“LONELINESS KILLS”
SOCIAL ISOLATION IS A CATCHPHRASE RIGHT NOW. BUT FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, ENDING IT HAS BEEN JENNA LEO’S DREAM – AND HER BUSINESS
Jenna Leo turned an opportunity to help into a successful business.
“I’m from Sydney and my husband Mat is an only child from a small town outside Montreal. A couple of years after he moved to Sydney, both his parents got sick, so they also moved here to be closer to us. Gerry was 77 and Helene was 57. They were super excited, thinking they would be at the beach, making new friends and having this great Australian life. But the reality was that because of their age and disabilities, they found it really hard to make friends. Gerry didn’t want a carer, but when our friend Destiny, who’s from the US and who really missed her family, took them to the beach, they had the best day out. They felt so connected and valued.
So we looked for traditional carers to provide that service, but they charge $55 to $85 an hour, which we couldn’t afford, and we couldn’t get government assistance. We didn’t need physical or medical care for Mat’s parents; we just needed someone who would build a relationship with them. But the care industry isn’t set up for that, even though loneliness and isolation is becoming such a big concern for people everywhere.
Mat and I were working corporate jobs and wanted to start a business together, but couldn’t find a good problem to solve. Then we realised this was a giant problem – we needed to feel peace of mind, and Mat’s parents needed to feel both independent and connected. So we started Home Care Heroes from my parents’ dining table.
We connect carers, who we call heroes, to our members. Both heroes and members set up profiles on our website, and when we’ve vetted the heroes and done checks and inductions, members get to choose a hero to help them with tasks or just to spend time with, either in person or by video calls. And it only costs $40 an hour, which our members like paying because it gives them control and reliable help. Paying means they don’t have to feel like a charity case.
One of the things that has come out of the crisis we are currently in is that we have all been able to experience just a fraction of what it might be like to be permanently isolated; unable to enjoy the freedoms that can so easily be taken for granted. Social inclusion is a preventative measure: people who feel lonely and don’t have meaningful connections are 50 per cent more likely to die early. And that’s now recognised by the government — we’re registered as a care provider with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), because we solve the immediate problem of loneliness, as well as preventing health issues down the track. Our members include older people, people with disability, people with physical injuries, from a car accident for example, and people with mental health problems. We have a member in her forties, a corporate big dog with no family in Sydney, and she had a breakdown. When she first opened the door to her hero, she said, “I’m so glad you’re here. I haven’t been able to get out of bed the entire week. But knowing you’re coming today, I got up and went to the store and bought some ingredients because we’re making banana bread, and that’s the highlight of my week.”
We love making these kinds of connections. We’ve made it possible for everyday people to help with social inclusion, because a hero can be anyone who is trustworthy and can build a relationship. We have more than 2,500 active heroes just in Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle and Wollongong [NSW], and between them they speak 96 languages and have so many hobbies and interests to share with someone looking to build a relationship.
Being a start-up has its highs and lows. We went through the Remarkable Accelerator Program, which helps tech start-ups that improve the lives of people with disability, and that saw the business skyrocket. Being part of the Cartier Women’s Initiative has been a huge boost, too. For-purpose businesses are in this weird space where they’re not purely for profit, but they’re not charities. The Cartier Women’s Initiative promotes innovative solutions and business models that are actually solving real problems. Just because you have a social impact doesn’t mean you can’t create a sustainable, high-growth, high-value business – and that’s what Cartier is supporting by giving us mentors and financial modelling assistance and helping us scale up. Women are statistically known to have more sustainable businesses that last in the long-term, so one of the initiative’s goals is to keep getting women to dream bigger, and to think about the impact we can make globally.