Their mission is to reach 10,000 low-income women from urban informal settlements across Kenya by 2026, giving them the tools they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Elizabeth who grew up in Kaptembwa slum, in Nakuru, stated that her mother was a casual laborer, and she did all manner of casual jobs to support Elizabeth and her siblings to stay in school. Witnessing her struggle fueled her desire to create a sustainable platform to empower other women in similar situations. Many such women lack formal education and are unable to access stable employment.
Gwiji for Women is part of the seven women-led startups that won the 2024 Women In Tech Incubator Program COHORT 7, alongside Moma Renewable Energy, Hayah Cradle to Bloom, Zidallie- Nelly Alili , Haya Cradle To Bloom, Zaoshinani and PsychCare.
The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator Kenya is Africa’s leading incubator programme for female founded businesses, aligning with calls for more diversity in technology, entrepreneurship and for more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership excellence. The program is an initiative of Standard Chartered in partnership with @iBizAfrica Centre, Strathmore University.
TechMoran caught up with Elizabeth Mwangi and here is what she shared with us.
What prompted you to join the seventh cohort of the women in Tech program and What key lessons have you learnt from it?
Joining the seventh cohort of the Women in Tech program by Strathmore University and Standard Chartered was driven by a desire to grow both personally and professionally. As the founder of Gwiji for Women, I wanted to refine our business model, especially as we look to expand our services and increase our social impact. The program offered a great opportunity to connect with like-minded women, learn from industry experts, and gain access to resources that would help Gwiji grow.
Three key lessons I’ve learned during the program:
i.The Power of Networks: I learnt that building meaningful connections with mentors, fellow entrepreneurs, and professionals has the potential to open doors to valuable opportunities and collaborations, which can be otherwise difficult to access.
ii.Business Structure and Strategy: The program helped me better understand how to refine our operational strategies, especially as we look to scape; and how to position my business for long-term sustainability and investor readiness.
iii.Tech-Driven Innovation: The importance of leveraging technology to drive impact has been emphasized throughout the program. It’s been a reminder that to succeed in today’s world, businesses must continue innovating and adapting digitally.
What technologies are you using to build your platform?
At Gwiji for Women, we leverage several technologies to build and operate our platform, ensuring efficiency and accessibility for both the women we empower, and the customers we serve:
i.Mobile Application: Our core platform is 2 mobile applications (cleaner and client app) designed to connect clients with women offering cleaning on-demand. The client app enables users to book cleaning services easily, while the cleaner app is user-friendly for the cleaners, most of whom come from informal settlements and have limited digital literacy.
ii.Cloud Dashboard: Our cloud-based dashboard provides for real-time tracking of cleaner performance, bookings, customer feedback, and order fulfillment. This information helps us manage operations efficiently.
iii.Digital Payments: We have integrated digital payment systems into our cleaner app to ensure that commission transactions are done securely and conveniently.
iv.Safety Features: Recently, we introduced an SOS button and safety training materials on the cleaner platform, both of which have enhanced the safety of our cleaners at work.
Who is your competition locally and how are you unique from them?
Locally, we face competition from other cleaning service providers in the domestic cleaning market, including:
i.App based platforms: On-demand cleaning service providers like Edenlife, and Mama fua app, who operate in Kenya, connecting clients with cleaners via digital platforms.
ii.House helps: Many households hire live-in nannies for their homes, who tend to their household cleaning chores, as we well as cooking, and baby care.
iii.Laundromats: Laundromats like Mama Fua Laundromatic provide a viable alternative for households which need their laundry professionally cleaned.
What sets Gwiji for Women apart from the competition is our emphasis on training and vetting, our focus on social impact, and our commitment to working exclusively with women from urban informal settlements, as follows:
i.Training and Vetting: Many existing on-demand cleaning platforms have a low-barrier of entry for service providers. At Gwiji for Women, we insist on have in-person vetting and training for all of our cleaners before giving them access to our app-based platform.
ii.Social Impact Focus: Unlike many of our competitors, our work is deeply rooted in empowering marginalized women from informal settlements. Our mission is not merely concerned with providing cleaning services, but creating sustainable income opportunities for women who lack formal education and professional prospects.
iii.Women-First Platform: Gwiji for Women exclusively works with low-income women who hail from urban informal settlements. While this may be deemed exclusionary, these women have few income generating opportunities given their low-levels of education, and limited skillsets. By choosing to work exclusively with this group, we are giving them an avenue to thrive in the modern-digital economy, where many of them are ill-equipped to prosper.
Is this your first business?
Yes, Gwiji for Women is my first business. The idea for it stemmed from my personal background and a desire to address the challenges faced by marginalized women in Kenya, particularly those from informal settlements. However, while this is my first entrepreneurial venture, my previous experience mentoring and training women and girls through organizations like AMURT Africa helped me build the foundation for Gwiji.
This year’s cohort focused on the theme “Empowering Women for a Sustainable Future” with a particular emphasis on ESG-driven entrepreneurship or sustainable business models that benefit both society and the planet, do you think Kenya and Africa are ready for such innovations.
Yes. I believe that Kenya and Africa are not only ready for ESG-driven enterprises, but such enterprises are most likely to thrive within our local context. Gwiji for Women, for instance, is a venture that is especially concerned with the societal benefits of our business. By empowering marginalized, low-income women from urban informal settlements, we show we are not only care about building a sustainable business, but also one that is beneficial to the wellbeing society. The customers we serve are happy to contribute to the prosperity of our women while also receiving quality cleaning services. What we offer is not merely charity, but holistic value for both our cleaners, and our clients. The same goes for environmentally conscious businesses such as Koko Stoves, a highly successful local business, which is good for the environment and also provide value to their customers in terms of affordability, accessibility and longevity. Such businesses embody a modern way of doing things, which is not merely concerned with maximizing profits for investors, but building better societies through environmental and social consciousness.
