Kahoko Tsunezawa, President and CEO of Kidsline Co., Ltd.

The reason I am where I am today is because I simply "never gave up," no matter how much opposition I faced from those around me.

President and CEO of Kidsline Co., Ltd.　Kahoko Tsunezawa(Tsunezawa Kahoko)

■ Profile

Graduated from Ogakuin High School and Keio University. After working at Recruit and Rakuten, she founded Trenders at the age of 26, and in 2012, she became the youngest woman to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers at the time. In 2014, she founded Kidsline, a babysitting and housekeeping service. She aims to spread the culture of babysitting in Japan and create a society where women can shine. Her books include "All Women Are Free."

With the vision of "bringing a culture of babysitting to Japan" and "making housekeeping services the norm," Kidsline Inc. supports families raising children, aiming to create a society where women can shine. Since launching its service in 2014, the company has provided services to over 150 million people, with over 3300 supporters on staff. In today's world, where the increase in dual-income households and the advancement of women into the workforce are issues, we spoke to Tsunezawa about the significance of babysitting and housekeeping services, and his career so far.

I went to an all-girls school for middle and high school, so perhaps I was naive, as they say. After entering university, I wanted to devote myself to sports and part-time work, something I wasn't able to do in high school. Since I was going to do both, I wanted to aim for the best, so I devoted myself to squash, a sport many students start in college. Since I was busy with club activities, I thought about how I could use my special skills to earn an income efficiently, and I chose to become a private tutor. The math skills I developed through my middle school entrance exams proved extremely popular with families whose daughters struggled with math and were about to take the exam, and word spread. It seems that girls who struggle with math find a female teacher who can serve as a role model more receptive than a male teacher, so I was able to take advantage of my unique female position and have many students.

■How to live as a woman

Ever since I was a student, I had always wondered what I would do with my life after graduating from university. What kind of job would allow me to balance work and child-rearing? I started working around 1997, during what is known as the "ice age" of employment, and at the time, neither companies nor women considered it acceptable for women to balance work and family life, so I had no idea what to do.
So, I decided to join Recruit as a new graduate, hoping to visit many alumni and work in an environment where both men and women could compete based on their abilities. I devoted myself to my work, thinking that even in my first year in sales, I would simply be evaluated if I could produce the results of a fifth year. Soon after joining the company, I wondered what I could do to make my colleagues and superiors on the team I was assigned to feel proud of me as a new employee, so I decided to become number one in collecting business cards, a hurdle for new employees. I consulted with my seniors about tips and pace for collecting business cards, handed out flyers with my face and profile on them, and set small goals like 100 cards a day or 20 cards in an hour, and simply worked hard. Thanks to these efforts, I was able to become number one in collecting business cards in the Kanto region, which I think made my team very happy.

■ Enabling women to advance in society

Then, the internet boomed, and I thought I could use my sales skills in the IT industry, so I changed jobs to Rakuten, which had just been founded. At the time, there were only about 17 employees at Rakuten, so I was able to work closely with the president, and was given more and more responsibility for launching new businesses. This experience was a valuable opportunity for me to "install the mind of a president."
There are many MBA holders at Rakuten, and when I decided that I wanted to become someone by the time I turned 30, I began to think that studying abroad might be one of my options, so I decided to quit Rakuten and study abroad.
However, although I had intended to quit my job and prepare to study abroad, I ended up just being a NEET by staying at home. Before long, company presidents I knew started asking me to do research for a new business aimed at women, and I began to be entrusted with various tasks as a self-employed person. It was then that I realized for the first time that a female perspective is needed in the world. Although 95% of the world's CEOs are men, women are at the center of consumption. This is why I decided to use my unique position as a woman in my marketing.
At first, I was working alone on research projects for women, but then I was asked to start a company if I was going to do business with them, so I started my first business at the age of 26. At the time, I started from scratch in my apartment. I placed free job ads online, gradually recruited members, and my first company, Trenders, began to get on track. Then, I found out I was pregnant. It was a time when it was rare for a company president to give birth, so I didn't tell anyone around me that I was going to give birth, and I continued working as usual until just before giving birth, and I intended to continue working after the baby was born.
However, when my newborn baby was found to have a disability and required 24-hour nursing care, my life changed completely. I considered quitting my job as president, but I was also responsible for the lives of my employees. I desperately searched for someone who could help me somehow, and found a babysitter who could provide nursing care.
At the time, babysitters were something only the wealthy could afford. Hiring a babysitter required communication over the phone and fax, and a coordinator would come to your home, which was a lot of work. I continued to face my job every day, paying the babysitter more than I earned. One day, I asked the babysitter about it, and she told me that she was receiving far less than the hourly rate I was paying her. I felt that the system still had many issues for both parties. I wondered what kind of babysitting service would be easy for everyone to use and make the workers happy.
After experiencing these events and raising three children while working as a business owner, I started my second business, Kidsline Inc. Kidsline is a system that allows people to request babysitters and housekeeping services via the internet using their smartphones. Babysitters and housekeepers can also set their own hourly wage and work only the hours they like, allowing both the requester and the employee to have their wishes fulfilled. I'm proud to say that this business model was born from my own experience raising children.

■ Sticking to your beliefs leads to success

When I consulted with people around me before founding Kidsline, many of them opposed the idea. They said things like, "Babysitters won't catch on in Japan," and because I'd had such a difficult time starting a business, my own parents even suggested things like, "Why don't you just focus on raising your child?" Looking back, I think everyone at the time had the notion that childcare was something women did, and they all assumed, "Babysitters might be popular overseas, but they're not going to catch on in Japan." Given that situation, it may have been quite difficult to get others to understand at the time. Still, I thought it was okay to fail, so I decided to give it a try on my own, and I worked tirelessly to reduce the burden of childbirth and childcare on women.
However, even after the service launched, it was difficult to gain social trust, and I felt that there was a high hurdle of not having used it yet. So I changed my perspective and asked myself, "Why not appeal to male business owners?"
The challenge I took on at that time was to give a presentation on the need for babysitters at a service pitch event attended by many company presidents. At the time, the concept of babysitters was not as widespread as it is now, and the idea of ​​leaving children with someone else was not accepted. So I appealed to the company presidents, who had many female employees, saying, "Even in your company, isn't it difficult when women leave to give birth and raise children?"
Since then, the number of people using babysitters has gradually increased, and now our vision is not only to "bring babysitters to Japan" but also to "make housekeeping services commonplace," and we are very happy to have received support from so many customers. And compared to 10 years ago when we started, we feel that "babysitters" have become a much more popular option for childcare. However, as a business, we still have a long way to go, so we will continue to do our best.

■Message to university students

I think that today's university students have a much busier schedule than in the past, and that it's very tough. Especially in today's world, with the proliferation of social media and other technologies, there are so many options available to us, and I hope that among the many options available, we will believe in what we want to do and stick to it. Even if those around us oppose us, I hope that we will persevere and not be discouraged. It's difficult to have confidence in ourselves, but it's important to take action, with the mindset that it's okay to fail, and give it a try. The reason I'm in this position today is simply because I "didn't give up" and "simply put into action what I believed in." I believe that having conviction in life, living your own path, your own unique path, and being able to contribute to society is the most important thing, both for yourself and for those around you.

Interview with Sophia University sophomore, Himari Shirasaka, published November 10, 2023 on Student Newspaper Online