WOMEN ENTREPRENEURIAL STORY IN BOLIVIA – JELPI
As part of my international cooperation mandate for CECI  in November 2023, as a volunteer advisor in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, I accompanied 4 inspiring young women entrepreneurs at the head of technology startups participating in the IME (Instituto de la Mujer y Empresa) incubation program. Here’s the story of one of them.

Cross-cultural mentoring: the impact of listening and connecting between women in solidarity

Around 4 years ago, Denisse Chavez founded Jelpi, an innovative platform connecting housekeepers (jelpies) with households seeking their services, in a country where recognition of housekeepers as workers in their own right was still emerging. Her team, now made up of a dozen people, includes Gabriela, marketing manager and head of advertising campaigns.

In Bolivia, as in other South American countries, housekeepers struggle for recognition, often seen as “property” rather than professionals. Jelpi’s mission is to change this perception, offering housekeepers a healthy, safe and flexible working environment. At Jelpi, these women are more than just house cleaners – they are mini-entrepreneurs, agents of change, striving for a better life in respectful working conditions.

During our mentoring sessions, Denisse and Gabriela shared with me the bold vision behind Jelpi. Their motivation stems from a deep desire to help women emerge from precarious environments, to strengthen their economic independence, to offer themselves and their children a better quality of life, and even to help them achieve their dreams of higher education or home ownership.

As a volunteer mentor, my role was to guide the young women entrepreneurs in clearly expressing Jelpi’s “why”. Initially focused on the clientele of homeowners seeking cleaning services, they gradually recognized that the real heart of their business lay in the housekeepers, their jelpies. After all, no housekeepers, no services to offer, and therefore no revenue-generating customers! So I suggested they learn a little more about the housekeepers who were already working for Jelpi.

Gabriela took this idea to heart, connecting directly with the housekeepers via an informal survey, to better understand their underlying motivations for joining Jelpi. Her exchanges revealed a powerful emerging sisterhood, a solidarity between women that transcends the simple cleaning service.
When she told me about her findings the following week, she was bright-eyed, motivated and filled with a sense of accomplishment and a clear vision of her impact and commitment to the company.
She shared with me how her discussions with the cleaning ladies helped her to truly understand the strength of her company and the impact it could have on other women. I sensed that she was moved and excited at the same time.

Although I was unsettled by her initial reaction, I eventually understood that sometimes, our role as mentors is simply to listen, ask a few key questions and let the entrepreneur realize things for herself. So I took a step back, less performance-oriented, and listened to her, letting myself be carried along by her emotions.

Gabriela’s discussions with the jelpies strengthened her commitment to the company and served as a basis for identifying marketing ideas to convey the brand’s positioning and build loyalty among their housekeeper clientele.

Gabriela seems to have emerged from our working sessions with a new motivation and a clear entrepreneurial mission. She also told in me that she had shared her revelations with her team in order to run aligned and coherent marketing campaigns. A fine example of leadership on her part!

Our collaboration also helped verbalize Jelpi’s “why” and clarify its brand positioning, broadening their perspective from the simple needs of homeowners to the very basis of their business model: the jelpies.

This deep connection with housekeepers inspired Gabriela and her team to integrate sisterhood into the heart of their business model. Marketing campaigns were rethought, highlighting the strong brand positioning and corporate raison d’être (“Soy una Jelpi”). Solidarity between housekeepers became a catalyst for change, not only improving the lives of housekeepers but also contributing to a healthier, more supportive working environment.

My experience with Denisse and Gabriela has taught me and inspired me a lot. As a mentor, I realized that sometimes our impact is intangible, measurable simply by emotional and personal transformation. This experience also reminded me that mentoring is often about listening and accompanying, where emotions are powerful drivers for success.

Finally, Jelpi’s story illustrates how a simple conversation, guided by key questions, can breathe new life into a company’s trajectory and the commitment of its employees. It’s a living testimony to the positive impact that listening, emotional connection and solidarity between women entrepreneurs can have.

If the cause of women’s entrepreneurship appeals to you, my fundraising for CECI remains open until February 2024!