My Biz: MJ Commercial Cleaners finds it Corridor niche

CEDAR RAPIDS — Jacy Bunnell Ahmed and Mohamed “Mo” Ahmed are proud of their work in growing a commercial cleaning company in the Corridor.

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Jacy, 47, and Mohamed, 38, started the company in 2015 to create an additional stream of income.

“We started this as a side business while I was teaching at Wilson Middle School and while Mohamed was studying at Kirkwood in dental hygiene,” Jacy said. “We were struggling financially with two children under the age of 4, as well as taking care of my father, and we both had experience cleaning.”

The business started small.

“We started cleaning for a small salon in March 2015,” Jacy said. “By the end of 2016, we had added accounts such as Scheels in Coralville, where we remain today. We grew very quickly.”

And the growth has continued. No longer just a side hustle, MJ Commercial Cleaning now has 32 employees.

“We offer basic cleaning services to businesses,” Jacy said. “And we also offer rental turnover cleaning.”

She said the company will be adding bereavement cleanouts and moving services later this year.

Currently, MJ Commercial Cleaning serves customers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, North Liberty and areas in between. They also have accounts in Des Moines and Fairfield.

And their list of clients is diverse.

“We clean for retail and department stores, medical clinics, trucking companies, schools, salons, gyms, apartment complexes, warehouses and manufacturers,” Jacy said.

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Working together

Working together works for the Ahmeds.

“We have enjoyed building something together,” Jacy said. “And we believe that we are a cleaning service you can trust because we are involved in every aspect, from cleaning task lists to regular communication with our employees to providing our clients with reliable resources.”

“Customer care is a big deal for us,” she added. “Everyone wants to know who is in their building and if their workspace will be clean and safe. When you have two people who you’ve met and can reach within an hour if you have a question or an issue, it builds a lot of confidence in business relationships. We take pride in that and will never hand off that responsibility to others.”

Jacy said that availability and communication sets them apart in the industry.

“We offer stellar customer care and quality cleaning to businesses,” she said. “When our clients reach out, they will reach us, the owners. We are involved in every element of our business — from answering phone calls, emails, and touring sites for bids.

“We hire our staff personally and handle all of our own HR needs. We are most concerned with quality and making sure our clients feel taken care of and not just leaving unanswered messages.”

Challenges

Of course, like many business owners these days, the Ahmeds have faced business challenges, as well as a dramatic personal one in 2023.

Ahmed was in Sudan in mid-April last year for his father’s funeral when war broke out in the northeast African nation, and the Khartoum airport closed, preventing him — and anyone — from leaving. It took a lot of phone calls and emails by Jacy, with accompanying national news coverage, to get him home, via Egypt, on May 2.

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As for their business, one challenge is staffing.

“Staff turnover is a predicament for every industry right now, and we certainly aren’t strangers to that,” Jacy said. “We have several employees who have stayed with us for years, but many come and go with the current job market. We like to keep our staff, but we understand they sometimes move on to other things.”

Today’s economy can be challenging in other ways, Jacy said.

“Costs of services must increase with inflation, and many businesses aren’t ready to face that as they, too, are struggling,” she said. “We pay our cleaners better than most of our contemporaries, and we must maintain rising supply and insurance costs.

“Larger cleaning companies can come along and bid for a much lower hourly cost. Often, their hourly charge is equal to that of what we pay our employees, and we can’t match that. Our current clients recognize the quality and fairness in what we charge and appreciate that we pay our staff a livable and fair wage.”

Know a business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing mary.sharp@thegazette.com.