When it comes to caring for others, women know a thing or two about how to get things done.

It’s women who are at the forefront of the “care” workforce – making up the majority of nurses, aged and disability carers, and early childhood educators.

At home, it’s women who take on the bulk of caring for children and aging parents or relatives. This reality was only exacerbated during the pandemic, when we saw women shouldering even more of this care work. 

As President of Chief Executive Women, Sam Mostyn, noted in her ground-breaking address at the National Press Club, it’s about time Australia started intentionally investing in the unpaid and underpaid care that is so often provided by women.

When we take a closer look, it’s female entrepreneurs who are leading the charge in revolutionising how we care, developing innovative businesses in areas like healthcare, aged care, disability care and early childhood education and care.

Many of these entrepreneurs have seen firsthand the challenges that persist, and they’ve set about creating solutions that have been overlooked for far too long.

Below, we take a look at three such trailblazing Australian entrepreneurs:

Dr Talat Uppal, Founder of Women’s Health Road 
Dr Talat Uppal is a trailblazing Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and founder of Women’s Health Road, a multidisciplinary women’s health practice specialising in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

When she founded Women’s Health Road, based in Sydney, Dr Uppal’s mission was to bring multiple, commonplace women’s health needs into the one space. That means you can access obstetrics and gynaecology care at Women’s Health Road, before seeing a midwife, a breastfeeding consultant, a perinatal physiatrist, a physiotherapist with a pelvic floor specialty, an anaesthetist and fertility specialist.

“I honestly believe that the future of health is very collaborative, and that old-fashioned vision of a specialist in their room or by themselves seeing patient after patient in the waiting room, I think it’s a little bit outdated,” Dr Uppal says.

Dr Uppal is a passionate advocate in the women’s health space and wanted to create a streamlined journey for women and their families to be heard and supported in their healthcare choices.

Andrea Christie-David, Founder of Leor In Home Early Learning
A former human rights lawyer, Andrea Christie-David is the founder of Leor In Home Early Learning, an innovative start-up that is changing how early childhood education and care is delivered.

In 2018, Christie-David was paying for three lots of childcare for her three children all under the age of five, and she felt the acute need for innovation and more flexibility in childcare delivery.

She stepped away from her career as lawyer to create Leor In Home Early Learning, a startup that places qualified early childhood educators into family homes to deliver tailored learning programs to children aged between 6 weeks and 12 years.

“I wanted an option where I could leave them in the comfort of their own home but also bring quality early childhood education to them,” she says.

The Leor model aims to engage highly experienced and qualified early childhood educators and also goes out of its way to reward educators with pay rates well above the Children’s Services Award.

G8 Education has since acquired Leor in a multi-million-dollar deal, enabling the business Christie-David created to reach further demand and cater to more children with complex needs.

Esha Oberoi, founder of Afea Care Services
Mental health advocate and entrepreneur Esha Oberoi has founded two businesses solving problems in the care industry.

Her first venture was as founder and CEO of Afea Care Services, a national disability care provider with a mission to empower and care for people through love and happiness.

After working as a carer herself, Oberoi saw the industry-wide shrinking care workforce and wanted to improve around-the-clock care for those with disabilities.

The company was ranked 3rd in the Australian Financial Review’s list of Best Place to Work in Australia & NZ, and Oberoi was named the Emerging Leader in Health at Women’s Agenda’s 2021 Leadership Awards.

This year, Oberoi launched her latest startup, Leora– an online mental health companion that can provide 24/7 affordable therapy support to people, regardless of their location.

“Since seeing the opportunity in using AI for good in mental health, my life has changed drastically,” she says. “I am back in the start-up world again working with emerging technology.”

“I am super excited about the extent of impact this could have because it will be more accessible than current mental health solutions.”