PPM: Can we meet you?
David Ajayi: My name is Ayayi David .I’m a graduate of Banking and Finance from Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke. A banker turned entrepreneur. I started Niche cleaning service about 14 years ago just because of my passion for cleanliness. My core values are: Service, Integrity and Excellence, so I try to create a niche for myself in the cleaning business.
PPM: Can you please tell us how and when you started this business?
David Ajayi: Like I said earlier, I started about 14 years ago.I started small, part time, and later went into it full time about 10 years ago.
PPM: When facing challenges in business, how do you rectify the problem or how do you handle the situation?
David Ajayi: Well, the most important thing is your attitude to the business. Your attitude to the business or problem that actually matter. “Attitude is everything”, the first thing is that you don’t just see it as a problem, you should see it as a breakthrough. For every problem I encounter in business, I see it as an opportunity to learn, to improve. Problems will always come, challenges will always come, for every other challenge, like power(electricity), it’s a challenge to the business. You just look at it and like the name implies: Create a niche for yourself because if there is power everywhere, some people that patronize me will not come because they will have power to iron their clothes at home. So just look at everything with a positive outlook. Some of the challenges are: issue of people not coming to collect their clothes, mixing up of clothes and all that, so you have to identify these challenges and just try to mitigate them.
PPM: How do you manage business and family?
David Ajayi: You know, the truth is that in business, another challenge really is finance, that’s number 1 challenge in business and family too. So you need finance in the business and in your family. But the most important thing is to prioritize, to set everything and put everything in its own segment. The family has its own time; the business has its own time too, we just need to manage everything and marry it together.
PPM: What really motivate you as an entrepreneur?
David Ajayi: It’s passion. I’m passionate about the business. I love cleanliness. Secondly, also the drive to be a successful entrepreneur. And I don’t believe that we all need to look for white collar jobs, we have to solve the employment problem in the country to meet our family needs. Those are my motivations, I read a lot, I love writing poems and I am also creative.
PPM: How do you go about marketing your business?
David Ajayi: We have our presence on Instagram, Facebook and of course words of mouth referral which is the best form of marketing. We do some jingles and fliers too.
PPM: What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear in general?
David Ajayi: My greatest fear is failure. I hate failure. [Laughing]. The fear of failure! Anything I do, I love to succeed and I don’t like failing at all. How do I manage fear? You know the worst thing that can happen to anybody is their ability not to plan, which is ability to fail. When you are not doing something, then you are definitely going to fail. Even God said he is going to bless the work of our hands. When I decided that I was going to go into the business, I had to pay somebody to learn and I was always going there every day for 6months to learn everything about the business. So my greatest fear is the fear of failure. I don’t want to fail. But that does not mean that I’ve not made mistakes, each time I fall, I stand up,move up and also I learn from it.
PPM: When you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers. How do you motivate your workers?
David Ajayi: I meet with them every day; I get to know there family and I get to know them personally. 2. We have different packages for them. I have health insurance for them in case they are sick and I always make sure their salary comes in as at when due because that’s important thing to them. Also I try to get them involved because of the kind of work we do. I deal with a lot of semi- skill workers, so when I read something, I try to impact it on them. I try to bring it to their level and train them. I try to understand their problem. As I said earlier, I went for a training on how to do the job, so I understand the stress in it. I understand their pains so I always put myself in their position too. When they are grumbling, I understand why they are grumbling. That’s just it.
PPM: What is the best advice you have ever received as an entrepreneur
David Ajayi: ‘‘Don’t hire who you can’t fire’’.I don’t mix business with pleasure, business is separate and pleasure is also separate. If I can hire you, I can fire you because that is one thing we tend to be emotional about, especially in this part of the country due to religion, family and all that. Before you know it, you will find out that your business is affected. I can fire at any time. It’s not that I sack anyhow, the thing there is that, we don’t mix business with emotion. One of the ways to feed business is through your stand. That is why I tell them that the company is an entity, the first priority is towards the customers and the second priority is to the staff before the company. As a staff, your first priority is to the customer, it means the customer is the king. The second priority is to the company and the third priority is to them. So that is why you can see a small place like ours, we have health insurance scheme for them.We also have pensions and others.
PPM: What are your final words of wisdom?
David Ajayi: Whatsoever your hand finds doing, do it diligently. There was a time I went for an interview like this, at Inspiration FM. I was asked this same question and I told them that, we have a lot of lazy people in this country, not because they are not intelligent or educated but because they believe that everything must be hands back to them. You can start something somehow somewhere, you don’t need all the money, and money should be the last thing to consider in any project.
The first step is to have the decision, have the vision, and have ideas. Then write out the steps of how to get there, then the last thing should be money, when you get to the money aspects, write it and break it down. If I need one million naira; one person can give me one million. Two people can give me five hundred thousand naira, I’ll write the name of the two people. Four people can give me two hundred and fifty thousand naira each.Five people can give me two hundred thousand naira each. Ten people can give me hundred thousand naira each. Twenty peoples can give me, you will break it down and you will be surprised. When you break it down to five thousand naira, you move around to solicit from people. Before you know it, you have your one million naira. But if you are waiting to get it at once, you might not get anything. I don’t look at problem as problem. I solve it as it comes.
