Crest cleans up in India
New Zealand’s largest commercial cleaning franchise, Crest Commercial Cleaning, has struck up a deal in India which will see it operating in around a dozen cities and employing thousands of people in the next two years.
The cleaning company, currently employing 300 people in India, is on track to expand that to 3000 employees in the next two years, as a growing number of companies in India place more emphasis on hygiene and cleanliness.
“We have established ourselves in this powerhouse economy at an opportune time,” says Crest co-owner and spokesperson Grant McLauchlan “As the Indian economy becomes more sophisticated, customers, particularly international corporates, are demanding better hygiene standards.
“Many people tell us that one of the big barriers to doing business in India is hygiene and so we are seeing savvy companies starting to make that a priority,” Mr McLauchlan says, on his return from a business trip to India last week.
He says with a 6-9 per cent growth rate and a population of a billion people, India’s growth potential is huge. Cleaning, or housekeeping as it is known in India, is worth around $150 billion per annum.
Mr McLauchlan says Crest is doing well in the Indian market because it is a quality brand, with excellent training programmes in place for staff. The training in India is based on New Zealand standards where staff are required to undertake an NZQA recognised qualification which leads to a National Certificate in Cleaning and Caretaking.
“Training cleaning staff to achieve nationally recognised qualifications makes more sense for commercial cleaners than hiring unskilled staff,” he says “Training has a very positive effect on morale, motivation and on the person’s ability to carry out cleaning to high standards.
Watch out for Crest in the future. New Zealand and India is their focus over the next two years but they are looking at expanding into other Asia countries and the Middle East beyond that.
