LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Continental Cleaners, Lda., a local company providing Industrial and Office Cleaning Services, and other highly specialist maintenance services in Mozambique
Adelia Chicombo is the co-founder and Managing Director of Continental Cleaners Lda in Mozambique, a specialist cleaning and maintenance business launched in 2016 and which today employs 300 people. Born in Manica, Adelia comes from a family of seven siblings, and her parent's earnings did not cover the family’s daily needs, a situation which forced them to seek alternative sources of income for the family. It was in this search that we were all directly or indirectly involved in conducting small businesses, including selling surplus vegetables produced in the backyard. Management awareness, in its broad sense, has always been in her mind. This is what led Adelia to take a degree in Management at the Faculty of Economics of Eduardo Mondlane University in 2008. Later in 2015, given her interest in the energy sector, she obtained a master's degree from the University of Cape Town in Energy Development Studies. In 2022, Adelia obtained her PhD degree. This degree was inspired by the awareness of gender issues, in particular the disproportionate impact that the lack of access to clean and modern energy sources has on women.
Lioness Weekender spoke to Adelia Chicombo about her exposure to entrepreneurship at an early age, the impression this made on her, and her plans and ambitions for the business in the future.
What does your company do?
Continental Cleaners, Lda., is a local company financed exclusively by Mozambican capital, which provides the following services:
Industrial and Office Cleaning
Laundry
Gardening & Landscaping
Pest control
Disinfection
Waste Management
Camp Management
Building Maintenance
What inspired you to start your company?
What really inspired me to start this great journey, which today I can consider a successful journey, was because I realized from an early age that I was passionate about business and that I could make a difference in our society. I realized I could generate many jobs, especially for women, who in some way still face some barriers to access to employment. At the time I saw that I could triumph in the service sector, and in a specific case in the provision of cleaning services, because it was a sector that was not yet exploited in its potential. Today, I see with great pride what was, and still is, the impact journey of Continental Cleaners, Lda., because today we have more than 300 workers distributed throughout the country.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
What really makes our services special, I believe, is the way we get them to our customers, with high standards of quality because we are a company that provides services according to ISO 9001. This adds more accountability towards our customers. We feel that we have managed to generate value for our clients through mutual trust, thus enabling us to see our clients as a partner in the journey.
Tell us a little about your team
Continental Cleaners, Lda., is a young company and this reflects in our work. The team is characterized by young people who are proactive and motivated, and who add value to the company. One of the ways that the company has found to motivate workers is to train everyone. This allows employees to be always prepared for the market dynamics, as well as in their individual activities. Moreover, recently the company has institutionalized the policy of awarding the best ‘Worker of the Year’ well within the regulation of career progression. Award-winning workers are evaluated through an objective measurement process based on their level of achievement of pre-established targets. I believe that this measure creates a spirit amongst employees to surpass their targets given the prestige that the worker obtains from the management of the company and its peers.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
The idea of business has always been based in my mind and has come true in 2016. Along with my brother, Anário Chicombo, I decided to join in and make the dream come true. Today Continental Cleaners, Lda., has national as well as international levels due to its recognition in the development of the economy of the country.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
My plans are to grow and generate value for the company, further increasing what is our scope of activity, especially in protecting the environment. We intend to continue to be a source of reference at the national level, and this adds a level of social responsibilities too. So we intend to continue to generate jobs for the Mozambican people, always prioritizing local work in this vast country.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
As an entrepreneur, what I am most satisfied with is the factor of knowing that my financial stability depends on my struggle. For example, in front of society, because with faith, focus and determination everything is possible.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
The best advice I can leave to other women is that you cannot conquer anything in life without focus and hard work. So I advise you to follow your dreams because nothing that is worth achieving is impossible.
To find out more about the work and service offerings of Continental Cleaners in Mozambique, contact founder Adelia Chicombo in Mozambique via email: a.chicombo@continentalcleaners.co.mz or visit the company’s website and Instagram page: http://www.continentalcleaners.co.mz or http://www.instagram.com/adelia.chicombo/
