Published: May 4, 2026
MONROVIA — Three years ago, Danise Dodoo looked at Liberia’s domestic work sector and saw something most people had simply accepted: a broken system where families took their chances, workers had no protection and exploitation ran in both directions. She decided to fix it.
Dodoo, founder and CEO of Lenise Home Care and Support Services, gathered more than 50 clients at a hangout in Monrovia over the weekend, the company’s first face-to-face client engagement since its founding in 2023. The event was deliberate in its simplicity. No presentations, no sales pitch. Just listening.
“We wanted to listen, not over the phone, but face-to-face,” Dodoo told the group of families, professionals and business owners. “What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? That’s how we improve and grow.”
The company she has built is a direct response to a problem that has long gone unaddressed in Liberia. Domestic workers, typically young women and single mothers, have historically been hired through informal community networks with no contracts, no training and no recourse when things go wrong. Employers carried equal uncertainty — no background checks, no accountability, no guarantee that the person entering their home was who they claimed to be.
Lenise sits between those two realities. Workers, referred to within the company as agents, go through training, background checks and structured placement before they enter any household. Contracts are signed and enforced. When disputes arise, the company intervenes.
“For clients, there’s peace of mind,” Dodoo said. “If anything goes wrong, we take responsibility. At the same time, our agents are protected — no abuse, no exploitation.”
The model is gaining ground. What started with a client base of 70 to 75 households has grown to more than 180, with the company approaching 200. Dodoo says the numbers matter less to her than the mission underneath them.
“We created this company to provide opportunities,” she said. “Single mothers and young people who are willing to work — we train them, vet them, and connect them to families who need help. It’s not just business; it’s empowerment.”
Clients at the weekend event described the difference in concrete terms. Markise Dolley, who has used Lenise for nearly two years, said the reliability alone has been worth it.
“Before, I relied on community recommendations, but it was stressful,” Dolley said. “Some would come just for quick money, then leave or misbehave. But with Lenise, it gives you relief. My housemaid has been with me for almost two years. That doesn’t happen often.”
Nelly Kettor-Borweh said she had struggled for years to find consistent, trustworthy care for her children before contacting Lenise.
“Their agents are trained, they’re not just picked off the street,” she said. “When you hire from the community, there’s a lot of liability. But with Lenise, that burden shifts to the company. You feel safe.”
Agnor Neufville offered a similar account. “I’ve had bad experiences before, people stealing or disappearing,” she said. “Now I feel secure. My home is safe, and that means everything.”
Trust, Dodoo says, is the company’s most valuable asset and its most fragile one. “Every client who signs up is trusting us with their home, their children, and their lives,” she said. “We don’t take that lightly.”
To protect it, Lenise invests heavily in training, largely self-funded, alongside monitoring systems and structured client feedback. An early grant of $2,000 from the Youth Entrepreneurs Network helped the company acquire a motorbike that improved response time and enabled unannounced spot checks at client homes.
“That changed a lot for us,” Dodoo said.
The next step is an Empowerment Center, now 80 percent complete, that will serve as a dedicated training hub and event space for up to 50 people. Dodoo is actively seeking NGO and partner support to bring it fully online.
Benjamin Dagher, president of the Youth Entrepreneurs Network Liberia, said he has watched Lenise grow from 75 clients to well over 150 during the two years his organization has worked alongside it. He described the company’s training approach as the critical differentiator in a sector where most employers still rely on informal referrals.
“They don’t just recruit — they train,” Dagher said. “Whether literate or not, individuals are equipped with essential skills to deliver professional caregiving services. These workers are not just placed, they are prepared. That’s the difference. That’s innovation.”
He added that the Empowerment Center, once operational, will extend the company’s impact beyond its own client base. “When you train people at that level, you’re building capacity for the entire community,” he said. “Even if they move on, those skills stay with them.”
For Dodoo, the business case and the social case are inseparable. In an economy where formal employment remains scarce and the informal sector absorbs most of the workforce under precarious conditions, she argues that private enterprise has an obligation that goes beyond profit.
“We can’t leave everything to the government,” she said. “We have to create solutions, help people earn, live with dignity, and feel safe.”
Kettor-Borweh, watching from the crowd as the event drew to a close, put it simply. “They are doing a remarkable job,” she said. “As a Liberian woman, it makes me proud to support another woman building something like this.”
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