How To Start A Cleaning Business In Nigeria: The Complete Guide
The increase in the freedom that people want to experience from not doing their chores, washing their clothes, cleaning their offices, and more, makes the professional cleaning services industry to continue to experience an unprecedented growth, year after year.
Households, organizations, schools, and other institutions are constantly outsourcing their cleaning services, and as such, professional cleaning services, also known as janitorial services, is becoming more lucrative for people and businesses who have the time and technical know-how to help others clean their environments.
You are probably reading this article because you’re are looking for a low-cost business idea that can take off quickly and does not have strenuous requirements as other startups. Or you are just looking to create a secondary source of income to support your plans.
If you are ready to take on the opportunities that the professional cleaning services industry poses, then starting a cleaning business would be ideal for you.
This is one of the few businesses that is easy to start in Nigeria, Africa, or anywhere around the world but is highly competitive, as a large part of the industry is dominated by thousands of small organizations.
For your business to flourish, there are vital steps that must be taken to ensure your startup grows. Those and more, are what you’re about to learn from this comprehensive guide on how to start a Cleaning business in Nigeria, Africa, or anywhere around the world.
Why Start A Cleaning Business?
While this is a fundamental question you should be fully clear about, here are some reasons you should opt to start a cleaning business in Nigeria, Africa, or anywhere else.
1). Requires Less Capital:
By far, this is one of the most important reasons to start a cleaning business in Nigeria or anywhere else, as the capital requirements are low in comparison to others. When you are starting small and mostly for domestic services, all you require is a vacuum cleaner, a couple of brooms, and an equipment trolley. All of which don’t cost much to acquire.
2). Excellent part time option:
People mostly prefer to get their houses cleaned in their presence, which goes on to create a lot of job opportunities on the weekends for individuals and businesses venturing into janitorial services; making this ideal for people who already have a day job.
3). Less Space Requirement:
With a cleaning business, your clients don’t need to visit your office. Rather, they can call you directly. This means your office can be managed in very compact space, as all you will require is a small reception and a place to keep your cleaning equipment.
4). Less hard work:
When you start a cleaning business in Nigeria or anywhere else, you become your own boss and will now be responsible for your accounting and organization.
There are lots of other reasons like freedom from fixed working schedules and job creation for people who would work under your business.
See Also: How To Start A T-Shirt Printing Business
The Opportunities In The Cleaning Business
The scope and opportunities in the cleaning business enable entrepreneurs to easily have a clear and long-term vision. While many may view it as a part-time business, many others generate far more revenue than they ever could from even a high paying job.
Some long-term opportunities in the cleaning business in Nigeria, Africa, or around the world are:
1). Commercial Cleaning Services:
Large commercial buildings require frequent cleaning, and cannot easily be done by a single person or a team of janitors working for the organization. Securing a long-term contract to clean up a few commercial buildings will accelerate your business growth.
2). House Cleaning Services:
This janitorial service involves the cleaning of homes, pools, or gardens for clients, and is the easiest to start. It does not require much staff, as all you’d need at the beginning is a couple of equipment and little help, if necessary.
3). Specialized Cleaning Services:
Here, you specialize in a specific set of tasks like window cleaning, vehicle cleaning, sofa cleaning, duct cleaning, or carpet cleaning. It offers you selective work and at also pays extremely well since it is a specialized field.
Step by Step Guide To Start A Cleaning Business
Only a fool tests the depth of a pool with both feet, and this has held true for the cleaning business in Nigeria or anywhere else around the world. If you try to delve into the professional cleaning services business without adequate planning, chances are your business may not turn out as you had hoped.
Below are 8 crucial steps to take to start your own cleaning business in Nigeria, Africa, or anywhere else around the world:
1). Carry Out A Market Research:
For every business, this is a very important factor to help you understand what type of opportunities and challenges you will face in the future. It will also give you an idea of who your strongest competitors are, what their services cost, and whether they’re delivering real value for money or not.
2). Determine Your Business Type:
The cleaning business in Nigeria or anywhere else is vast, and so, you must determine the major niche you want to be known for. As earlier stated, they are:
- House Cleaning Services
- Commercial Cleaning Services
- Specialized Cleaning Services
3). Choose A Business Model:
Here you could choose to either start up a whole new business, or to launch out as a franchise. Starting a new business involves building a reputable brand name which would invariably take a whole lot of time and money on the part of the entrepreneur. But if you choose to go with a franchise instead, you’d leverage on the success of an existing brand and can start getting a lot of paying clients fast.
Based on your business goals, choosing the right model for your cleaning business will determine how far or not, you can go.
4). Raise Adequate Funds:
Depending on the type of cleaning business you’re venturing into, the funds required to execute your project would vary. House cleaning services would always be very affordable to start up, but commercial cleaning services and specialized cleaning services will constantly require special equipment which can run into thousands of dollars to acquire.
As such, you’re required to raise adequate startup capital for whichever cleaning business you choose to venture into.
5). Promote Your Cleaning Business:
How well you do this will determine how many first-time customers you can get. No matter how excellent the service you provide is, or how cheap your prices are, clients won’t come knocking unless they know about your business.
To promote your cleaning business in Nigeria, Africa, or anywhere else around the world, you can use some of the following methods:
- Advertising in local newspapers: The best way to let people know about your business.
- Lettering on Vehicles: You can try it on your cars as it will roam through the city.
- Door hangers: It is the most significant form of advertising as you can place it literally on all the gates of your locality.
- Referral program: it’s the best way to attract customers from existing clients, as they will get rewards while they get you more business.
- Social media: You can advertise your services on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and others to grow your business.
- Business cards: You can share your business card to friends and family and also at local businesses gain more clients.
- Websites: If you get a professional website you can attract more customers through it as people spend most of their time online.
- SEO: Ranking high on Google and other search engines will help you get a whole lot more customers.
6). Create A Valuable Brand:
From the get-go, it’s completely important that you strive to turn your business into a valuable brand.
You can get your business a professional logo and professional great-looking uniforms for your team members. You should also put up testimonials of satisfied clients on your websites, and should try to be known amongst clients for your values and professionalism, not just for your competitive pricing.
As you build a large number of satisfied customers, as they’d recommend your business to as many people as they can that need your services.
7). Hiring Experienced Workers:
When hiring, ensure the candidates who get selected are well experienced in the cleaning business or have at least gone through some form of training.
Challenges to the cleaning business
Here are some challenges you stand to face in the cleaning business in Nigeria, Africa, or anywhere else around the world:
1). A Sudden Increase In Responsibility:
While this may sound less serious, it is one of the biggest problems people face when they start their own business. You suddenly become responsible for finding new clients, managing funds, hiring, and many other duties.
The professional cleaning services industry is a highly competitive one, and as such, your business must have something special sets it apart from the competition.
3). Non-Paying Clients:
There will always be clients you won’t pay up their balances. This is why it is always recommended that you collect a 70% upfront payment in this industry.
These are some important things to know when starting a cleaning business in Nigeria, Africa, or anywhere else around the world. They do not guarantee success, but will place you on the right track.
Asides the content of the article, other important things to do include getting your paperwork ready and acquiring the necessary permits from the government if required.