Fiftess Househelp Agency, a Kenyan domestic staffing firm founded in 2016, marks its tenth year as the government raises the pay floor for domestic workers and moves toward ratifying ILO Convention 189.
The agency was due to open a second branch on Katani Road on Monday, 28 September 2026.
One bus journey started the agency
Founder and CEO Esther Muitha says the business began on a bus from Kampala in 2016. Two Ugandan women had been told to call a number when they reached Nairobi. The contact did not answer. Muitha took them to her bedsitter in Githurai 44, posted on Facebook that they sought domestic work, and both secured placements.
Households kept calling. “I had discovered a gap. And that gap became Fiftess,” she says in her founder account.
Fiftess reports more than 40,000 homes served and more than 60,000 employment opportunities since 2016. These figures come from the company. The 60,000 count opportunities, not individual workers.
The new branch sits at the T junction at Barrier Stage on Katani Road, in the Syokimau and Katani area off Mombasa Road. The existing office is at Dragon Stage in Githurai 44, on Kamiti Road. Both operate from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Sunday.
“I began by helping women find their way to work. Ten years later, our responsibility is bigger: to build a service that families can trust and that treats domestic workers as professionals whose work matters,” Muitha says.
Domestic work employs about two million Kenyans
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that domestic work employs about two million people in Kenya, primarily women. Globally, the ILO counts 75.6 million domestic workers, or 4.5 per cent of all workers.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) valued unpaid domestic and care work for the first time in November 2025, using 2021 survey data. The bureau put its value at 23.1 per cent of GDP. Women spent 25.8 billion hours on that work, against 4.8 billion for men. If paid, the work would earn each woman aged 15 or older KSh118,845 a year and each man KSh22,676. Households that hire domestic workers pay for part of that load.
Muitha frames the sector in the same terms. “Domestic workers are not simply people who ‘help around the house,’” she writes. In her account, they make it possible for other people to hold jobs and run businesses.
The pay floor rose to KSh18,047 in five cities
The Regulation of Wages (General) (Amendment) Order, 2026, raised the monthly minimum for domestic workers in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret to KSh18,047, from KSh16,113 under the 2024 order. Elsewhere the minimum rose to KSh9,268 from KSh8,596. The order was published on 26 June 2026 and applies from 1 May 2026, a 12 per cent increase.
Fiftess advertises salary bands by role. Standard live in positions commonly fall between KSh7,000 and KSh15,000 a month. Live out day work falls between KSh10,000 and KSh18,000. Certified or premium roles fall between KSh20,000 and KSh35,000. Muitha describes these as indicative ranges from the agency’s recruitment activity. They are not a survey of Kenya and not a statement of statutory pay.
The ILO’s assessment of domestic workers who care for persons with disabilities, which drew on 331 workers and 70 employers in four counties, found wages far below statutory minimums and long hours.
Screening, fees and probation
Fiftess lists seven vetting steps: original ID verification, a physical interview, background and character checks, an experience and communication assessment, biometric fingerprint verification, reference checks, and police clearance on request. The agency says screening reduces risk and cannot guarantee conduct.
Households interview candidates and make the hiring decision. The employer pays a placement fee after selecting a candidate. The agency did not disclose the amount. Each placement carries a 14 day probation with up to two free replacements, subject to placement terms.
That fee structure matches global guidance. The ILO’s fair recruitment principles say no recruitment fees or related costs should fall on workers or jobseekers. Article 7 of the ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention (No. 181) says the same. Kenya has not ratified Convention 181. An ILO report on migrant workers notes that some agencies hide contract terms and charge illegal fees.
Muitha says an interview alone proved insufficient after cases of theft, identity concerns and disputes. She also says Fiftess once placed domestic workers in the Middle East from an office in Roysambu and withdrew to focus on Kenya. She cites the cost of visas and documentation and concern over worker welfare.
Kenya’s rules trail the ILO standard
Kenya voted for ILO Convention 189 on domestic workers in 2011. In May 2025, President William Ruto said Kenya will ratify it, along with Convention 190 on violence and harassment at work. Labour PS Shadrack Mwadime has said ratification would require Kenya to recognise domestic work as work and ensure equal treatment with other workers.
Courts already apply existing law. In November 2025 a Kisumu househelp who earned KSh4,000 a month for six years won KSh569,717 from a former employer. The Standard reported that the judge said domestic workers are not casuals because they work in private homes or receive cash.
Roles split by skill
Muitha says households now ask for specific skills. A newborn, an elderly parent and a full home need different workers. Fiftess places househelps, nannies, certified nannies, house managers, caregivers, cooks and chefs, cleaners, live out staff, male domestic workers and event ushers. Precise job descriptions, she says, help candidates decide whether to apply and help employers set pay.
The agency’s data covers only the households and candidates who approach it, and cannot describe the sector. Muitha calls for sector data, training and enforcement evidence from policymakers. She says formalisation should not favour workers over employers or the reverse. “Done properly, it can protect both,” she writes.
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