Bamba Aims to Help Mexican Domestic Workers

Bamba is a digital platform that allows employers to register their domestic workers to give the latter access to social security, formal banking and financial security, reports Forbes Mexico. 

March 30 celebrates International Domestic Workers’ Day in Latin America since 1988, when the first Domestic Workers Congress took place in Bogota, Colombia, leading to the founding of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Domestic Workers (CONLACTRAHO), explains the International Domestic Workers Federation. Mexico had 2.3 million domestic workers in 2018, according to INEGI, and nine out of every 10 of them are women, reports the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED). These workers have historically been victims of structural discrimination, explains the Council.

In March 2019, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) started a protocol to register domestic workers in order to offer them work benefits like any other employee in Mexico, reports Business Insider. According to Expansión Política, as of Dec. 2020, there had been 27,649 registered domestic workers, which is slightly over 1 percent of all of them. For that reason, Bamba wants to support employers in Mexico throughout this process. “The penetration of formal banking in Mexico is around 37 percent and domestic workers are about 2.5 million people. The truth is that only a minority of them have access to formal financial services. We offer to do the process for (employers) and give domestic workers a card where they can be paid their income,” Pamela Cordero Nieto, CMO at Bamba, explained to Forbes Mexico. 

Bamba has aided a total of 7,000 workers out of which 2,000 are domestic workers, according to Forbes Mexico. This process guarantees that employees receive their salary and also helps them create credit history that will later give them easier access to a loan, explains Bamba. “The goal of this fintech is to call all people who employ vulnerable workers, such as domestic workers in Mexico. We see a country where 91 percent of domestic workers are women who have no financial security. They have no social benefits and most of them make around two minimum wages, sometimes even less,” said Cordero Nieto, according to Business Insider Mexico.

Bamba’s services include compensations, accident insurance, medical attention via telephone or in-person, as well as an advisor who will support them through unforeseen events. “Our plans range from MX$10 (US$0.49) to MX$200 (US$9.73),” Cordero told Business Insider. According to her, a change of paradigm is necessary, particularly in terms of education, mostly due to worker overexploitation being extremely normalized in Mexico. “We need to register more workers and educate the population,” she told Business Insider Mexico.