Clean business

Wanjiku Kiptum was an accountant for three years before she quit in August 2014 to start a cleaning business called Clean Space Limited. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • In business school, Wanjiku had sold shoes and underwear to her classmates and made an extra Sh5, 000 in a good month. That had been fun. Could she try her hand at something similar but on a larger scale? Maybe.
  • We were running late and there were dirty dishes piled in the kitchen sink. I asked him to give me a minute to straighten the mess. He said, ‘You like cleaning things. Maybe you should start a cleaning company.’”
  • Wanjiku has attended short courses in sales and leadership. These courses helped her avoid a common rookie mistake. “I learned that I must hire people for the skills I don’t have. I am an accountant; I don’t know how to sell the business. I hired someone to sell the business for me

Wanjiku Kiptum didn’t dilly-dally as most 18-year-olds would. She was too ambitious for that. As soon as she wrote her final high school exam in November 2007, Wanjiku applied to join business school. She was in an accounting class a few weeks into the New Year. She carried on with it until September the next year when she joined USIU for an undergraduate in International Business Administration, minoring in finance.

Wanjiku graduated with honours in August 2012, then got an accounting job in a microfinance in Nairobi’s CBD. It was only late in her first year of work that Wanjiku stopped to catch her breath.

“Our front doors opened to Jeevanjee Gardens. Every day, during my lunch break, I would stroll around the gardens thinking about what lay ahead for me. I was only 22. I wondered why I was so bored with my job, and whether this was all there was to life. My work was one endless report. I wanted more for myself.”

In business school, Wanjiku had sold shoes and underwear to her classmates and made an extra Sh5, 000 in a good month. That had been fun. Could she try her hand at something similar but on a larger scale? Maybe.

In August 2014, Wanjiku took her maternity leave. After that she didn’t return to her old job. “Kiptum, my husband, gave me time and space to think about the work I really wanted to do. I am grateful to him for that.”

The moment when Wanjiku discovered her true north didn’t come while she was reflecting in solitude in some quiet corner on a crisp dawn – it came in passing, as a quip from her husband. “So one day Kiptum, our son and I were about to step out of the house. We were running late and there were dirty dishes piled in the kitchen sink. I asked him to give me a minute to straighten the mess. He said, ‘You like cleaning things. Maybe you should start a cleaning company.’”

HIGHS AND LOWS

Wanjiku started her New Year with a new-found purpose. She registered Clean Space Limited in March 2015. “My father gave me two cleaning machines as a gift; the machines had been gathering dust in our store at home. He’d imported each machine from China for Sh150, 000. I also got more machines and cleaning supplies. Then I attended a networking event where I met a lady who taught me everything I know.

I am grateful to her as well.”This lady – let’s call her Hannah – showed Wanjiku how to run a company and a cleaning business; quoting for jobs, interviewing staff, how to clean and whatnot. A friend linked Wanjiku to the first big contract the business won in June.

“The contract was to clean 8, 000 blinds and upholstery for a local bank. Hannah got me a supervisor. This supervisor got me another supervisor who, in turn, roped in 50 casuals. That’s how I got a team. We cleaned the blinds every weekend for one month at my mother-in-law’s compound in Matasia.”

The business broke even from this big contract. Wanjiku was thrilled. Then it slumped for the rest of the year. There would be the odd job to clean a friend’s sofas or to get rid of cockroaches in another’s kitchen, but nothing like the blinds contract. “My greatest weaknesses at that time were believing in myself, and being confident (enough) to tell people I had left my job in a bank to become a cleaner,” says Wanjiku.

Business has been waxing and waning in a similar fashion this year. “One-off residential cleaning jobs are excellent for the profit margins, but long-term commercial contracts are good for cash flows and business sustainability. You have to get the balance right. We’ve just won five commercial contracts.”

Wanjiku has attended short courses in sales and leadership. These courses helped her avoid a common rookie mistake. “I learned that I must hire people for the skills I don’t have. I am an accountant; I don’t know how to sell the business. I hired someone to sell the business for me; Robin is a charm. I also got someone to manage operations. The cleaning business is a labour-intensive one; Bob oversees the five permanent staff and the casuals. Sally handles admin work at our office in Kileleshwa.” The she adds: “I lead the team. Leading is about growing people. I am in business to grow people.” 

WANJIKU’S INSIGHTS 

  • Don’t run your business like an accountant, run it like a salesman – accountants focus on cutting expenses, salesmen focus on boosting revenue.
  • Your business is not your hobby, it’s your work – find a hobby outside of your business where you can go away to rejuvenate. I like to cook with my son.
  • Be aggressive and don’t be deterred – keep knocking on doors, even after you get a ‘No’ after ‘No’ after ‘No’.
  • Networking