A husband and wife team of entrepreneurs who successfully grew a £3m a year business have started a new venture.
Ross and Claire Porter, from Pontllanfraith, have launched Lady Muck Cleaning – a commercial and domestic cleaning business.
The couple have previously had business success with recruitment company Draig Personnel, which they set up and later sold to rivals Acorn.
They say their new business is looking to employ some fifty fully-trained and qualified staff within the first year of operation.
Ross, aged 40, and originally from, Barmouth, Gwynedd, said: “We feel that there is a clear opportunity for a cleaning business like Lady Muck and its unique brand to make a positive impact on the industry in South Wales.
“Over the years that I was been involved in the recruitment industry I was able to build up an extensive network of business connections which I now hope to use to help develop this new venture.”
Former Newport business student Ross, established successful recruitment company Draig Personnel with wife Claire in 1999. He said their new service sector business will offer a portfolio of services ranging from a one-off spring clean to regular contract cleaning and as a cost-effective supplier of janitorial requisites.
He said: “When I carried out client visits in my recruitment days customers would often remark about the poor service they were getting from their cleaning companies.
“A number of these clients suggest that Draig ought to offer a cleaning service as they knew the very high standards we would to deliver. I guess that was what planted the seed for Lady Muck Cleaning.”
Ross, who takes on the role of head of sales and marketing at Lady Muck, added: “Our experience over the years means that we know how to manage large labour contracts and to deliver true value for money at the same time. Crucially we also know how to recruit and retain staff of the highest calibre and quality.”
Mother-of-three Claire,35, from originally from Markham, near Blackwood, is Managing Director of the new business.
She said: “We have worked hard to create a unique Lady Muck brand which reflects what we will be offering to our clients which is good old fashioned value for money cleaning.
“Our research has shown us that people, both in the office environment and at home, are tired and frankly fed up with the current cleaning company service they are offered with its one size fits all, take it or leave it, mentality.”
The couple’s previous business, Draig Personnel, was bought, for an undisclosed sum, by the Newport-based Acorn Group in 2011.
Ross, who was a former Welsh Young Business Achiever of the Year finalist and Gwent Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner, started the former business with his wife above a travel agency in Caerphilly town centre.
The firm grew rapidly to boast a candidate base of more than 16,000 and a turnover in excess of £3m.