Making cleanliness a top priority, Leon France is a ‘Special Person’

Apr 16, 2017 News

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“It really bothered me that so many people waited till Christmas to do all of their big cleaning…A lot of homes and yards are simply not cleaned throughout the year.”

By Sharmain Grainger

Many people live for the approval of others. It might have been in recognition of this fact that

American religious leader and author, Rick Warren, came up with the quote, “If you live for the approval of others, you will die by their rejection.”
But there is one young man who had long decided that the foregoing notion would not dictate his path in life. He prides himself with thinking outside of the box and making some unorthodox decisions that have not always gained the approval of all those around him. This has, however, been working in his favour.
His name is Leon Curtis Ricardo France. He is a 30-year-old who has completed studies in Social Work and International Services at the University of Guyana, and although he is still evolving as a man, he has been dutifully applying himself to make each day count.
During a recent interview, France shared extensively about his life. He spoke of growing up in Campbellville, Georgetown with his parents and three siblings, although the family had moved a few times when he was a child. He currently resides in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, and is the Chief Executive Officer of a fledgling business which is perhaps his most cherished accomplishment.
His business – Quality Work’s House Wash – emerged not only because of his desire to delve into entrepreneurship, but it was a natural choice for an individual who has a passion for cleanliness and doesn’t mind getting dirty to achieve this goal.

But according to the plain-spoken France, during his recent interview, he’d never envisaged himself embracing such a forte until the latter part of last year.
He had long seen himself as a health service provider but for several reasons was unable to attain this goal. Moreover, his fields of study simply weren’t his initial choices. In fact, he revealed that ever since he was a young boy he had decided he was going to study hard so that he could venture into the field of health care.
France attended Sacred Heart Primary, Tutorial High and Christ Church Secondary schools. At the secondary level, he opted to pursue subjects in both the science and business streams.
However, he never really got a chance to delve into health care, although he came close once to pursuing studies in nursing.
Instead, over the years, France moved from being a Customer Representative at Digicel Guyana to a Data Entry Clerk at the Guyana Elections Commission before becoming a Probation Officer at the Child Care and Protection Agency. He was also able to immerse himself a great deal in youth development work.
“Although I knew I wanted to get into the health field to even do nursing, it was quite difficult for me to get things going in that direction when I was growing up. I was not exposed to a lot of information to make informed decisions,”

France recalled.
He however does not see the diversion from his path as a shortcoming in life. This is in light of the fact that France is convinced that his experiences over the years and his subsequent involvement in youth work, have helped to define him as a man, and really aroused his desire to become an entrepreneur.
In so doing, he was able to turn a ‘pet peeve’ into an income-earning venture.
Making this decision came easy. According to France, it followed on the heels of a conversation he had with a very good friend. The two had engaged in a lengthy discussion about the availability of cleaning services in Guyana and the aspects that were lacking.
“I was talking on and on about how I like to see cleaning done of both the inside and outside of the home, and the fact that far too many people only see this as important when Christmas comes around,” France reflected.
He’d long been bothered by this seasonal phenomenon and after the conversation with his friend, realised that he could make a business out of reversing this trend.
According to France, “It really bothered me that so many people waited till Christmas to do all of their big cleaning…A lot of homes and yards are simply not cleaned throughout the year and the [bad] state is only drawn to people’s attention mostly at Christmas time, or if they have some big function.”
“It bothered me too that far too many people opted to throw on a coat of paint to cover a

build-up of moss on their homes, when they could simply [with the aid of a pressure washer] wash away that moss, and once that is done it is as good as a fresh paint job,” France said.
“After that conversation with my friend I couldn’t sleep that night; ideas started to fly through my mind and I knew I had to do something about it.”
He decided to focus on a business template he had in his possession to help him bring into being the theoretical format of a business plan. “I started to think about inside and outside cleaning…I started to think about all of the cleaning services that people could possibly want that I could offer,” France recounted.
He added, “I basically decided that since some people are not willing to do a lot of cleaning work for themselves, I could form a business that offers them a wide variety of cleaning services.”
Utilising his savings, and with some help from family members, France was able to procure the items he needed to start his business. He was recently able to register his business and has not only been offering house- and yard-washing services to the public, but also painting and brush-cutting as well.
In fact he wanted to be even more innovative, and decided to incorporate a component to offer car-washing services on site. This, he explained, means that he would take the car-washing service to his customers, rather than have them go to a wash bay.
Cleaning, particularly of the house and yard, according to France, does not have to be a weekly or monthly activity, but doing so at least twice yearly could be sufficient for a well kept environment.

According to France, he gets personal gratification from redeeming an unkempt environment. For this reason, he has little to no interest in those who fail to see the beauty of such a venture, one that he currently describes as his ‘pride and joy’.
“I wanted to have something of my own; I started this business for me, not anyone else, and I love to see the end result every time.”
France has made a hobby of sharing before and after photographs of his work on social media, and this has been attracting immense attention from members of the public. Many individuals have expressed shock at the transformation realised after he would have applied his cleaning touches. The use of social media has also been helping France to build his clientele.
But this certainly isn’t the end of the road for France since, according to him, he sees himself expanding his business within a few years in hope of recruiting other young people who are unable to find jobs on their own.
“I want to build this business and help to give back to society by offering employment to those who may not have the qualifications for an office job. In the next five to 10 years, I want to bring on board as many young people as I can…In fact, there is going to come a point where I am going to just step back and hire people to do all the work and just manage this business from behind the scenes,” he said.
France is convinced that other young people can also adopt his mind-set and find their entrepreneurial way. “It is all up to you as a young person to identify something that you are good at. Once you are able to find that asset or talent you possess, you can actually focus your energies on doing it to the best of your abilities and make it work for you.”

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