Capacity building is key in business – Onanuga Oluwaseun

“…if I had known, maybe I would spent the time I used in studying them (computer science and human relations), for my present career” those were the words of Mrs. Onanuga Oluwaseun, the founder and CEO of 4Cleaners Ltd, based in Lagos as she expresses her love and passion for her job- “hospitality focusing on ambiance and related areas”. In this The Business Interview with Arinze Okamelu, Seun as  she is popularly known and called by friends, was in her element as she shared her business story amongst others. Read excerpt:

May we meet you?

Iam Mrs. Onanuga Oluwaseun. I am an entrepreneur in the line of hospitality focusing on ambiance and related areas. We handle all forms of interior design and decorations, acoustic lighting, spatial arrangement and make-overs for homes and offices. By spatial arrangements, I mean the creation of more room for spacious and warmer environment, and make-overs is adding beauty to your homes and offices most times by redesigning. We are also professionals at handling all forms of cleaning, pest and mold control as well as upholstery care.  I am a 2002 computer science graduate from Babcock University (then affiliated with an Andrews University in Michigan, USA), Ilisan, Ogun State, and also I hold a master’s degree in human relations from the Lagos State University (LASU). However, following my passion which does not feel like work for me, I found myself into cleaning services and interior decoration.

What is the difference between spatial arrangement and interior decoration?

Spatial arrangement is the creation of space and arrangement of the items in the room while Interior decoration is decorating and furnishing of available space

So why this line of business? Why not something else?

I am familiar with question especially when I started initially; people have asked me “why did you go into this line of business?” But for me, it started as a passion, and then the business came thereafter. It has to do with what I actually like doing. I really never knew it would lead to business. I was just doing what I had, and still have passion  for, then the business side came up along the line, and I have been on this for a couple of years now. It comes natural with me. It is something I do day-in, day-out and perhaps, because it deals with aura and ambience, we have had people asking us “can you do interior designs?” “can you help me fix my curtains?” “can you help me with my general decorations and floor effects?” So along the line, we have to expand our business, from cleaning to interior designs, and related services in such line to serve our clients better and many others in need of our services.

How come you took the risk of turning this to business? Why didn’t you go looking for jobs like some of your peers?

Like I said earlier, cleaning and having a better ambiance is something I do naturally. It is something that flows with ease when I am doing it.  I don’t feel like I am working when I am doing it. I can do many hours without feeling it, just to get the best out of it. I worked for years and I know what it feels like waking up in the morning and you are like, “oh another day is here!”, but in this, you are excited doing it, be it weekends or weekday. So it is natural to enjoy the fact that there is money attached to one’s passion.

While growing up was there anything that showed that you are going to be an entrepreneur?

Well, growing up; I didn’t really give entrepreneurship a thought. There are some information that may not be necessary here, but you would be surprised that my mother who is an entrepreneur advised me to go look for a Job. She trades and she imports wares and sells, but she just believes that her child must do better than her and that for her, is a “big time 8am – 5pm kind of job” in a corporation or so. As an obedient child, I did that for years, but I wasn’t finding the fulfilment.

Where were the places you worked?

I worked with Goldmyne Entertainment,and from there in NIIT, after I finished my diploma there, I was retained to teach;  and later, Honda Place at Victoria Island, Lagos for four years before resigning.

At what point did you realize that cleaning and creating a better ambiance will bring money to you and how did you start?

I actually left my last place of employment because there was this cleaning contract that came up and I thought that would give me money; but it ended up not coming. But then, I had already resigned, and that was part of the reason I left that place so I can position myself better to execute the cleaning contract, but it didn’t come through. So I basically started with nothing since the passion was there. The love to clean and have a better overall ambiance was there for me. I have done a lot of Jobs, sometimes I will add my own money, without getting anything out of it, just to make the customer happy. So when I realized it was going to be business was when I started getting referrals. This was what I do not necessarily for the money, and I am getting referrals. That was interesting. People will call and say “can you do this for us, how much would you collect?”. Of course at that point I had to turn this passion into business. I registered the company in January 2010 after I left my last place of work in August 2009.

What have been the challenges?

