Rags to Riches in Kenya: Over the past few years, Steve Thuita has built one of the most successful commercial cleaning businesses in Nairobi. Many people who now marvel at his success do not know is the struggle that Steve went through to get a business footing.

To begin with, entrepreneurship was not his chosen path in life. His desire was to complete his secondary and university education and get a well-paying job in the city. As fate would have it though, he was not destined for employment.

Things took an ugly turn after he completed high school in 2003. “I scored a grade of C+ though I qualified for diploma studies, I missed the ultimate goal of joining a public university, I was crushed,” he says.

As fate would have it, he did not even pursue a diploma course as his mother could not afford his college fees. She ran a small groceries and vegetables stall in Limuru which made it difficult for her to provide for her young family. As a first born, Steve decided to move out and look for a job to support his mother provide for the family. “All I wanted was to find something that would pay me so that I could change my life and that of my mother and my siblings,” he says.

Getting a job was tough. “I tarmacked for months without success.

I began to look out for casual jobs which he could not find. Finally, out of desperation, he decided to create his own door, to start a business hoping that people will give him business. After careful analysis, the only business he could start was a cleaning services company because it did not require any capital.

To start, Steve borrowed 2,000 from his mother which was the capital he invested in his start-up. “I named the business ‘Clean to Gleam’ and bought cleaning materials for cleaning cars, homes, carpets and sofa sets.

After working for 1 week, he bought a Mulika Mwizi phone, with which he’d use to communicate with potential clients. “My plan was to call and text friends and family asking for business referrals. I did not have adequate capital to fund a better marketing campaign,” he says.

In the first few days, business was not easy to come by. “I got many ‘Nos’ than I got ‘Yeses’. I would wake up and wonder when I would get a Yes!” he says. But a few weeks down the line, he began to get small cleaning assignments. He was the owner, employee, and messenger of his own company.

After some time, Steve opened a bank account and began to save earnings his business. A month into business, he bought a hoover machine at Sh. 2,000. He also bought a low-end smartphone with which he would use to market his services on social media. “I wanted to market my new business through Facebook,” he says. Three months down the line, he began to get good business as clients saw the quality of his work and developed trust. His profits soared to between Sh. 80,000 and Sh. 100,000 per month.

“Since then, I have maintained an online presence by marketing my services and interacting with my customers through social media networks,” he says. His cleaning charges range from Sh. 200 to Sh. 30,000, for cleaning office and dining seats, matatu seats, mattresses, car interiors, floors, home and office general cleaning.

Four years down the line, Steve says that he has learned to balance jobs between those that are lucrative and those that grow his client base. “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,” he adds.

Because if it’s effectiveness, Steve has maintained social media marketing. “The advent and proliferation of technology means that more and more people are nowadays interacting and conducting business online,” he says.

He has also found innovative ways that have helped him keep his social media marketing costs low. “Apart from creating marketing pages and groups, I also pay Facebook to boost my services online. This enables me to reach more customers, and out this reach, I am able to convert a few interactions into business,” says Steve.

Steve dream is to create more jobs for jobless young people in Kenya and in the region. He plans to set up operations in all major cities in Kenya (Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret) in the next 12 months and at least 1 city in the East African Community with his eyes set on Kigali, Rwanda. Rags to Riches in Kenya. Rags to Riches in Kenya.