A quick search for window cleaning courses offered in developing countries will lead you to very little. Window cleaning is still far from becoming a viable, certifiable skill to use in the market place in developing countries today. While in a developed country, people will pay to have their windows from home windows to office windows cleaned professionally (example), the case is very different in the developing world. But does this then negate the window cleaning business in developing countries?
The Market
While it may be hard for home or apartment owners and dwellers to pay for window cleaning services in their private homes, this doesn’t describe the whole market for window cleaning services. Everyone needs their space cleaned. For residential houses where people live, they might ask the house helps to clean the windows while cleaning the whole house or decide to do it over the weekend as a family.
The larger buildings, however, the high rises and colleges, hospitals, offices, and malls are a different category of buildings. One cannot have just anyone cleaning these windows from buildings that can go as high as 200 meters. They will need to hire professional window cleaners to maintain their windows.
Companies want to look competent, professional. They want their clients to be impressed by them, and this might be hard to accomplish when there are debris and dirt on the windows of their offices. These companies are competing at an international level with the rise of globalization, and they are more willing to spend on maintaining their image in front of the world. This means that they will pay to have their spaces cleaned and maintained, including their windows.
Anyone interested in starting a window cleaning business in third world country needs to conduct thorough research depending on their country. They need to find out how many companies are in their area of operation and how willing they would be to hire a window cleaning company. For small businesses, most put the responsibility of window cleaning to the janitors while big companies might consider the help of professionals.
Requirements
Depending on the target market, a window cleaning business would require little capital to start with. You may only need to buy a ladder, window cleaning liquid, and sponges to clean windows especially for smaller buildings where height doesn’t pose a high risk to the cleaners. You can put further investments into the business by purchasing equipment such as water fed poles, climbing equipment, and rope to professionally clean highrises. It requires less than a full-fledged cleaning service, as even transportation costs are fewer due to the fewer equipment needed.
While it might be hard to find professionally trained personnel to clean the windows, one can become a self-taught professional by taking up courses online.
Window cleaning is a viable business today, and we can expect for it to pick up its pace over the next few years as more and more people start to see its importance.
We’re all about building sustainable solutions. We’re not interested in charity, or “hacks”. Our main focus is working with businesses who are planning to enter emerging markets so that everyone benefits from it: of course the business itself, but also the community that the business will inevitably impact.
It is common for big businesses to invest in developing countries, treating the local suppliers and producers as recipients of a charity. Yet, if we are to put developing countries on a course of growth and achieving sustainability, it is critical for the local businesses to grow and thrive, and not just receive “free money” that will eventually be spent and everything will return to square one.