The first challenge is human capital, or call it, labour. Everybody wants to do a fast job and move on to the next one. Maybe because we are in “generation speed”. Everybody seems to be in a hurry. So part of my challenges is trying to instil excellence in the staff that work with me; that is, “if you are doing it, you must do it right”. A lot of the time, because of our focus on excellence and customer satisfaction, we have found ourselves in situations where we have re-work where we had worked before, a couple of times.  What we ought to do in one or two days, we end up doing it in three days or more, just because we want to deliver excellence. At the end of the day, we may not be making profit because the profit we would have got, we have put it back into a particular job to get the best! That is a major challenge; trying to instil excellence in staff. Secondly, to get the work tools is a bit challenging. The cleaning industry is still coming up in Nigeria. Sometimes, you go to the companies where they sell some of these work tools, they won’t have them on ground and have to import. Sometimes you have to wait for months for them to import them. For example, today, I went to get some materials, and they weren’t readily available. But I just have to look for a way out because the job must be carried out before 7am tomorrow. That is a huge challenge. However, until recently, people do not appreciate what we do; you would see this kind of disposition in them like “is it not cleaning, just put soap and water and clean here”. But I am happy that people are beginning to recognise that cleaning is a serious business and we are indeed serious about it, as our clients can testify. Again, we have designed tailored made services for our clients, depending on the amount you pay, you get a commensurate amount of service. But we are always looking at giving out the best services at all times. And there has been good proceeds from the business and thank God!

What about finance? Isn’t an issue?

Like in most industry, finance could be regarded also a major challenge, but any determined person must just find a creative way to surmount this challenge like other business challenges. You see, when you want something to work, you look for ways, but when you don’t want something to be done, you look for excuses. So I put my personal finances into jobs, and as much as possible, we try to get part payment from clients, and after work, we will get the balance.

Don’t you have clients that default in payment?

Alot. Perhaps that is another challenge that we grapple with. They give you the initial payment and after the Job, you start struggling for the balance, which is not part of the agreement, and they tell you “sorry come in another two weeks”. Meanwhile you have spent on the Job the money you are supposed to use to carry out another contract. But you can’t give up because of that. You just have to move on.

Where did you get your start-up capital from?

It was my personal finance that I saved up. I was privileged to have some savings; that was how I started. Not even the money from my initial Job, because it was nothing to write home about. I used my savings to register the business, got some training and moved it forward to some level.

As an entrepreneur, do you think money is an issue in starting up any business?

Money shouldn’t be an Issue, not just in this business, but in any business. The first thing should be Ideas. The office space we started with belongs to a friend, it is a shared facility. I spoke with him and I said I needed an office space that would serve as a contact point, and he said, “fine”. He gave me a space, and as the business comes, I pay. I think ideas, followed by the courage and determination to see your ideas come to reality, are the keys.

What do you think may have kept you in this business despite the challenges and looking at the fact that most businesses don’t survive after the third year?

I love a warm and receptive ambiance. The love to clean; the love to give people a better environment. I believe your surroundings; ambience is the backdrop of your life; be it your home or your office, it should be warm and comfortable. It is a place you get to and you are able to think, relax and articulate your thoughts together. So it has been the love to give people that space and warmth, where they can recline and meditate and put things together in their lives. So the joy I see in my clients’ faces after the jobs, knowing that you can make people happy and improve the quality of their lives and the passion in doing what I am doing, have kept me going. Also, the the profit we get from the business, we put back in business. I have other lines of business, fashion industry. Sometimes I take money from that, to support each other. It might not be right conventionally, but that has been what I have been doing to sustain my businesses, it is all about discipline. You must be disciplined to practice this though and survive. It is determination; you get to a point when you want to give up, but you look back and say, “I can do it’ those that have succeeded were  humans after all, they did not drop from heaven”  and  that keeps pushing me because it is just a matter of time, I will get to where I am going. I must also mention that my husband has been solidly behind our success in 4Cleaners, he is always ready to help in words and action.

There is a difference between passion and running a business. How have you been able to combine these? 

For me it is simply doing what one has to do at the relevant point in time. I started with my passion. But I didn’t end there, when I realised it was going to be a business, I went for trainings, and I had to then structure and expand the business to run and meet people’s needs. From the first passion which was cleaning, we went into interior decorations and other dynamics to meet clients’ needs- needs for better colours, furniture, curtains, acoustic lightings etc. We have simply been able to fuse passion and business and that has been a unique sweet experience for me- keeping your passion alive and intact as well as making money. So you must face it at the point you realise you are in business and create a structure. So grappling with the challenges of running a business may be tough, but that you have passion for what you do, will only be a plus.

