By Nnasom David

Entrepreneur and business executive, Deola Smart Awujola, says her decision to expand a childcare and domestic support company into Nigeria is driven by a belief that family support services represent the next frontier of premium service delivery.

Smart, who has built ventures across hospitality, technology and lifestyle sectors, is now focusing on what she describes as an under-structured but critical part of everyday life: childcare and household support.

Her company, Ellisi, a premium childcare and domestic services provider previously operating in the United Kingdom, is currently expanding into Nigeria as part of its broader international growth strategy.

She said the decision reflects a shift in how value is perceived in modern living, noting that some of the most important human experiences occur within the home rather than in traditional luxury spaces.

“Home is one of the most important environments in a person’s life. The quality of support within that environment shapes how families function, how parents thrive and how children develop,” she said.

According to her, childcare and domestic support in many markets, including Nigeria, have historically operated through informal systems built around referrals and personal networks, a structure she said limits consistency and professional standards.

Smart said Ellisi is designed to address that gap by introducing a more structured model that prioritises screening, suitability matching and long-term service relationships between families and domestic professionals.

She added that the goal is to reposition household support services away from informal transactions toward a more deliberate, experience-driven model similar to other premium service industries.

Industry observers note that the domestic and childcare sector is gradually evolving globally, with increasing demand for organised systems as dual-income households become more common and expectations around service quality rise.

In Nigeria, rising urbanisation and changing family dynamics are also contributing to greater attention on structured household support services.

For Smart, however, the focus is not only commercial. She said the broader ambition is to improve the quality of everyday family life while also creating more professional pathways within the domestic services sector.

Ellisi said its model is built around professionalism, trust and quality service delivery, with a focus on tailored household solutions for modern families.

The company, after years of operations in the United Kingdom, is expanding into Nigeria as part of its effort to serve growing demand for structured childcare and domestic support services.