What is the significance of tech-hubs and accelerators in supporting early-stage startups in Africa?
Tech-hubs and accelerators are pivotal to the growth of early-stage startups in Africa. Many of us are first-time entrepreneurs with little experience running a business. In my case, in addition to being a first-time entrepreneur, I have no tech. background. Ordinally, I should have no place in tech. but I know that I am an entrepreneur at heart, and that tech. is essential to the realization of my dream. Tech. hubs rid us off the dogma that we have around tech-based businesses. You learn that like any other business, tech-businesses need a problem they are solving. If the problem is not a pain point for someone, then it is unlikely that they will be willing to pay for the solution. Tech. is therefore a tool that helps in solving a problem. However, the traditional tenets of business – accounting, marketing, fundraising, and sustainability – cannot be discounted simply because a business in tech-based. Tech. hubs help us understand this critical fact, and through that, they build our confidence as modern entrepreneurs dealing in tech. In addition to the lessons learnt, tech hubs further expose us to an ecosystem of fellow entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts, and stakeholders, who accelerate our journeys in building and scaling our ventures; than it would otherwise take to grow our businesses.
Women entrepreneurs make a substantial contribution to national economies through their participation in start-ups and SMEs but they also encounter lots of challenges in comparison to their male counterparts, is it true and what are some of the challenges you have encountered as a female founder?
Yes. If I was to paint the image of an entrepreneur, it would be that of someone who is dreaming, but their eyes are wide open. And that is because dreaming is a key part of being an entrepreneur – you have to imagine a solution to a problem that will be beneficial to many stakeholders, and then build on your dream. But on the other side, there are many forces fighting against you, many dissenting voices that try to discourage you from realizing your dream. So, you have to be awake to these realities, without losing the dream – hence the reason the eyes are wide open in my painting of an entrepreneur.
In my case, challenges have come in many shapes and forms, not least because I am a woman, working with women. First thing I was told was that the women I want to work with do not have smartphones, so it would be impossible to onboard them on the app. So, I decided to go on the ground and see for myself, and I discovered that 60% of the women I interacted with had smartphones. This gave me hope to push on. Next, I was told that the women I wanted to work with were not tech savvy, and could not use the app I was building. So, I decided to train them on how to use the app, and now they are able to operate on their own.
Despite overcoming the challenges that stood in the way of my dream, I still encountered difficulty when pitching my idea to potential investors. Many investors are unwilling to finance projects headed by women, because they view us as high risk. In my case, the challenge is compounded, because I am a woman, working with women who hail from urban informal settlements. Traditionally, this is not a group that receives much support, and unless we are willing to challenge the stereotypes, the situation will go unchanged. I have found a home among women-centric investors like the Aurora Tech. Award, and hubs like iBiz, and I am grateful for the support that I have been accorded. However, the playing field is not even. When put up against a male-led businesses, ventures like mine do not stand a chance – not because our business model is weak, but because stereotypes and dogma dominate the minds of investors. This needs to change. We need more people to take a chance on us, and treat us not as women, but as serious entrepreneurs.
What motivates you every day to do this?
“You need motivation that is bigger than money, otherwise you will quit” – That is what one of our lecturers told us on the first day of Architecture School at the University of Nairobi, where I attended the course for six years. Those words still resonate with me – a motivation bigger than money. In my business, I am reminded of my mother, who performed casual jobs for poor wages to support siblings and me. Watching her, I remember thinking, there should be a better reward of such hard work. And that’s what I created. Cleaners under Gwiji keep 80% of their earnings, which amounts to roughly 800 shillings per order, while we take 20% in commission. This is what motivates me. I love seeing hard working women earn good money for their effort. I love seeing them treating themselves with chips and chapati on their WhatsApp statuses. I love seeing them transform how they look, how they dress, how they walk, and how they talk. I love seeing them taking their children to school, and paying their school fees. I love their newfound confidence in themselves. It keeps me going. It is the greatest reward for my work.
What are your expansion plans?
Our present focus is to scale our operations and reach 10,000 low-income women from urban informal settlements by 2026. In doing this, we require to have greater optimization of our processes, without losing the value we offer to our stakeholders. In essence, our clients come to us because we offer them the best cleaning services, and guarantee of security for their property. On the other hand, cleaners come to us because we provide guarantee of work, and safety and protection at work. It would therefore be unfortunate if we were to scale, and then lack the orders to provide to our cleaners, or dilute the quality of service expected by our clients. However, I believe a solution lies in greater digitization. If we are able to digitize registration, vetting and training for our cleaners; we will be able to onboard more women over a shorter period, allowing us to achieve our target within the established timelines. Similarly, if we are able to introduce reporting tools that allow clients to forward complaints of poor-quality service or suspicious activity, we can be able to arrest situations before they escalate. There is a lot of work ahead, but we have the right support.
What advice would you give to women who want to venture into entrepreneurship?
Look for a motivation greater than money. That will keep you going, even when the going gets rough. Second to that would be to build a strong support community. You need people to lean on for advice, and skills which you may lack. Know what you bring to the table, and find people who add on to your strengths.
