Passion for cleaning pools leads to a new business venture

When Alan Greene’s journey as a sales manager for giant Premier Foods came to an end, little did he know that it would divert his focus to entrepreneurship.

Trickling back to his passion that started at the tender age of 12 — cleaning pools was a business concept that manifested decades later.

Four years in, at the age of 64, he runs his Clean By Greene business in the heart of Beacon Bay that offers services on pool maintenance contracts, minor repairs, pump repairs and replacements, supply, and installing all automated pool cleaning equipment.

Taking the lead as East London’s pool guy on wheels, he maintains more than 150 pools per week across the metro.

“I regret not having started the business 40 years ago, I would have been retired by now but I have a passion for what I do,” he said.

Driven to put food on the table for his family after he took an early pension, Greene monetised his first love — cleaning pools — after being unsuccessful at securing employment.

“I had been sitting at home and probably sent out my CVs at least a hundred times, I received no responses and I think it was because of my age,” he said.

He said with a responsibility on his shoulders and a family to support he needed to find ways to provide for them.

It was his young brother, Robert Greene, who encouraged him to use his self-taught pool cleaning expertise in a business.

“He told me to use my experience since I had been looking after the families’ pools. He told me that I could make a living in Mauritius by cleaning pools. I laughed at him. It was about a week later someone posted on Facebook that they were looking for someone to clean their pool here in Beacon Bay. I said: ‘What have I got to lose’, I went to quote a client and on the spot that was my first job,” he said.

Given only a few days to clean the client’s pool who was set to host a party, Greene wasted no time and rolled up his sleeves on a mission to bring back its spark.

“The pool was grass green and filthy; I do not think it had been running for two years. It was challenging and I was prepared. I shocked the pool, put in chemicals to treat it, and vacuumed it. I went back every day to work on it until a day before, it was ready.”

With the client happy with the results, Greene used that as a testimony, taking to social media and posting a before-and-after picture of the pool, which assisted his business in growing exponentially.

“I started the business out of the boot of my car, I did not have any labourers working for me. For the first year, I worked like that, I did whatever I needed to do just to earn an income,” he said.

A year into the business, with a demand for his services across the metro, he purchased his first van that he had branded in October 2021.

“A friend of mine had done it for me so this meant I had mobile advertising on the road. Then I employed an assistant to help me, and from then the business has gone from strength to strength,” he said.

With overwhelming support and growth in his business, he expanded and bought another van a year ago.

“I have managed to have two teams on the road. This has allowed me to focus on admin work that includes doing quotations as previously running a one-man business meant I did admin after hours,” he said.

In just a few years, his business has grown to support six employees and their families.

“My business is doing well enough to create employment for other people,” he said.

Greene said he is a firm believer in keeping staff happy creates a happy atmosphere to take the business forward. His services are from Monday to Friday and sometimes on weekends.

With his eyes set on the horizon to put a third team on the road, it is his goal to bring services closer to his forever growing demand.

He used Facebook ads and word of mouth from people close to him as marketing instruments for his business.

“Word-of-mouth advertising is generally the way to go because your best referrals come from people who are happy with your service.”

Honesty, integrity, and quality service are the ingredients that earned his clients’ trust.

Promoting sustainability and giving back to the Beacon Bay community, in his spare time and using his own resources he takes care of a small park within the vicinity.

“The grass was high and it was being used by squatters as a latrine and they were even sleeping there. I had this vision of just cleaning it. BCM would only come once a year,” he said.

The park has trimmed grass and plants donated by clients.

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