"Cleaners hardly get the respect they deserve in our country. Those who are hired by households and private companies don't even have a provision of minimum wage and often subjected to violence. Whatever little they earn isn't enough to send their children to good schools, which further fuels the vicious circle of poverty. So Shine Cleaning is also about social entrepreneurship," says Bina.At Shine Cleaning, it's the most underprivileged people who get jobs. Usually they are single mothers and those belonging to the marginalized caste.
But apart from this broad vision, the venture also saw the opportunity that came by providing quality cleaning service, the need for which Bina herself realized. "When my sofa got dirty, the only way I could make it look clean was by buying a new cover. Since it isn't a feasible option to always cover up my sofa to prevent it from dirtying, I felt the need of some cleaning solution. Other people must have felt it, too," she shares.
In Nepal, cleaning is mostly done manually. As opposed to hand cleaning, machine cleaning gives better outcome. And Bina used this fact to establish Shine Cleaning. Today they provide employment to 20 people (including administrative staff) and have six different service packages. Some of which are 'Marble Polishing' at Rs 65/square feet, 'Tiles Deep Cleaning' at Rs 15/square feet, 'Parquet Restoration/Polishing' at Rs 100/square feet, among others.
Bina explains that the cleaning isn't merely about washing and scrubbing; it's more of a restoration and renovation. "We step in when our clients require deep cleaning. For example, if there's a wedding in the house or the thorough cleaning of a house's interior after the construction is over. If plasters on the walls and/or floors have come off, we repair that, too," she says.
Apart from providing quality service, Shine Cleaning also values professionalism. "There's a dearth of professionalism in Nepal. To change this, we make sure to complete our work within the said timeframe and always provide bills. We also respect our clients' privacy and make sure that they find it easy to work with us," Bina says.
As machine cleaning was a new thing when they started out, Bina and her team had to learn everything from scratch. The team first tried their skill in their own house and then their friends' house. With every trial and error, they learned the right use of machines and chemicals.
However, merely six months after Shine Cleaning started, some of the company's former staff started a similar company on their own. Bina then had to restructure and customize the company's services completely.
The venture also suffered from the incompatibility of imported machines in the local environment. Imported from Germany, the machines weren't designed to cleanse the level of dirt of households and offices here. Only after thorough technical modifications did the machines execute proper cleaning.
Apart from these early challenges, the venture, just like any other businesses in the country, is going through a tough time right now thanks to the earthquake, and the blockade that has led to acute fuel shortage.
"Overcoming the setback posed by the earthquake was a real challenge. We lost revenue of over a month because most of our cleaning staff are from outside Kathmandu and all of them had lost their homes, so we couldn't ask them to get back to work immediately. We supported them with financial help equivalent to their one-month salary. However, we utilized the off-business time to research and experiment on new cleaning processes and services," Bina shares.
Two months after that, Shine Cleaning received its biggest contract—to polish 30,000 square feet of the immigration area at Tribhuvan International Airport. Better times were coming for the company, but it didn't stay for long. Thanks to the blockade, the company is now left with a broken generator and van engine.
"Since we're highly machine driven, we cannot make do without electricity. These days we are responding by declining our clients who live far away. Nonetheless, we start afresh every new day and we're managing one day at a time; solving problems meticulously everyday and hour because no one can predict what next will happen in this country. Despite things being unpredictable, we have accepted the challenge to move forward and hopefully the horrible days of scarcity shall be over and we shall survive to see better days," Bina hopes.
As for the future, Bina wants to make their services more efficient. "We plan on being more machine driven and efficient, and perhaps also expand to interior designing," she concludes.
Related story
Kathmandu metropolis initiates river cleaning campaign
