Abulé: The first care economy on blockchain

Executive summary

Our global society depends on certain models and systems to function, especially when it comes to caring for members in that society. When the global pandemic of 2020 hit, it exposed just how fragile the state of the care economy is. We watched many of these structures tumble like a house of cards; directors of nursing homes watched as the virus ravaged the residents in  their care, districts shuttered schools and sent teachers off to figure out how to teach remotely, health care workers valiantly served the masses with little space, no sleep, and barely any protection, and parents scrambled to figure out how to juggle work and school from home. 

It is now 2 years later and sadly little has changed. We are still scrambling to figure out how to care for each other in a society that isn’t set up to honor this most noble vocation. And, as in most everything, the marginalized and vulnerable are the ones that suffer the most. We believe a return to the Village is necessary for our survival.  David Brooks eloquently sums this up in his article in the Atlantic “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake”:

“If you want to summarize the changes in family structure over the past century, the truest thing to say is this: We’ve made life freer for individuals and more unstable for families. We’ve made life better for adults but worse for children. We’ve moved from big, interconnected, and extended families, which helped protect the most vulnerable people in society from the shocks of life, to smaller, detached nuclear families (a married couple and their children), which give the most privileged people in society room to maximize their talents and expand their options. The shift from bigger and interconnected extended families to smaller and detached nuclear families ultimately led to a familial system that liberates the rich and ravages the working-class and the poor.”

The harsh reality is that there will never be enough buildings, structures, government funding, initiatives or employer benefits to adequately and sustainably cover the care costs for all. What we need is a decentralized ecosystem that runs on a peer-to-peer model, an ecosystem that will give due value to those who care for our loved ones, judiciously reward the under-economy of caregivers, and uplift those in marginalized communities.

We need to call on the power of our village and community to solve our local problems. Those solutions are often best realized by the people who are closest to the problems. By each individual making a small change, we can produce a ripple effect that transcends what any government or employer can allocate to the care economy.

The pandemic caused us to slow down to realize that the current system is flawed and not sustainable. We have been looking for quick solutions instead of spending time building a solid and sustainability structure of care and support. We need a shift in our mindset, from the individual to the collective where we make decisions that take generations into account not just the individual and current era.

It is time for us to get back to the ancient wisdom of the village as a system of support for healthy and thriving communities. It does take a village to raise the next generation of community leaders. We are recreating the web3 village at Abulé.

Market Overview

According to Pivotal Ventures, we spend $648 billion dollars to care for our loved ones from their first breaths to their last.

• $136 billion on infant and child care

• $122 billion on household management

• $151 billion on aging in place and home-based care

• $239 billion on non-home long term care

That is bigger than the $510 billion dollar pharmaceutical industry. And yet mothers and care givers are not rewarded financially. When schools and day care centers closed to stop the spread of COVID-19, it triggered an exodus of mothers from the workforce and revealed how little support there is for families with young children.

Quality, affordable child care allows parents who want to work to stay in the labor force, encourages the healthy development of young children, and supports families at a stage in their lives during which small investments return large social dividends. We want to tap into this under economy of care givers in our village to provide this quality of care so working families can feel confident in the help of their tribe.

State of the Care Economy

The childcare crisis did not emerge overnight, and COVID-19 has brought to the spotlight how severely broken it is. Now more than ever, moms need to cover missing childcare in order to stay in the workforce and employers are looking for new ways to support their employees. 

Of the 2 million plus women who have left the workforce since the pandemic began, women in underrepresented communities have taken the biggest hit. Statistics show that 70% of black women are often the primary breadwinners for their families. The percentage of single moms also rank the highest in the black community.

Regardless, Abulé is set on helping to keep as many moms in the workforce as possible, while providing jobs to those who may have lost theirs.

Still, over 2 million women have been forced to leave their jobs to care for their families, and these numbers will likely increase and there will be a huge economic impact if we don’t take action now. Care givers, and in particular women, are often left out of career- and wealth-building opportunities when they sacrifice to stay home to raise children. Moms are actively looking for ways to cover missing childcare and to maintain a living if they had to leave the workforce. Those women who are marginalized are at an even bigger disadvantage; they often do not have the resources and safety nets that other families do.

The rigor of a stay-at-home mother’s job came into sharp focus during the pandemic, with median time worked reaching 106 hours per week and a fair market salary equivalent of $184,820.

