Alumni Spotlight: Business alum creates Brazil’s first cloud laundry company

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Many people, including those in our own community, know the struggle of having to do their own laundry and fantasize about hiring someone to do it for them.

While the country of Brazil has known this struggle unfortunately due to high unemployment and poverty rates, a 2018 UD alum — Vittor Strausz Jardim — has found a way to address his community’s needs with his educational background.

The Brazil native created the first cloud laundry company in Brazil called Washout. Similar to services like Uber and Lyft, Washout connects people in their community or nearby willing to do someone else’s laundry and people who need their laundry done.

For these Brazilians, crossing a task off their to-do list is just one click away, which is a big relief for people who are too busy or who may not be able to afford washing machines or to go to a laundromat every week.

Strausz Jardim shared that the social impact of Washout is amazing and that several of the washers, many of whom were previously unemployed, are able to make a livable wage from working for the laundry service.

When Strausz Jardim graduated from UD with a B.A. in Business Administration, he had full intentions of bringing everything he learned at UD back to his homeland to help out his community in any way he could.

This desire reflects the mission and vision of UD: “to educate its students so they may develop the intellectual and moral virtues, prepare themselves for life and work in a problematic and changing world, and become leaders able to act responsibly for their own good and for the good of their family, community, country, and church.”

“[At UD I learned] that we need to help to create the world we want to live in, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do,” Strausz Jardim said. “[My] UD education really gave me a purpose to become an entrepreneur.”

With the help and advice of UD business professor Jim Hamilton combined with his UD education, Jardim made his hope of improving his community — and the mission behind his alma mater — into a reality. For him, the visible results of providing both jobs and services for people in need are beyond rewarding.

When asked about his journey transitioning from the “UD bubble” into the business world, Strausz Jardim said: “It’s not an easy road. It’s hard to get support in the beginning because we are doing things [differently] than the normal way, but in the end, it’s very rewarding seeing the impact [on] other people’s lives.”

Strausz Jardim added that he benefited from UD’s small and tight-knit community by finding a mentor in Hamilton who helped and supported him through the process of establishing and running his business.

The UD alum also has another business called InFind.Tech, a digital agency that seeks to help other small businesses and companies grow and launch digital platforms by teaching them skills like creating ads, using software and how to use marketing to increase their sales.

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