Meet the Absa Small Business Friday featured Small Business of the Week – Yonwabeli Cleaning Services.
Yonwabeli Cleaning Services was founded in 2013. They specialise in commercial cleaning, hygiene services, pest control, deep cleaning, carpet cleaning, decontamination, and fogging. They are striving to become the powerhouse in the cleaning and trolley management sector.
When Beauty Matiwane’s father passed away, she found her calling. She wanted to break the stigma that men can be the sole breadwinners in a family. As she watched how her mom struggled to make ends meet, she wanted to empower women by educating them to earn their salary. She worked in corporate from 2007 to 2012 and then started her entrepreneurial journey in 2013.
One of Beauty’s main struggles was business funding. As she was reliant on your clients to pay her on time, but she occasionally went into arrears and struggled to get a bank loan. But she didn’t give up and it paid off. She landed a long-term contract with a government department which helped with cash flow and getting a bank loan. This also helped her to create jobs for the youth by hiring 15 young people. She also had a reference which helped her to get short- and long-term contracts from other institutions. This challenge taught her that owning a small business is very rewarding, but you must be prepared to face the challenges.
Beauty’s key focus on empowerment especially of women has resulted in her being recognised by Impumelelo Top Empowerment as the Top Empowerment Company in 2021.
Yonwabeli Cleaning Services has three clear goals for their future. They want to have offices nationwide and have started this by having an office in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The next is to employ 500 people and empower them. The current staff is made up of 80% women. The last goal is to increase income by 70%.
Yonwabeli Cleaning Services was chosen to receive a Top 20 Award at the 2022 South African Small Business Awards.