This line of business no doubt requires creativity. Must creativity come natural or you acquire to excel in this business?

It is a combination of the two. If you are not feeding your gifts or abilities, you are likely to loose them. If you don’t have it at all, and you start working on it, you will be surprised how developed it will get, and if you now have it and keep getting it sharpened, you will serve kings and nations in a very short time. It has to come from within and you keep developing it. So it is a combination of the two that would make you excel.

What’s your advice for other entrepreneurs in Nigeria?

They should go for it! Just go for it. Like Maya Angelou said, “I have learnt that there is a lot to learn”. So you keep learning and go for it. That move might turn you to a world champion. Go for it, do let anything stop you.

Why the name 4cleaners Ltd?

This is a whole story altogether. That was not the name we choose while trying to register the company. However, on getting to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC),they said all the names we proposed failed our name availability search, and my lawyer came back and said that “4cleaners” is the name, and  it has already been registered. And at that point, I didn’t want to go back. I had to leave it for the cleaning services, but with time, we will use another name for our interior decoration arms, but for cleaning, we have been working with 4cleaners.

So what areas of cleaning are you into?

We are into all forms of cleaning including floor treatment, domestic, specialized and industrial cleaning including for hotels. We also supply uniform cleaners to organisation and also we are involved in pest and mold control amongst others.

Where are you seeing 4Cleaners in the next 10years?

I see us taking over the cleaning industry business in Nigeria and Africa. I see us offering wider range of professional services than we offer now and we will be sending our staff for world class trainings anywhere we found them all over the world. We would have a full research and development department that will serve our various arms, for better services and productivity, and continue to grow and expand to other business that are related to what we do right now.

What has been the impact of your computer science and human relations degrees on your business?

Well, all good things are valuable. I may not be on these fields fully, but I will say they have helped my exposure, my reasoning, my communication and of course the way I do business right now. I really didn’t want to live someone else’s life. I wanted to live my life that was why I didn’t practice them. I enjoyed them while I studied them, although if I had known, maybe I would spent the time I used in studying them, for my present career. But all the same, they aren’t wasted.

What is the perception of your friends about the business you do?

I have had people say “so you clean?” and I said “yes, I am a cleaner” and I am proud of what I do. I am however not surprised when most of them, couple of weeks down the line, will call me “I just moved into a new apartment, can you help me out with the cleaning?” another would say “I need to clean my rug” “ I need to decorate my house, change my home settings, treat my floors or I just finished building my house, please can you help me with the detailed clean up?” and I say “why not?” So I careless the appellation or perception, so long as I am making money, I don’t mind.

What do you think government needs to do to help your industry?

Government needs to help us to get exposed! We need to know how cleaning is done out of Nigeria better and the government need to support in this direction. How do I mean? Good training in this industry is not cheap.  Government needs to help encourage access to information with any amount one has.  I did a three day training recently and it cost over a hundred thousand naira. Not everybody can afford that they want to go into this business. And capacity building is key; we need more information, and government must see it as a great industry and create a hub where this information will be easily accessible and at subsidized rates. Also government should see to making work materials and tools readily available and accessible.

What have been your high points in business?

I think the success I get every day. I have had people call me and say I love the job you did, I have given your contact to XYZ persons, they will get to you. Those are my high points and of course the fact that I do what I love.

What about times that you are tempted to give up?

A lot of times.  For example, there was this job we did at Lekki (a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria) and upon completion of the job, I had to add of my personal money on the Job and the client was not satisfied. What actually happened was that I had a new worker who out of over zealousness perhaps, didn’t wait for instructions, didn’t wait to ask to know what to do, but picked up a material, and destroyed the client’s metal doors,  and understandably, the client was visibly angry, it wasn’t funny.

• How did you solve it?

Like every other challenge, I took it on my strides. We told him what happened and we approached him on how can we together solve it and he gave his option. I had to go online to research and we purchased the materials to correct the damage and at the end of the day it came out perfect.

• Did you ever feel like giving up at that time?

It was not that I felt like giving up, but it was that point your felt like “oh my goodness”  I have never felt like giving up, you must keep getting better and surmounting your challenges.