Meet the Czech Republic’s first hands-on task guru for expats

While getting a driver’s license office, dealing with the authorities, making doctor’s appointments, or negotiating taxes are a part of daily life, for those living in a country not their own, these tasks can prove incredibly anxiety-inducing.

Marcela Bělovská, CEO and founder of DIDIT, the Czech Republic’s first hands-on task manager, knows this all too well – in fact, she transformed her own struggles with daily life abroad into a startup that gives expats a helping hand.

“I am very familiar with the challenges a person has with basic everyday things that you would find a no-brainer in your hometown,” says Bělovská who lived on and off in New York for 20 years. “Not knowing where to start and the language barrier makes things so difficult.”

She says the biggest challenges and frustrations for DIDIT’s expat clients include interpreting at Czech authorities, driver’s license office, foreign police, regular police station, doctors appointments or visits, municipality offices, financial and tax departments.

Navigating service contracts or rules and regulations upon arrival to the Czech Republic, such as signing up for a mobile provider or understanding parking zones, are also common challenges. 

“We can basically take a 10-page manual, cancel all the unnecessary noise, give you a clear step-by-step and you are done,” says Bělovská.

While DIDIT takes care of language frustrations associated with settling into the Czech Republic – registering pets, or dealing with the dreaded Czech Post – Bělovská believes they can also relieve couples with only one native-speaking partner or families who lack a local support network. 

“The burden of putting everything on your partner because you don't speak the local language can add strain to relationships,” says Bělovská, who adds that not having relatives or parents to turn to for help with the little things can lend to the stress of expat life.

Task management companies like DIDIT were relatively unheard of a decade ago, but as the world moves online and people become increasingly overwhelmed by tasks online and off, Bělovská says both foreigners and Czechs alike come to her for help.

“Similar to the way that 10 years ago, no one could imagine they would be able to conveniently do grocery shopping online and now it’s a booming trend,” she says.

While Google translate has gone a long way to helping with the language barrier, Bělovská’s vision for DIDIT is to provide a service that goes well beyond Google, Siri, and Alexa.

“You can Google ‘handymen in Prague and get 100 results, but then you still need to call them, find out their rate, find out their availability, set up an appointment, and chase them to get things done. And that's where we come in.”

Outside of providing Czech language help or assisting with daily tasks (finding a tutor for you or your children, handling PPL, Zásilkovna or Alza pickups, photographing clothes to sell online, or pet sitting for example), DIDIT can also assist clients with professional tasks such as finding a new accounting firm, job-candidate screening or hiring nannies, and cleaners.

In addition, the company is harnessing Bělovská’s personal experience in the travel industry to help its clients navigate the maddening labyrinth of regulations associated with Covid travel restrictions.

“I have been in a people-facing business my whole life, running a travel agency for many years. Taking care of people’s specific requirements to make their trip just as they need it to be was our daily bread,” she says.

In the Covid era, DIDIT can also help arrange vaccinations in the Czech Republic as well as attend the vaccination appointment to assist non-native speakers. For requests that clients may deem sensitive, non-disclosure agreements or contracts are put in place.

“We know what it’s like to be an expat and we know the local life here in the Czech Republic,” says Bělovská, whose services cover Prague, Ostrava, and Brno for in-person help but the rest of the country for anything that can be done online or over the phone.

Bělovská believes that as life becomes increasingly chaotic, hiring a task management service such as DIDIT to help you tame the chaos can translate into savings. “We work very efficiently to keep our services affordable. When you realize how much your time costs, you will figure out that it’s actually cheaper for us to do it.”

DIDIT's prices start at 400 CZK per hour and the cost of the service relies on the time spent on handling the given task. On average a task takes anything between 30 minutes to 2 hours to fulfill. To get started e-mail them your request and they’ll contact you with a price quote and suggestion on how to proceed.