Emma: Thanks for having me, Spiffy! With no state systems to support childcare below four in Kenya, the institutional vacuum is filled by the unregulated, substandard informal market. The absence of formal institutions, coupled with the fragmented, informal market, means that learning through play solutions lack a channel of access to the children who most need them. Tiny Totos, a Kenyan social enterprise, has built a social franchise solution to give children everywhere, access to learning through play. Our programme, helps informal babysitters become motivated childcare entrepreneurs, providing quality care. We create a network of community caregivers, who promote adoption of best childcare practices, thus creating a ripple effect of behaviour change across the community.
Lulu: Thanks for having me, Spiffy. Snappable is on a mission to help families with low incomes put food on the table. Food stamps don’t fully cover a family’s meals, leaving 41 million Americans at risk of hunger. There are millions in government funding available to bridge this gap, but these additional benefits are hard to access, and up to 80% of this funding goes unused. Driven to build a better system, I founded Snappable! We make it easy for shoppers to use these benefits and profitable for grocery stores to accept them.
Rumee: Thanks for having me, Spiffy! In recent years, the weather has gotten a bit wild and surprising. It might become really, really hot when it's supposed to be cold, or it might rain a lot more than usual. Now, for people, especially those who need more help and who grow food, like farmers, tricky weather patterns can make it really hard. That means they cannot grow the food they need, cannot get to sell them and earn a living. Farmers need help to protect themselves and also to get through tough times caused by the strange weather. They can buy protection plans to help get money when needed, but these plans can be super expensive and super slow.
