Fresh off my Harvard graduation, I tagged along with my partner-in-crime Jenna Winocur to attend a "nanny" training run by the Indaba Institute in Cape Town, South Africa—an ideal sandbox for MVP-testing the platform I vibe-coded (more on vibe coding here).
From the classroom to the community, we're shoulder-to-shoulder with women who are already shaping young lives—and building brighter futures for the next generation. Under African skies, I'm grateful for the chance to learn, serve, and grow in a place as beautiful as it is complex.
Together we ran our first MVP: a Montessori-rooted course for aspiring nannies, paired with a lightweight digital toolkit that helps them flourish. It was a resounding success.
Why this matters
South Africa counts ≈ 1.1 million people employed in private households; about 854 000 (≈ 76 %) are domestic workers—largely Black African women.
Domestic work represents ~ 6 % of the national workforce and contributes roughly 8 % of South Africa's GDP.
Our program offers meaningful, accessible education and clear professional pathways for the very people shaping young lives every single day.
By empowering nannies to become Early Childhood Development specialists, we're laying the groundwork for super-personalized learning—human-centered, culturally grounded, and scalable everywhere.
Nannies vs AI: a quick side-by-side
| What Nannies Bring | What AI Brings | The Sweet Spot |
|---|---|---|
| Empathy & cultural nuance—reading a child's mood in seconds. | Infinite patience & data recall—24/7 micro-assessments, personalized playlists, real-time feedback. | Nanny uses AI dashboards to adapt routines, spot gaps, and co-design learning adventures. |
| Hands-on modeling—tying shoes, drying tears, celebrating first words. | Scalable curriculum suggestions—aligned to Montessori, CAPS1, or any framework in milliseconds. | AI recommends activities; nanny chooses what resonates with the child's immediate interest. |
| Trust built with families over time. | Analytics—tracking progress objectively across thousands of learners. | Human + machine combine warmth and rigor, turning every home into a micro-learning lab. |
Bottom line: AI alone can't hug a toddler, and a nanny shouldn't have to memorize every phoneme-sorting game ever published. Put them together and you get super-personalized learning—at kitchen-table scale and global reach.
I'm beyond proud of Jenna's vision and leadership—and honored to be her partner in crime on this bold journey. We're just getting started.
1 CAPS (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement) is South Africa's national curriculum framework for Grades R–12. It specifies the exact subject content, skills, and assessment requirements every public-school teacher must follow.