In 2006, SC Johnson began working with partners in Nairobi to co-launch the Community Cleaning Services business venture. From insights generated through the Base of the Pyramid Protocol™, we partnered with Carolina for Kibera and the Coalition of Youth Entrepreneurs to start the business in the Kibera, Mitumba and Mathare neighborhoods of Nairobi.

Carolina For Kibera is a non-government organization with deep roots in the community. The Coalition of Youth Entrepreneurs is an umbrella organization that unites numerous youth groups for business. Our shared idea was a new community-based cleaning business that would offer a wide variety of cleaning and pest control services at a very low cost.

The youth entrepreneurs began offering in-home services using SC Johnson products such as Pledge® furniture care, Glade® air fresheners, Windex® glass cleaner, Duck® bathroom cleaner and Baygon® insect control — in some cases with consumers buying as little as a single, affordable squirt of product.

Our company shared marketing and business expertise, a steady supply of consumer products and knowledge of pest control management. The local entrepreneurs provided their local marketing and distribution expertise, community insights and local credibility. 

Growth and Challenges

Ultimately, the business evolved into a social enterprise dedicated to improving urban sanitation for families living at the base of the economic pyramid. This involved creating entrepreneurial opportunities for youth from low-income communities using a micro-franchise model for cleaning shared public and private toilet facilities.

Over several years, CCS and a team from SC Johnson found ways to increase cleaning productivity by 60% and cut cleaning time by 35% using cleaners from the Mr. Muscle® brand. They also identified an effective, low-cost odor control solution using an SC Johnson toilet gel product distributed under the brand names of Duck® and Scrubbing Bubbles®.

By 2010, CCS was succeeding as a social enterprise, improving urban sanitation and creating income opportunities for under-employed youth, but the organization was not meeting financial objectives and could not be considered a viable business investment.

CCS micro-franchisees were profitable and paid workers well above minimum wage, but the costs to CCS of franchisee training, follow-up and quality assurance were well above projections, negatively affecting profitability. CCS also had a critical marketing challenge ahead: residents had become accustomed to deplorable sanitary standards. In other words, the need for sanitary conditions did not transfer to market demand or consumer behavior.

In 2011, CCS transitioned to a non-profit organization, aiming to retain its business ethos which will help drive CCS’s high standards of effectiveness, quality and rigor - in addition to continuing positive relationships with its franchisees.

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