Building an Inclusive Future

Aim

Lapapo is a platform for carers of children with special needs. We aim to build a more inclusive future for children.

Hello, my name is Anike and my passion is supporting children with additional needs. Lapapo was born after years of working with children with special needs, including a career in special education. Our goal is to raise £20k in 37 days. 

Why was Lapapo created?

The Scope Disability price tag reported that caring for a child with special needs costs three times more than a typically developing child. In addition, statistics show that carers wait up to two years to access services for their child’s needs.  This is a frustration that I witnessed first hand. I still remember talking to a parent who started crying because her child didn't receive support or a diagnosis until he was three years into school. This was despite her constant battles and caused him to fall behind. 

 The state of support for children with special needs is in crisis. In the UK there are three million children with special needs and skin conditions. The percentage of children diagnosed with special needs increased in England by 11.3% in 2018. Parents are searching for care for their child, reaching to a government that is struggling to meet demands. 

We aim for a world where all parents are proud parents like Marc.

  So what is Lapapo?

Lapapo is a one-stop shop for caring for a child with special needs. We are focused on solving three pains: product, pricing and emotional.  We do this by curating products, services and a community of support. 

                                                                 Products

                                                         Services

                                                                Community

We are dedicated to building a community of motivation, support and encouragement. 

The Journey So Far

Lapapo won best pitch at Foundervine 54. This was the start of our journey. We then received an award from UnLtd in February 2019. This allowed us to create a pilot of the platform.  We were in the MSDUK Innovation challenge semi-finals, NatWest Pre-Accelerator and now the Women in Social Tech accelerator. Lapapo has been mainly built through bootstrapping. We have also been featured in Waltham Forest Echo and on East London Radio

 But above all, we have happy customers!

“Product is great” – Akhtar Robbani, Trustpilot 

 You’ve made this much progress. So why do you need my support?

Our vision is to increase inclusivity and reduce the stigma around children with special needs worldwide. In order to move closer to our goals we need your support. We’ve been selected as part of NatWest Back Her Business program. Our current target has been changed to £10k  and with your support we can achieve the following: 

• Improving the accessibility of the website

An article by Huffington post stated that 70% of websites are not accessible for people with disabilities. Considering that there are 1.7million parents in the U.K with a disability, carers of children with a disability are put at a disadvantage. We aim to create an accessible website that supports carers of children with disabilities.

• Raising Awareness

In order to raise awareness, we need to have more of a presence. This funding will help towards having a presence at exhibitions and events. It will also help towards improving our marketing opportunities. 

This project successfully funded on 31st December 2019