Running a Clean Business

When I meet Caroline Ngina she is in a lovely chrome peplum skirt suit that goes well with her height, she’s is taller than most ladies and her suave fashion sense accentuated by her lovely figure. When we start the interview at 11am on a gray yet beautiful Thursday morning, she confirms that indeed most people on first impression always guess that she is a fashion designer. Suffice to say she loves fine clothes, fine shoes and in overall the fine things in life. She prides herself in making money out of her love for “fresh and clean”. A rare passion that saw the birthing of “Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd” which is a company she started in 2007.

Before we kick off, she reviews some of the balance sheets that her administrator Pascal has prepared and gives her changes and notes. From the quick glances at the accounting, it’s evident she appreciates clean accounts and is at par with specific elements of her company.

Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd – the genesis

Businessperson or entrepreneur? We start the interview by dissecting the difference between business people and entrepreneurs. In Ngina’s opinion, a business person is solely reliant on the money that circulates around the business and when there’s no more they either give up or start a new business all together. An entrepreneur on the other side of the continuum takes up business as a wholesome package; for them business is continuously work in progress involving growth, investments and a dedicated workforce. All these different facets come together and culminate into steady cash flow that keeps the business afloat.Ngina as the CEO of Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd, is a self-made entrepreneur and has built a solid business in the last seven years. Her entrepreneurial existence goes beyond the money, it’s in the “cleanliness” experience which is so basic yet she offers a touch of excellence.

Why entrepreneurship? Ngina comes from an extended family of business savvy people. Her background training in business management at Kenya Institute of Management comes in handy, but most of her business know-how has been leant on the job.

“With no capital, I started out with two cleaners. Later on I got a loan and bought a cleaning machine – which was almost auctioned”. One had to begin somewhere. She started doing domestic cleaning jobs, she worked with her two cleaners and at the end of a job paid them and made some profit. With time she got more job offers and thought it wise to get a loan to buy a washing machine for efficacy.

The company now specialises in cleaning solutions and pest control. The deep passion for cleanliness in Ngina is inborn and something else that runs in the family. It was also borne out of the need to give back to the community, which she has done by empowering her workforce who are able to earn an income and feed their families. “Everytime I pay salaries at the end of the month, I know for a fact that children are going to school and families are being fed. When I go out and secure a job, I know it’s not just for me, the need is bigger.” Ngina’s current workforce totals to about ten people with two permanent employees and eight casual contractors. Her office expenses are low since she just needs one administrator who deals with office related matters. The nature of her business has her going to the clients instead of them coming to her and once the job has been secured the staff works from the designated stations.

Ngina emphasizes the need for entrepreneurs to map out a dedicated workforce. She points out that when she was alone her roles were split far and wide; she would clean, handle money, handle the staff and meet clients. Now with an administrator, she is able to go out and look for business as her administrator ensures the office affairs are running smoothly from payroll to banking to accounting. Business is at times on a rollercoaster and goes up and down. As an entrepreneur she has experienced the hustle of losing good staff. In this she stresses on the need to grow thick skin and not to hold anyone responsible; the buck stops with the owner of the business who is the only permanent employee.

Hiring people she explains comes with its challenges. Ngina narrates how she has made losses when she hired new people, trained them sufficiently only for them to bring nothing to the business or worse still – leave without giving back to the business. As an entrepreneur it can be a case of bad judgment which translates into poor decision making, you however have to live with yourself and learn from your mistakes. Her previous administrator came in as an intern and turned out to be a bad investment. She paid a HR consultant to teach her how to do payroll and returns and the minute the training was over the intern left.

On the induction process for her employees, Ngina refers to Pascal who is her current administrator. She has personally trained her on the job, they have together gone through the HR policies that her company stands on, accounting and the use of QuickBooks for accounting. She insists that entrepreneurs should not “…confuse good people for good employees. The task and the person are separate in that someone who is good needs to be vetted further if they are the right fit for the business…” That said, it’s important to strive to hire skilled people who bring in their own professionalism to the table, this in the long run bring harmony in running the business.

Opportunity doors and tenders

Having been in business for a solid seven years, people trust that Ngina indeed knows what she is doing. Her first commercial job was with an insurance company in her first year of business, a business which was already registered and had all the proper documentation. Then, she just walked into the manager’s office without an appointment, she was lucky enough to get a meeting. She stated her case, talked about her cleaning services and got a contract to work with the company. She hired fifteen casuals to finish the task and from the very first time she got it right and the client was immensely happy, so much so she replaced the cleaning company giving them the services prior and worked there for a couple of months.

