Skillcare Founders and team
Rebecca Kits Jakhalu
Kohima | June 1
In the hustle and bustle of modern life, lives, finding reliable manpower for household chores, child care, and elder care can be a struggle.
Enter Skillcare, a domestic service provider, catering to more than 30 active monthly clients across Dimapur and Chümoukedima.
Skillcare service providers
The origin
In the year 2018, when Daniel Longkumer was working in a skill development organization, he observed that most of the trainees with low qualification, despite completing certain skill training programmes, struggled with job placement.
Many returned home disappointed, and due to the lack of opportunities within the state as well, remained jobless, Longkumer told The Morung Express. He shared that that this issue had been bothering him for quite some time.
Then in 2023, Longkumer identified a gap in the domestic service industry where families struggled to find reliable manpower for household chores, child care, and elder care.
However, while there was a dire need for domestic service providers, many people were reluctant to work as domestic workers due to the lack of recognition, low income, and social stigma associated with the job, Longkumer said.
This insight led to the establishment of Skillcare with Co-Founder Tongpangkokba Changkiri in November 2023.
One of the objectives of Skillcare, Longkumer said, is to address unemployment and restore dignity of the service providers.
“We believe that every individual deserves the opportunity to earn a dignified livelihood and contribute meaningfully to society,” he stated.
“Through Skillcare, we mobilize, train, and employ service providers, offering them positions at Skillcare along with uniforms and additional benefits previously unavailable to them,” Longkumer said.
Over time, Skillcare has emerged as a company specialized in providing a wide range of domestic services tailored to meet the needs of the clients. The services provided by Skillcare at present include domestic housekeeping, child care service, elder care service and post event cleaning.
The team
Along with the founders, the Skillcare team includes three dedicated personnel responsible for operations, training, quality, placement, and social media. At present, there are 22 skilled service providers employed at Skillcare.
Speaking to The Morung Express, Skillcare co-founder Daniel Longkumer said that the company’s vision is to provide stable, sustainable livelihood and dignity to every domestic worker and provide skilled and safe domestic worker to every home.
In line with this vision, he also shared that a proper recruitment system is maintained at Skillcare, where every recruit is thoroughly scrutinised and trained.
The operations manager visits their private residence as part of their address verification, besides asking them to provide valid identification documents like Aadhaar card, PAN card, residential proof through GBs, etc.
Longkumer added that they are also working on Police verification.
Training sessions are conducted at the Skillcare office in Kuda Village, Half Nagarjan, Dimapur. Basic training on soft skills, first aid, personal hygiene, and chores management is provided to the staff before assigning them to clients, to ensure quality.
Reviews and challenges
On the response received so far, Longkumer shared that it has been encouraging. “Since our inception, we have successfully provided over 100 hourly services, demonstrating our commitment to meeting the diverse needs of our clients. And we have 30 plus active monthly clients who consistently rely on us for their domestic, child, and elder care needs,” he said.
Skillcare takes pride in the positive reviews it has received from their clients till date.
Viya, from Aoyimti shared, “Ever since we started hiring a helper from the Skillcare housekeeping service our life has become much easier. It has been very beneficial for my elderly mom and dad since the helper took care of their food preparations and maintaining the hygiene of our home. Overall, the service has contributed a huge positive impact in our daily life.”
“Getting in touch with SkillCare and availing their housekeeping service has been a great experience for me. Their Staff are well trained and reliable. I am totally satisfied with the positive changes in my home,” said Tiamenla from Duncan Basti.
However, on the employees’ front, Longkumer shared that there has been a mixed response. While there are some who understandthe job profile and are ready to work, some others show interest but fail to turn up after realizing the demands of the job. So far, only women have shown interest while men have not been responsive, he highlighted.
Longkumer mentioned three major factors that pose a challenge to the daily operations.
Mobilization of manpower is one of the challenges as the staff comes from different localities and assigning them to the client’s location becomes difficult at times. Moreover, the distance between the client’s addresses and the service provider’s address is also a challenge sometimes, he shared. The third challenge is that of the service request timing. Several clients are in the waitlist at present, due to the high demand and limited number of service providers.
Akumla Yimchunger, one of the service providers at Skillcare shared that joining the Skillcare team has been enriching for her. “Everyone preaches about dignity of labour, but practically, no one is willing to do menial jobs. I would like to tell everyone that no work is small. We should not wait for big jobs, but be prepared to do any work and make ourselves useful,” Akumla shared.
At present, Skillcare services are available to clients in Dimapur and Chümoukedima. The company aims to expand its services to other districts in the coming days. “We also plan to extend our reach to other states, bringing our quality care solutions to more families in need,” Longkumer said.
1.jpg)
