Sisters create a new business model offering domestic services

Note from BW of Brazil: Brazil simultaneously has the most maids in the world while see sharp declines in the numbers of people working in this profession. According to research by the Pesquisa Mensal de Emprego (PME or Monthly Research of Employment), in the past year there has been a drop in the number of people working as maids while the costs of the services of a maid has increased by 11.83%, no doubt being influenced by sweeping changes in laws that have given domestic workers more rights on the job. Even so, domestic services are still wanted and these three sisters found a way to take advantage of this need while also improving their income by becoming entrepreneurs. Check their story below.  

With three years of existence, Amigasmigas, a small business that offers domestic services is in full swing. Sisters Camila Fernanda de Souza, 27, Valéria Marily de Souza, 29, and Andressa Regina de Souza, 30, work as a team and clean houses in three to four hours. “Each one has her specialty. Mine is the bathroom,” said Camila.

Through the sisters’ system, the first visit comes out to R$100 per hour and a thorough cleaning is done. “Then we evaluate the necessities of the customer and we present four propositions, two weekly and two biweekly, clothes included or not,” explains Camila.

The proposition for weekly maintenance without cleaning and ironing clothes costs R$140 (US$70) and biweekly R$160 (US$80). The sisters take all the cleaning materials and in the home they only use the broom, bucket and the vacuum cleaner. Meals and transportation are included.

“It’s well worth it, more than a daily or monthly salaried workers,” says the banker Rosana Ribeiro de Campos Oliveira, a client of Amigasmigas.

According to the sisters, today they earn from three to four times more than the minimum salary they earned as maids depending on the month, even contributing to INSS (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social) (1) themselves.

“We want to open a franchise,” they say.

Source: Diário de S.Paulo (April 19, 2013)

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