With time, Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd got other new contracts and some of them came in form of big tenders. In 2010, a friend told her about a tender from a parastatal organisation. She applied and surprisingly got it. Soon after, she saw a second one with another parastatal organisation which was advertised in the newspapers. For this one, the terms were more specific and she personally went and spoke to the procurement manager on what was needed. Her application was flawless and she got the tender hands down. It was something of a chain reaction; once her profile read that she had successfully worked with one parastatal any other would trust that she was legit.

In 2012, the stakes were even higher when Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd got a contract with a ministry. For this tender, she again did research that saw her go to the ministry and get the nitty gritties of the job. Seeking information and research in this way for Ngina has never involved any corrupt dealings, all she does is state her case passionately and get a little extra knowledge on what is needed, what to do and what not to do. The contract from the ministry ran for a while until the government changed hands.

One thing Ngina does is that she always gets recommendations from all her clients and with this she has been able to get more clients. These letters are written evidence that indeed she did the job to the client’s satisfaction. Currently the Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd is also working for a government agency.

Becoming the best

Ngina has always wanted to do an MBA in entrepreneurship but her business right now keeps her very occupied. She also opts to grow the business more than invest her time in a classroom. She has instead participated in a number of informal short business courses which are fairly accessible. She has taken a course with the Nigerian business guru and writer Wale Akinyemi, “Inspire to inspire” and Passion to Profit. Additionally, as an entrepreneur, she is in different networking forums whence she gets additional business. These include; BNI where she has been networking for two years, Chamber of commerce, Toast Masters, League of Young Professionals and Jubilee Christian Church Business forum. “More so – this courses help you grow personally, who you are reflects a lot on your business.”

“If I knew what I know today when I started Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd, I would do this in two years”. Ngina says business is a journey and she does not regret the lessons she has learnt over time. She knows she can teach others to take lesser time to achieve their goals.This she does by mentoring younger entrepreneurs from the aforementioned networking organisations. Talking to people is a great way of self auditing, it’s a challenge to be better and mentorship offers solutions on impulse. It has motivated her to improve herself even further. “You can’t tell your mentees what you told them last year. You need to be better and bigger so as to have something extra to offer”.

Unlike when she started in 2007 walking into offices without appointments, Ngina acknowledges it’s not the best of strategies. Random marketing has its moments of chance but a more solid method lies in using referrals. She nowadays has specific days where she meets new clients. Once she gets a referral she does a thorough background check on the company and once she goes for the meeting she knows exactly what the client needs would be. Networking gets rid of red tape, once you are referred to someone in the company of interest even though they might be in the wrong department; once you have a foot in the door you are able to get the right person in no time.

Some of her business principles are anchored on the fact that she is a Christian. “Everything starts and stops with God, He is my reference. I always pray anytime I go looking for jobs, and this doesn’t mean that because I have prayed I will get them… having God in my life and my business has been worthwhile in more ways than one”.

Consistency is one principle that has seen Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd reach new heights each year. Ngina attests to the fact that Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd is known to do only one thing very well. “Getting referral is one thing but being able to meet the deliverables is another”. Secondly, commitment as an entrepreneur is vital. Being self employed she says, can tempt you to laze around. Passion for your business should kick in and push you to wake up at the right time, be at the right place and do the right thing without any supervision. Lastly, Ngina talks of discipline especially when it comes to money. She advises entrepreneurs to spend their money wisely and to constantly remember it’s not really their money but the company’s money. Discipline also lies in maintaining high standards of professionalism.

Touching on the ‘money’, Ngina made her first million in 2012. She says business is tricky in that the cash flow in and out can be so fast at times you might make millions but fail to actually see them in the bank until you do your accounts. Her biggest lesson on money at that point was “With more money you have to be extra disciplined, re-invest in your business as much as possible. Don’t let the money rule you.”

New frontiers

Miss Clean Domestic And Office Solutions Ltd strives to be the best cleaning company in East and Central Africa and in the near future plans to expand into major towns in Kenya, the likes of Kisumu, Mombasa and Nakuru. Once Kenya has been conquered, the next agenda would be to go regional to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.  After doing business in solitaire for seven years Ngina believes it’s time to bring in new partners and investors. Currently, she has already handpicked a financial investor with whom she’ll expand the business, inject new innovative ideas, knowledge and get to ten years of business in style. She is at a point in business where she can comfortably say that “Business is beyond making money.”