Naborforce CEO and Founder Paige Wilson. (BizSense file photo)
Naborforce, the local startup that dispatches on-demand helpers for seniors, remains in expansion mode and has entered its 13th and 14th markets since its founding in 2018.
The Scott’s Addition-based company run by founder and CEO Paige Wilson recently launched operations in Washington, D.C., and Savannah, Georgia.
Wilson said the continued expansion is driven by growing demand for senior assistance services as the older population increases nationwide.
“With the aging of the population, our services are needed everywhere,” she said. “And our goal is to be nationwide.” The Population Reference Bureau estimates that the number of people age 65 and older in the U.S. will nearly double to 82 million by 2050.
Wilson said a focus of the company’s expansion strategy is to move into areas that are within proximity to markets it is already in. In this case, it had previously opened operations in the Northern Virginia area and Atlanta. Wilson said this contiguous expansion strategy also stems from the fact that adult children of senior citizens typically set up their parent’s Naborforce account for them, and they usually live in a neighboring city to their parent.
In each market, Naborforce recruits helpers that it calls “Nabors” who are deployed through an on-demand system.
Prior to expanding to a new market, Wilson said she looks at the population density of an area as well as the “age dependency ratio,” or the ratio of potential Nabors to clients, to maintain its 98% fulfillment rate for service requests. Washington, D.C., has a population density of more than 11,000 people per square mile and more than 87,000 total people aged 65 and older. Savannah has a population density of over 1,300 people per square mile, with more than 21,000 total people aged 65 and older.
Now in six states, Wilson said Naborforce continues to follow the same business model and practice of recruiting Nabors through faith-based and volunteer organizations. The company charges for services by the hour, with a minimum of one hour, with differing rates for weekdays and weekends. The Washington, D.C., neighborhood hub will charge $33 per hour on weekdays and $38 per hour on weekends and “off hours,” which are the same rates as its Northern Virginia and Bethesda prices. Naborforce will charge $30 per hour on weekdays and $35 per hour on weekends and off hours in Savannah, the same rate for its services in Atlanta.
As Naborforce expands to new cities, Wilson said it doesn’t face much competition.
“There is no one doing what Naborforce is doing,” she said.
Similar companies operate within the healthcare field offering nurses or other specialists on-demand, but Wilson said tasks that the elderly may need assistance with are not always healthcare related.
“You might want somebody to come over and help you organize the back bedroom because the grandkids are coming. You may need somebody just to spend time with because you’re widowed,” Wilson said. “All these things that are just human nature. They’re not healthcare.”
Naborforce has learned to walk the line between elderly assistance tasks and healthcare carefully after its initial expansion into Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2021. The company had to draw back, and reentered the market in February, clarifying to the market there that it was not a healthcare agency before expanding into the state again in February. Wilson said that experience in North Carolina has helped guide how the company describes itself.
Wilson founded Naborforce in 2018 after a career in investment banking. The idea for the company was driven by her experiences caring for her mother.
Naborforce is headquartered at 3015 W. Moore St. in Scott’s Addition. It relocated there from the Fan last year.
Naborforce raised $9 million in investor capital in 2022, mainly to fund hiring and grow its team from 15 to 45. The company currently has about 28 employees, in addition to the Nabors who work as contractors in the field.
Please ask Paige to open in Charleston!
Sort of seems like another company that innovates primarily by turning salaried professions into on-demand gig jobs with a scheduling app. There may be some perk to the flexibility for the customer but disturbing that the overall economy is rapidly getting more expensive to live in while an new job growth is so focused on part-time gigs.
I think the model is retirees taking a part-time gig to care for older retirees.