Ioan Canta became an entrepreneur to provide employment opportunities for his family – his cleaning company now employs a staff of more than 40 employees
Ioan Canta’s entrepreneurial career began 20 years ago somewhat by accident when his wife was looking for work. Now Canta runs a successful cleaning and building company BNA Flonel, which employs a staff of 45.
‘Establishing a company as an immigrant wasn’t easy, but it was a sure way to find employment. As an entrepreneur, I have been able to also employ others who have had difficulties finding work as a result of, for example, limited language skills’, explains Canta.
Canta first stepped into the role of entrepreneur in a different field before he decided to start a cleaning business. The process of building a successful company required resilience and hard work from the entrepreneur. Chance has also played a role along the way.
From domestic cleaning to construction sites
In 2003, Canta married his Romanian wife and she moved to live with him in Finland. Canta’s entrepreneurial career got started that same year, as a means of providing work for his wife.
‘At that time, I figured that by purchasing a restaurant, it was at least a sure way to employ both of us’, Canta remembers.
The couple established the BNA Flonel company name and opened their own restaurant. Gradually their family expanded and his wife no longer had the time to help run the business. In 2007, Canta sold the restaurant and used the company name to start driving taxis.
His current business idea came to him through his wife’s new job in 2013. She had gotten a job as a hotel cleaner, but the work was uncertain and stressful. Canta figured that, since they already had a company name, they could start to offer home cleaning services as entrepreneurs. He created a website advertising the cleaning services and printed up advertising brochures and dropped them into mailboxes while driving his taxi.
‘Slowly the word got around. We started to get so many phone calls that soon I was also cleaning, even though I knew nothing about cleaning’, Canta says with a laugh.
Soon additional employees were needed and, in 2014, the company hired its first external employee. Within five years, the number of employees had increased to more than 40 and Canta, himself, gave up the mop to handle the administrative side of things and to supervise the cleaning sites.
In five years, BNA Flonel grew from a one-man home cleaning service into a company of more than 40 employees whose primary business was the final cleaning of construction sites.
Package solutions from a single service provider
The company has become profitable and grown on all fronts. The activities took a major leap forward in 2014 when it added construction site cleaning to its services. It actually came about nearly by chance, when an acquaintance of Canta’s who was working for a construction company asked Canta’s company to clean one of their renovation sites. Canta expected it to be a general office cleaning job, but it turned out to be a large construction site.‘We had to buy the proper clothing and equipment for such a site, of course, so I figured it would be good to find a use for them in the future as well. I offered our services to another renovation company working in the same building and it took off from there’, says Canta.
Today, the final cleaning of construction sites is the primary service provided by BNA Flonel. Furthermore, the operations have expanded to building cleaning, labour-only building contracting, all-in contracting, temporary building protection and staffing services. The company also still provides office cleaning services.
In the future, Canta is looking to create even more comprehensive package solutions comprising services provided by his own company and those of partner companies. BNA Flonel is already now collaborating with another company in the building industry on providing temporary building protection, and co-operation with yet another company is currently in the works.
‘We want to offer all the services required on a construction site as a single package. Not many businesses of our size have the capacity to offer as comprehensive a service as we do and will.
Led by our own values
Canta states that, above all, the company’s success is the result of skilled and satisfied employees. He understands their daily lives well, since he, himself, has done all the types of jobs provided by his business.‘Cleaning is tough and demanding work. I want our employees to feel that we respect them and appreciate their work’, says Canta.
The fact that the employees generally remain with the company for years speaks volumes about their level of satisfaction. The well-being and satisfaction of the personnel also feeds customer satisfaction.
‘It’s obvious that you have to do contracts, work and invoicing properly, but on top of that, it’s important to also provide the best possible customer service’, Canta adds.
It is also essential for Canta to stay true to his own values. He wants his company to do its part for society by, among things, supporting the work of the Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities as well as cancer research.
‘When we initially started our cleaning activities, my wife and I decided that we would help others if we were someday able to do so. We ended up in the field nearly by chance ourselves, so why wouldn’t we be that chance for others if we could.
Canta feels that the most rewarding aspect of entrepreneurship is precisely the ability to have an impact on issues that are personally important.
‘It isn’t always easy. You can’t just leave your concerns at the workplace at the end of the day, since an entrepreneur is at work all the time. For me, it’s important to be able to decide how I run my own company.’
Important tips – Ioan Canta’s advice to starting entrepreneurs
1 Be persistent and patient.
2 Respect your employees and customers.
3 Stay committed to your own values.
4 Do things properly and carefully from the start.
5 Be honest.
