MyCareSpace is a social enterprise or 'for purpose' company whose mission is to create 'meaningful connections for people living with a disability so they can build extra ordinary lives'.
The vision of our CEO Nicole Gamerov, MyCareSpace is a national online platform that helps people with a disability and their families, all around Australia, find the disability services and supports in their local area, along with information about the NDIS and how to navigate it.
Nicole experienced first hand the struggles her vision-impaired mum had with trying to find the services she needed, and this has driven her and the MyCareSpace team to constantly strive to create as many connections as possible every day.
These may be connections to the disability services people need, innovative options they didn't know about, community events, mainstream supports and easy to understand versions of necessary NDIS information.
Our online provider directory allows people to search for options in their local area. Our NDIS resources aim to answer the most common questions we receive every day like "what does that mean in my plan?", "how do I activate my plan?" or "what does it mean to self or plan manage?".
People often ask if we are a charity or not-for-profit (NFP) because we are part of the Disability Sector. Starting on a shoestring budget and being self-funded, a for-purpose organisation structure was the only option for MyCareSpace since it was easier and cheaper to get up and running quickly. This company structure has served us well, as we have been able to operate efficiently and it has allowed us to focus on supporting thousands of people and businesses at the same time: we have supported hundreds of NDIS participants in using choice and control to create thousands of meaningful connections. This happens daily when participants access local providers and services that support them in meeting their NDIS goals.
On the downside, we can't apply for many the grants available in the disability arena because they are only for NFP organisations. That makes us work even harder to provide a valuable and efficient service.
We are deeply passionate about what we do and as a for-purpose organisation that is financially sustainable, we constantly look for improved and innovative ways to serve the disability community. We are investing in technology, services, and people so that we can maintain a high-quality service that stands the test of time.
Meet the Partners
Nicole Gamerov
Nicole lives in Sydney with her devoted husband and their 3 beautiful children and loves to keep fit and enjoys running and yoga and even a bit of surfing.
Nicole worked in finance for almost 20 years and had built up a successful career during which she established the Global Partnerships unit for a top international re-insurance company in Australia, New Zealand the Pacific Islands. In 2016, she decided to leave the corporate world to do something which would allow her to make a difference to people’s lives on a deeper and more personal level.
Nicole knows how challenging it can be to live with a disability as her mother went blind from macular degeneration. In her view, having a disability means that you are differently abled. Her mum is a true example of this, as her blindness does not prevent her from leading a full and active life and from travelling the world.
Nicole is passionate about inspiring people to reach their full potential. She wants to empower people so that they can enhance the quality of their own life. However, she came to realise that what was missing was an online platform which provided easily accessible, independently reviewed information and which would allow people to make important decisions about their health and lifestyle choices. With the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the need for such a platform is even greater which led to the creation of Mycarespace.
Nicole and her son Sebastian (second from the left) at a recent Surfers Healing event on Bondi Beach with Izzy Paskowitz (second from right)
Bianca Shapiro
Bianca lives in Sydney with three energetic children and an even more energetic husband. She loves running, playing tennis and pilates. Having originally come from a Finance background, she joined a long time friend to start the hugely successfull Dynamic Web Training (DWT), a nationally located certified Adobe and Microsoft training centre. This was sold to Seek Online as their Seek Learning flagship business. After that it was all things websites and she has been developing all kinds of applications for all kinds of people since then 2005.
After building the MyCareSpace online platform for Nicole, she decided to leave her web development business and join Nicole and MyCareSpace because she recognises the vision that Nicole has and can't wait to continue the journey alongside her.