In 2019, prior to the pandemic, families spent an average of $9,200 to $9,600 per child on child care, according to Child Care Aware. The nonprofit calculates that families headed by married couples spend about 10% of household income on child care while single parents spend about 34% of their income. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advises that daycare should amount to no more than 10 percent of a household's budget. By that calculation, a family would need to earn more than $175,000 annually to afford two children in a daycare center at 2015 average costs.  This gap in inequity and wealth is only increasing.

In a perfect world, that $175,000 could go to stay at home parents, paying them the salary they deserve. Until then, we hope to close that gap by tapping into the strength of our village. Because if we don’t do something to support an already tapped-out society, this stress and trauma will have detrimental effects on generations.

Abulé’s Solution

The United Nations’ set forth their Sustainable Development Goals as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere (including gender equality, girls education and women rights). The 17 Goals were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which set out a 15-year plan to achieve the Goals. 

We take up this challenge! Abulé will address the following goals:

• Goal 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere

• Goal 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

• Goal 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

• Goal 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

• Goal 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

• Goal 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries

• Goal 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

We hope to create a sustainable decentralized virtual web3 village built on a token economy with the technology now available to us through Solana. Establishing a more resilient care economy requires each individual to make micro changes that will enable a broader network effect. 

Abulé is the first digital barter care economy being built on blockchain. It encourages the trading of child care tasks for cryptocurrency, and provides mechanisms to reward the under-economy of caregivers and uplift marginalized communities.

Blockchain technology has fairly revolutionized many different business processes. One of the key elements that distinguish blockchain-based solutions is transparency and decentralized control. 

How does the Abulé care model differ from traditional care models?

Abulé is a decentralized care economy meaning it is built for the people and governed by the people. We leverage 21st century technology to bring communities back to the ancient wisdom and strength of the village. 

Who we serve

Abulé serves caregivers, especially those in marginalized communities, who are often undervalued and left out of wealth building opportunities.

How does the Abulé care economy work?

Abulé empowers communities by connecting like minded people based on their core values, mutual interests, mutual friends, and location. We provide the mechanisms and incentives for mutual aid and reward good behavior. You can lean on your trusted tribe or larger village community for help and support, and you can lift up those who work the hardest caring for our future.

How will Abulé help the under economy of caregivers recuperate from career and pay penalties? 

Whether you’re a career champion or you are a full time caregiver by choice, necessity or trade, Abulé provides the options for you to define what work-family-life harmony looks like to you and your family, while ensuring caregivers receive fair compensation that appreciates in value over time. We’re also focused on job creation to bolster economic development. We believe that caring for others is what makes us uniquely and beautifully human and is one of the most noble undertakings. Caregiving should be compensated much more than it is. By allowing people to tap into their talents and time, they can earn rewards that appreciate in value over time.

How will Abulé ensure that marginalized communities are uplifted? 

Let’s be real, the majority of external family caregivers (nannies, housekeepers, elderly care workers) tend to come from marginalized communities; as such, we are building our care economy in such a way that it facilitates and promotes a fair wealth distribution. We are making intentional space in our village to lift up those whose societal contributions are irreplaceable and so often forgotten. We will do this through education and a tokenized reward system.

As a single mom with scoliosis, I can personally attest to additional challenges faced with having medical issues while being a sole breadwinner who has to care for my child and aged mother. I am building Abulé because it is something I need and that I wish I had access to earlier.

I left the comfort of my family and community behind in Nigeria, so I did not have the networks to tap into for help. Luckily I speak the language, but for many there is also a barrier with language and how to access government services. 

We are hiring ambassadors for Abulé who are representing their communities, who will become leaders and evangelists.

We have approached building our company with a user centered design approach. We interviewed and surveyed over 400 parents, mostly moms, to tease out what they need the most, and have tailored what we are building to their specific pain points. Our Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), when enacted, will allow the members of our community to vote and guide what we build for their benefit. Our community will have an ownership stake in Abulé which is, for many moms, especially in marginalized populations, unattainable. 

Abulé will lift and empower the people we serve in our community.

We recognize the value of this new technology around blockchain and web3, yet there is still a lot of uncertainty about its application and the legal implications. On top of this, everyone is still learning. Nevertheless, we remain curious, open, and excited to leverage this innovative technology with the ancient wisdom of tapping into the talents of our community to build a thriving digital care economy in web3.

Technical barrier: 

With web3 being a relatively new space, there are not many people to help with the technical aspects of building on blockchain. Those that we have found have been extremely busy and unavailable. We would love technical help to build in this space as we are all eager to learn. We want the Abulé DAO to programmatically create smart contracts/governance to set a percentage amount to award scholarships and/or care packages to the needy.

Financial barrier: 

As a solo founder, I don’t have access to many networks and communities within the startup space. Many companies that get funded have received initial investments from their friends and family. Unfortunately my family is not able to help financially (although they have supported me in many other ways!), and my friends are in the same boat as I am. 

I see the MIT Solve community as a tribe I would like to belong to. I am looking to be a part of a community that can help connect me to investors, business advisors, innovators, and other founders. While money is important, the help and support would be invaluable. 

Legal barrier: 

We are still learning to understand the legalities around cryptocurrency and valuations as well as the implications of offering a security token, There is still no clarity from the government/SEC around offering token sales to the public, so we need help with the legalities around this. 

Market barrier: 

Until now, there hasn’t been any way for communities who actively contribute to earn ownership stake in a company. The rich only get richer, and the divide between them and the marginalized communities only widens. With the technology around blockchain and DAOs we now have the ability to share with our community; when we succeed, we want to send the elevator back down to lift them up.

Cultural barrier:

Coming from a different country, I left my community behind, so I know what it feels like to be isolated and alone. When I came from Nigeria, I didn’t have access to the friend circles and community that my peers did. Moms, especially immigrants, need help from a trusted tribe, and so I am building Abulé to help those who don’t have that support.

Our goals align with the United Nation's SDG goals. Our key strategic focus for 2022 is to build communities, aligned with Goal 8 : Decent work and economic growth and Goal 2: Good health and well being

SDG Goals 4 and 5: In 2020, Abulé partnered with Girls Who Ventures, a non profit organization aimed at closing the gender and racial gap in entrepreneurship and venture capitalism. We hosted the program for 30 girls, ages 13 -17 in the U.S. In collaboration with Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania, we ran a simulation game that allowed the participants to re-enact real-life interactions between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Upon completion of the program, participants received certificates and had the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to institutional investors. As a country board advisor of Women In Tech - Global Movement for the Nigerian chapter, we will be extending the program to educate girls in Nigeria by the end of 2022. 

 SDG Goals 1 and 10: Our technical team currently sits in my home country, Nigeria. This was an intentional initiative to support one of our core missions of providing the opportunities to uplift talent in underserved communities. We also provide our team members with some tools and resources to succeed. In 2021, we provided solar panels to help establish better working environments and paid for monthly internet access. We also actively provide coaching and mentoring sessions to close knowledge gaps. In the near future, we are aiming to set up our virtual call center in Nigeria to create jobs for youths and adults, and to bolster economic development.

SDG Goals 3 and 8: During the pandemic, we hosted virtual activities for children’s enrichment, while helping to alleviate some of the childcare challenges for working parents. This in turn provided employment for those who may have lost their jobs or stay at home parents.

Creating an culture of togetherness

Diversity is key to a vibrant village, and Abulé will be a place where everyone feels welcomed and accepted, as members of the community and as members of the Abulé team. With funding we hope to hire a diverse team that embodies our company values of awareness, appreciation, acceptance, perseverance, and preservation.

I am still connected to my roots in Nigeria, and one of my missions and commitments is to lift up my community there. I have a Nigerian development team that I train and work with to sharpen their skills so that they may be more competitive in a global economy.

Finally, the United Nations SDG goals #8, 10, 16, call for inclusive, equitable, fair employment work for all. Abulé’s platform is a place where all people can find meaningful and rewarding work where they can use their talents and strengths to earn a sustainable income and share their wisdom across cultures.

Our business model is a peer-to-peer marketplace. We provide a technological solution for our community to find the help they need and offer up their talents and strengths to benefit each other. Community members pay each other in cash or cryptocurrency tokens which they can cash out or stake to earn more. A percentage of each transaction will be deposited into the Abulé DAO, which is used to fund scholarships or help those in need.

The foundational premise of Web3/Blockchain will inherently allow us to create a self-sustaining care economy. The Abulé care economy will provide a means of employment to care givers and mothers who are out of the workforce, while providing adequate support to working parents.

We will establish Community DAOs that will allow its members to actively participate in governance to shape the future of the care economy as a collective. As members of the community will have some ownership stake in the company, they will organically seek ways to promote and evangelize the value of the care economy to others within their network.