Manpower surpasses $1 billion in revenue
Don Gittens, CEO of Manpower and Maintenance Services Group Limited, says the company has restructured its operations to add residential cleaning services for villas, condominiums, Airbnb properties and households.
Gittens left Jampro in March to take over the role which was held for decades by company founder Audrey Hinchcliffe.
Airbnb has over 5,900 listings in Jamaica and is one of the largest markets for the bed and breakfast company in the Caribbean.
“For the villas, condominiums and Airbnb, the owners of these tend to run a business. We want to be that extension of their business – a strategic partner – where we offer a certain level of professionalism to their enterprise, hence drive more business due to the professionalism and the art of cleaning.”
The company head says, conservatively, he expects to add about 10 per cent to company revenue.
“We have invested in equipment, uniforms, transportation, Activity Management Portal software, various choice of chemicals as we are offering an eco-friendly product, and marketing and content to push the service,” said Gittens.
He said the group currently earns revenue of about $1.2 billion.
Still: “Overall margins have pretty much remained flat; however, we are looking for growth within the current fiscal year,” he added.
The cleaning company directly employs 40 persons, but has over 1,200 employees on contract.
“Manpower currently receives requests for cleaning without any promotion or solicitation, and it’s significant. Given our business, and we are in over 300 entities across Jamaica, we also know that this service is needed, as we have been always being asked to provide such. This was a natural fit for Manpower to go this route,” said Gittens.
“We also recognise that persons want a professional entity to maintain their buildings with the least disruption as possible, hence post-construction clean-up is a key service. Given this, there is a large segment of persons who prefer an outside service to just deliver the cleaning solution until it’s needed later. This is why we offer a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly service.”
The company has four business lines: the janitorial and cleaning unit; sales and distribution; training through IWED or the Institute of Workforce Education and Development; and human resources outsourcing.
Power Homes, as the new business is called, will offer services such as deep cleans, landscaping, window cleaning, one-off cleans, pest management, carpet cleaning, sanitisation, furniture and upholstery cleaning and floor care.
It forms part of the janitorial unit, which does landscaping, pest management, post-construction cleaning and one-off industrial clean-ups, and building maintenance.
The new residential service was launched on September 7.
“It is really a restructuring of services which we offer currently,” Gittens.
Manpower operates from its headquarters at Eureka Road in Kingston, but it also has offices in Mandeville, Montego Bay and Drax Hall.
The company’s main challenge, said Gittens, is finding new hires.
“We also tend to lose employees to clients,” he said.