Christchurch entrepreneurs celebrate 10 years as CrestClean franchise owners
Nisar and Nasreen Kaskar moved to Christchurch ten years ago with a strong desire to succeed. After researching various business opportunities, they found CrestClean to be a top contender.
Upon arriving in Christchurch, they approached Regional Master Franchisee, Yasa Panagoda, to purchase a CrestClean franchise. With a background in cleaning, they felt confident it was the right path for them. Ten years later, it has proven to be an excellent decision.
“We’ve never looked back,” says Nisar.
Nisar is a qualified accountant. He runs his accounting business from home during the day and manages his CrestClean business in the evenings. He says that owning a franchise has supplemented his income and helped their family achieve many financial goals.
“Financially we’ve done much better. When we came here, we didn’t have a house, but now we’ve got two houses,” says Nisar.
“It’s been a very successful business model, and we want to keep it going as long as we can.”
Maintaining their CrestClean franchise has been a family effort. All three of Nisar and Nasreen’s children have helped with the cleaning work over the years. While their eldest is now a pharmacist, the younger two children are currently studying engineering. Working part-time for Nisar and Nasreen has provided an excellent opportunity to earn money while they study.
Nisar and Nasreen have prioritised building strong customer relationships, aiming to communicate with them face-to-face as much as possible. Getting to know their customers personally and checking in with them regularly has been a big part of their success.
“We stop and say hi and ask them if there’s anything else they’d like us to do. It’s one of our principles to exceed customer expectations,” says Nisar.
With their entrepreneurial spirit, Nisar and Nasreen are embarking on yet another business opportunity and opening a bakery in Christchurch city centre next month. Initially, Nisar had an office space there for his accounting business, but since he now works from home, they plan to convert the office into a retail space for the bakery.
Starting as a small business, Nisar and Nasreen have more than tripled their turnover. Nisar says it’s been a safe and lucrative investment and hopes their success will give peace of mind to those considering purchasing a franchise of their own.
“It has given us consistent cash flow. We can also do our cleaning in the evening and focus on our other careers in the daytime,” says Nisar.
“CrestClean is a high-standard company with proper systems and support, so we just have to do a good job and everything else is looked after.”