Across Latin America, the often invisible and undervalued work of caregiving forms the backbone of daily life and props up the economy. Most of this work is carried out by women, who do three times more domestic and care work than men, contributing to widespread labor market exclusion.
While gains are being made to formalize businesses that enable and are dedicated to care activities, care remains largely ignored by business and investment circles. This is a costly oversight, and one of the region’s most overlooked investment opportunities.
Shifting, formalizing, and redistributing care work isn’t just a social issue – it’s a growth strategy hiding in plain sight. Investing in care delivers a triple dividend:
- Jobs: By 2035, care investments could create over 300 million new jobs globally – 78% for women.
- Services: As populations age, demand for care services will grow. By 2050, one in four Latin Americans will be over 60.
- Women’s economic empowerment: Redistributing care unlocks time for women to generate income, to lead, and thrive.
If unpaid care work were counted, it would represent 9% of global GDP, World Economic Forum data suggests. In Latin America, that figure is even higher – between 15.7% and 24.2% of GDP, according to the UN body CEPAL – outpacing many traditional sectors.
That’s because up to half of working-age women in some countries are currently outside the formal workforce because of care responsibilities. Women who do work in the formal economy are penalized for it: Latin American mothers earn as much as 25% less than women without children.
Reasons to care about care
The care economy refers to the systems, services and labor – both paid and unpaid – that sustain daily life, uphold economies and support wellbeing. This comprises four categories of investment and business opportunity:
- Direct services: Childcare, eldercare and home-based assistance
- Enabling tools: Platforms for training, job-matching, payroll
- Adjacent innovations: Digital health, transport, devices that support care
- Care-aware employers: Companies integrating caregiving into workplace policies
This framing helps investors and the private sector to see the full range of business models that focus on the formalisation and redistribution of care activities, and defines care as a distinct investment opportunity.
Neglecting care needs in the workplace is costly. When women leave jobs due to a lack of caregiving support, employers lose talent, face costly turnover, see absenteeism rise, and productivity suffers. Most companies still operate under the outdated notion of the “ideal worker” as someone disconnected from caregiving responsibilities.
The evidence points in the opposite direction. Research from the International Finance Corporation shows that employer-supported childcare boosts talent retention and productivity, while advancing women’s workforce participation and child development—a triple win for families, employers, and economies.
Engaging men in caregiving also delivers powerful returns. As the Stanford Social Innovation Review highlights, male caregivers report better health, stronger relationships, and more balanced lives.
Innovation in action
Forward-thinking companies are already driving this transformation. In Mexico, Hipocampus partners with employers to establish workplace childcare centers. In Asia, Kiddocare and Kiidu use digital tools to match families with trained caregivers.
One of the most promising innovations in this area involves “digitally enabled care enterprises,” or DECEs – platforms that partner with employers to deliver scalable care solutions. Symplifica in Colombia exemplifies this potential, bridging informal caregiving and formal labor markets. It supports 13,300 employers with contracts and payroll while connecting 8,000 care workers to education and insurance. Sixty-seven percent of workers report improved quality of life, many accessing maternity leave and legal protections for the first time.
Similar models are emerging globally, from Care.com to Kinside in the United States. These innovations offer more than investment opportunities—they simultaneously close the childcare gap and advance gender equity by formalising and making visible and remunerated roles that traditionally fall on women.
Defining the care economy
This isn’t a conventional investment area—but that’s precisely the opportunity. By 2035, investments that shift and formalize care could generate over 300 million jobs globally, 78% for women. In Asia-Pacific, similar efforts are projected to create 89 million jobs by 2030.
Despite compelling returns, key barriers block investment. The “care economy” lacks a clear, commonly-understood definition, making opportunities hard to identify. Additionally, many care businesses are women-led, and structural inequalities limit their access to capital and thus growth. Research by Co-capital—a Mexico-based platform financing gender-smart, impact-driven enterprises—shows that caregiving responsibilities are among the biggest barriers to women’s entrepreneurship.
Limited market data, especially in Latin America, makes sizing difficult. Investors perceive the sector as high-risk due to regulatory uncertainties and underdeveloped infrastructure. Most critically, existing solutions focus on early childhood, while elder care—costlier and more complex—remains largely unaddressed despite growing demand from aging populations and representing a rapidly growing market opportunity.
How to engage
Value for Women’s 2023 learnings from Southeast Asia, “The case for care: Catalyzing investments into the care economy in South and Southeast Asia“, which could be applied to Latin America, identified four ways that investors can move capital toward care, which includes both directly in care-focused enterprises (care as sector), or integrating care considerations into investment strategies across sectors (care as lens), for example:
- Capital allocation to care enterprises across the care spectrum
- Integration of care into due diligence and impact measurement
- Internal practices, such as care benefits for employees within investment firms
- Market-building initiatives like research, accelerators, or catalytic capital
The private sector is Latin America’s largest job creator, holding both the responsibility and opportunity to lead this shift. Demographic shifts—aging populations, urbanization, increased labor force participation—are expanding care demand. Companies that respond proactively can attract talent, open markets, and lead transformation in how care is recognized and formalised.
This means going beyond “benefits for mothers” to implement inclusive strategies: equal parental leaves, flexible schedules, childcare, mental health support, and workplace cultures that recognize caregiving across all genders.
Impact investors don’t need dedicated care funds to start. Integrating a care lens into existing theses—whether focused on decent work, gender equity, or health—can unlock powerful results. The key is intentionality: investing in enterprises that reduce, redistribute, or formalize care can deliver outsized impact and returns.
Building a thriving care economy requires bold collaboration: investors willing to challenge assumptions, entrepreneurs supported with flexible capital, companies transforming workplace practices, and ecosystem actors driving innovation—all backed by public-private policy coordination that ensures a multisector approach.
At Value for Women and Pro Mujer, we believe applying a care lens transforms how we understand work, inclusion and investment opportunity. Achieving this requires mapping and supporting investable care models—especially digitally-enabled, scalable solutions that can build the infrastructure to unlock care as a viable sector in Latin America.
So, if you’re still wondering where Latin America’s next big investment opportunity lies—look no further than your own home.
Rebecca Fries is CEO and co-founder of Value for Women, driving private sector engagement to catalyze gender equality in emerging markets.
Carmen Correa is the CEO of Pro Mujer, driving the organization’s mission to expand financial inclusion, healthcare access and skilling opportunities for women across Latin America.
