Helen Adeosun is a 35-year-old businesswoman disrupting the health industry. Helen is an innovator who desires to offer patients quality healthcare services. She is the co-founder and CEO of CareAcademy. The company focuses on educating caregivers and senior care nurses. According to the WHO, the global population of the elderly is over 1 billion. In most cases, people above the age of 60 years spend time at home after retirement. Statistics prove that a bigger percentage of the elderly suffer from chronic diseases.
The world recognizes Helen because of her idea to equip caregivers with skills for home care. The Care Academy trains care workers to provide quality health care to the elderly. Helen partnering with her co-founder Dr. Madhuri Reddy made it easier to execute this idea. As an entrepreneur, Helen shares healthcare knowledge for a better care system.
Early life and schooling
Helen was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Nigerian immigrant parents. When she was young, her parents relocated to the USA to explore their healthcare careers. Being born into a family of caregivers was a key contributor that shaped her career life. Helen grew up in Atlanta where it was challenging to adapt to the new country. As immigrants, Helen’s immediate community was her parents and friends from school. But over time as she started going to school, she had a good relationship with the teachers. During Helen’s childhood, she saw how her parents worked hard in healthcare to provide for her.
As a result of this experience, Helen embraced the desire to be better in academics. From a young age, Helen became obsessed with the teaching process. She was a curious student who asked questions and wanted to know more about concepts. The urge to learn and share ideas with others made the teachers love Helen in school. With the new living environment in the US, Helen developed the urge to create her path. Seeing her parents in healthcare was the foundation of her career journey.
As Helen grew older, she embraced the dream to become a teacher and a businesswoman. Her learning and education passion pushed her to go out of her comfort zone. His father, who is a salesman, installed the business side in Helen. When she was a young adult, Helen became an outstanding communicator with people. Also, she was always willing to help others who are in need at school and in her community. Helen was always fascinated by how her parents were saving lives. Even though she was not sure what she wanted to be then, her mind wanted to educate others. The combination of her family care culture and her passion paved the way for CareAcademy. Besides, other family members in the technology and care industry inspired Helen.
Helen graduated from Marietta High School in 2003. Afterward, she joined the University of Notre Dame where she learned leadership. Helen finished this school with a BA in Political Science in 2007. But Helen was not satisfied with her progress because she wanted to pursue education. She went to study at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Helen became a degree holder in Education Policy and Management in 2012. During her time in school, Helen got internships to work as a teacher and a direct caregiver. It was because Helen could interact with both kids and adults. The teaching experience was not as easy as she thought. But with the help of her mentor teachers, she was able to overcome her challenges. At this point, Helen had everything she needed to start her company.
“What motivated me to start CareAcademy was the fact that I worked as a home health aide myself. I also had family members who worked in this field. The inspiration for the company came from my own experiences. I didn’t have a lot of preparation before working with clients or patients. There was a tremendous need to have something that provided for an ongoing basis of learning and support that didn’t exist at the time.”
Early Career
When Helen was working as a direct care worker, her goal was only to make money. But after providing child care, she decided to explore the health industry more. Before building her brand, Helen got a chance to work with professional companies. In 2006, she was an Advocacy Assistant at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. In this firm, she was in charge of international issues for immigrants and refugees. Helen also worked as a Program Coordinator at Michiana Dismas House. Her role was to coordinate and analyze student data in different campuses. For more than one year, Helen entered the academic scene to work as ELA Teacher for Grade 9. Throughout this time as a teacher, Helen learned the importance of skill development.
Her professional journey opened doors for many opportunities to establish CareAcademy. For Helen to become a top performer, she had to upgrade her leadership skills. She joined Teach For America as the Assistant at Political Leadership Initiative. The main position that shaped Helen’s career was Assistant Program Manager, SIOP. The second ideal job she did as a pro was as the Resident Assistant. She got ideas to use technology to teach caregivers in providing top health services.
“After being a direct care worker myself, I wanted to take classes that would help train me to have better skills and possibly help me qualify for new opportunities. However, I found it hard to get to classes. I created CareAcademy to address this challenge–it does what I needed back then. The best way to become an entrepreneur is to solve a problem that you have struggled to solve.”
“People don’t see hard times, the most successful people that you’ve seen in your life have had hard times. You’ve got to remember that the best things come through hard times. It is always about persisting through the challenges, writing down the things you want to have to happen and knowing that yesterday is not today and today is not tomorrow.”
CareAcademy
With a background in education and caregiving, Helen had an idea to execute a work policy. The concept was to create an e-learning platform to train senior care experts. Before launching CareAcademy, Helen and her co-founder saw a gap in healthcare education. As a result, Helen knew how to solve the problem. Hele suggested the mission of CareAcademy would be to personalize learning for caregivers. The teaching process involves online classes to improve productivity in-home care agencies. CareAcademy came to life in 2016 to empower caregivers. CareAcademy is a relevant company supporting the needs of elderly patients. Taking care of older people is not an easy task. This duty requires adequate skills to meet the health needs of senior patients. Statistics show that CareAcademy has raised $33 million in funding within 14 rounds. This contribution was possible due to the 26 investors of the company. The total funding valuation of the company ranges between $100 million-$500 million.
As a founder, Helen began CareAcademy because of her personal and professional experiences. The company started as a one-on-one teaching and learning community. But due to the upgrade in technology, it evolved into an online platform of empowerment. CareAcademy offers upskilling training to both community and home care experts and nurses. Professionals under the brand can earn more as they continue to improve their skills. The company has diverse learning materials with accurate knowledge for operation. CareAcademy stands out from its competitors because of its skillful team. Also, the brand wants to change how the world views direct and home caregiving for the better.
“I’ve learned the importance of having the room to think, especially with peers. In the early days of the company formation, you’re doing everything, and you’re a whirling dervish of getting things done. Soon, you start finding places you’re no longer useful in the day-to-day. More importantly, the company increasingly needs someone to point out the company’s North Star. I speak with entrepreneurs and those behind and ahead of CareAcademy to better understand what I am missing and what’s next.”
“If you can learn how to tell the story of your mission, you’ll be able to not only inspire your team but also your customers. Learn to tell compelling stories that bring other people in. Learn to tell yourself stories, it can get you through the harder times.”
Leadership Roles & Awards
Helen has excelled in the healthcare industry because of her leadership traits. Her desire to make the world a better place reflects in the services at CareAcademy. Helen acknowledges the significance of teamwork as a building element of company success. Working together with passionate personnel makes the business more efficient. Helen has led CareAcademy to upgrade the home care system in global communities. For example, when COVID hit the world, she developed the Future of Work is Health Care Initiative. This was possible after partnering with the Home Care Association of America organization. The pandemic resulted in the loss of jobs for many caregivers in the USA and other parts of the world. The initiative was to create opportunities for displaced workers to have stable jobs. Senior care experts had to enroll in classes to improve their skills. Besides, the launch of COVID- Classes had a positive impact on the skillsets of caregivers.
As an African American woman, Helen’s story is inspiring because of her trust in her dream. Her career life is a motivation for people to keep pushing through challenges. Every dream can come true as long as you don’t give up and be willing to pursue knowledge.
Helen Adeosun is part of our Black Founders50 Series. Download the complete 2023 BBVA Founders50 list here.