An inclusive company
Eighteen years ago, the Swedish Helle Jeppsson opened a chain of spas in the United States, which she later brought to Mexico, with the intention of satisfying the rest and relaxation needs of the working population.
However, the demand intensified only on weekends, while on the rest of the days the scheduled massage services were few. “When people work it is more difficult for them to have the time to attend a massage. I wanted to transfer the vision of the traditional spa to people’s homes, but for that I needed technology”, says the CEO.
With this idea in mind, he chose to undertake a new adventure alongside two business partners: an architect and a Mexican programmer. With an initial investment of $30,000, the three of them designed the Scape app. They launched it in 2018 and started with a single therapist.
Three years later, in 2021, the boom of wellness allowed the company to diversify its services in different lines of business. The first of these is home delivery, which attracts 80% of revenue. It is followed by the online store, which represents 10%, then Scape Hotels, which collects 5% and consists of providing spa services to 35 boutique hotels, and finally Scape Work, which was officially launched in March of this year and which provides corporate massage
Currently, the application exceeds 80,000 downloads, employs nearly 900 therapists and is present in 23 cities in the country.
Since Torres came to Scape, the idea of hiring more therapists with disabilities has gained momentum. “There is a lot of lack of education in the country, ignorance makes people insecure or they don’t know how to treat a person with a disability. Perhaps this means that companies do not have this talent, but if everyone did their part, a great change would take place”, says the CEO.
Jeppsson acknowledges that she didn’t know how to do it either. Actually, living with Torres helped her walk the path and confirm that visual impairment does not prevent a person from growing within a company.
“We tried 1,000 things to make the app more accessible. That it was developed in such a way that the applications they use to read the texts, TalkBack and VoiceOver, were compatible with the Scape application”, details the businesswoman.
They invested 62,000 pesos for the adaptability and programming process. Later, in May of this year, they began to interview therapists with disabilities and today Torres leads a team of eight: three with low vision and five with total blindness, all of them certified. For every three therapists on the Scape team, one therapist with a disability is integrated.
One of the advantages offered by the application to therapists is the possibility of choosing the days, times and cities in which they wish to work. This allows them to move from one place to another and provide services according to their needs, times and preferences. The commission they receive is 60%.
Scape currently serves 60 firms, including Inditex, TikTok, Facebook, Tous, Nubank, Google, and several startups.
This initiative has been well received. But at the moment, it is only available in Mexico City, the idea is that this year more therapists with disabilities will be integrated in Guadalajara and Monterrey.
“We know that many are prepared, but do not have the job opportunities. Companies, large or small, must be increasingly committed to inclusion, closing gaps and opening opportunities that allow people to develop and find decent work spaces”, concludes Jeppsson.