Privacy Policy

The HelpMate is a digital platform that connects employers with verified domestic workers across Nigeria, starting in Abuja (FCT). We act as the data controller for personal data processed through this platform.

Registered address: Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
Data Protection Officer contact: info@thehelpmate.ng.

We collect different categories of data depending on your role:

• Platform operation — creating and managing your account, matching employers with workers, facilitating interview requests and hire records.
• Identity & address verification — reviewing documents to issue Bronze, Silver, or Gold verification badges; documents are reviewed by authorised admin staff only.
• Background checks — sharing necessary data with our background-check provider under a data processing agreement, solely to produce a pass/fail outcome.
• Payments — processing subscription fees and placement commissions via our payment provider (Paystack).
• Notifications — sending SMS, email, and push notifications about account activity, interview requests, and platform updates. You can opt out of marketing notifications in your account settings.
• Safety & trust — investigating misconduct reports, resolving disputes, and enforcing our terms of service.
• Legal compliance — maintaining audit logs and records as required under Nigerian law, including the NDPA 2023.
• Platform improvement — aggregated, anonymised analytics to understand how the platform is used.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects without human review.

We rely on the following lawful bases under the NDPA:

• Contract performance — processing necessary to provide the service you signed up for (account creation, matching, payments).
• Consent — for optional marketing communications and for processing sensitive data categories (e.g. NIN). You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation — audit logging, data subject rights fulfilment, and compliance with regulatory requests.
• Legitimate interests — fraud prevention, platform security, and aggregated analytics, where these do not override your rights.

We share personal data only in the following circumstances:

• Between platform users— a worker's public profile (name, photo, skills, badge, ratings) is visible to employers and agents. Contact details are only shared once an interview request is accepted.
• Agents and their workers — an agent can view and manage the profiles of workers they have onboarded.
• Service providers — identity/KYC verification providers, background-check providers, payment processors (Paystack), cloud storage, push notification services (Expo), and error monitoring tools. Each operates under a data processing agreement.
• Legal authorities — where required by Nigerian law, a court order, or to protect the safety of users or the public.

We do not transfer personal data outside Nigeria except where required by a service provider and with appropriate safeguards in place.

We retain personal data for as long as your account is active and for a period afterwards as required by law or legitimate business need:

• Account data — retained for the life of the account plus 1 year after deletion request.
• Identity and address documents — retained for 6 months after the verification decision, then permanently deleted. You may request earlier deletion.
• Audit logs — retained for 2 years as required for NDPA compliance.
• Payment records — retained for 6 years as required by Nigerian tax law.

Automated retention jobs run periodically to purge expired data. You can request deletion at any time (see Section 7).

Under the NDPA 2023, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure — request deletion of your data, subject to legal retention obligations.
• Restriction — ask us to pause processing while a dispute is resolved.
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Object — object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent — at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@thehelpmate.ng with the subject line “Data Subject Request”. We will respond within 30 days as required by the NDPA.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) at ndpc.gov.ng.

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including:

• Encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS)
• Encrypted storage for sensitive documents
• Role-based access controls — only authorised staff can access verification documents
• Rate limiting and brute-force protection on authentication endpoints
• Regular security reviews and audit logging of sensitive operations

No system is 100% secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at info@thehelpmate.ng.

The main platform (worker profiles, employer accounts, agent accounts) is not directed at persons under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors for these purposes.

The HelpMate Mentorship Programmeaccepts applications for children under 18, but these applications are submitted by a parent or legal guardian on the child's behalf. The guardian's explicit consent is collected as part of the application process, and the child's data is used solely to administer the programme.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you by email (to the address on your account) and by displaying a notice in the app at least 14 days before the changes take effect. The effective date at the top of this page will always reflect the current version.

Continued use of the platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

For privacy-related queries, data subject requests, or to reach our Data Protection Officer: