Man dumps ‘mitumba’ for cleaning startup

Ten years ago, Jay Govedi was earning a living selling second-hand clothes in Nairobi. However meagre the returns were, he had great hopes that one day he would create jobs for the youth. His investment of choice was clear in his mind, but lack of funds kept him on a short tether.

Determined to beat all the odds, he started making savings. And by the time he chose to go it alone, he had accumulated Sh100,000 which he used to start Infinite Cleaning Services Company in 2011. His entity specialises in cleaning items in homes and offices within Nairobi.

Mr Govedi used a half of the seed capital to buy a second-hand carpet washing machine. Through mutual agreement with his customers, Mr Govedi would often pick his customer’s vehicle as well as carpets from their house for cleaning.

Soon, his satisfied customers sparked a chain of referrals.

Today, for the three years he has been in the business, Mr Govedi has created a name for his business seeing him employ eight people. However, the number of workers increases upon demand. On average, each employee takes home Sh15,000 per month

The posh estates of Karen, Kilimani, Runda, Imara Daima, Donholm and Embakasi in Nairobi usually provide him with a reliable source of customers.

Customer trust

So what has been his business secret? Trust, he says, adding: “imagine a home-owner leaving his or her house keys to your staff for a whole day only to come in the evening and find that you have done cleaning and everything is intact. This is what many customers have been missing,” notes Mr Govedi who also washes sofa sets.

Depending on the location, car owners usually part with between Sh3,500 and Sh4,000. For sofa sets, it will cost you between Sh5,500 and Sh6,000 for a five-sitter and between Sh7,500 and Sh8,000 for a seven-sitter chair.

His company will charge you Sh300 per square metre to wash your carpet, he said.

And since his job is cleaning, it is no surprise that his main customers have been women.

“We charge after the service. I also provide free advice on how to keep household properties clean besides attending to them at any location without any extra costs,” he notes.

However, quite often, mishandling of customer’s properties while cleaning them has proven costly.

“This is the most challenging area because you can pay more than what we may have charged just to assure our customers that their goods are safe under our custody during service,” says the 30-year-old.

Service is guaranteed

On a good, the company offers services at least three homes. “The less the customers you have, the better since good service is guaranteed. We are looking at expanding into Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Nyeri and Kakamega towns in two years.”

“We also want to engage the government to offer our services besides targeting private businesses. Ours speciality is home and office general cleaning”, says the business management student at Kenya Institute of Management.