Wellington-based commercial cleaning company Fresh Desk has set up operations in Auckland after securing funding from the Akina Foundation.
Fresh Desk, founded by Caroline de Castro and Nicole Oxenbridge in 2015, was one of four companies that received $18,000 as part of the Akina Foundation’s accelerator program, after being shortlisted from around 40 candidates.
The company has 11 staff in Wellington, with clients across healthcare, council, aged card and commercial offices. De Castro and Oxenbrudge told INCLEAN NZ the funding will be put towards start-up costs, with their first Auckland-based contract with Oxfam New Zealand. The company is aiming to increase its Auckland team to up to four team members this year.
Fresh Desk is also the only fully accredited living wage cleaning company in New Zealand. It has been paying the living wage (set at $20.20 per hour) to its cleaners since setting up shop in 2015.
“We’ve found that by doing the right thing by our team, they do the right thing by our customers,” the co-owners said.
“We want to encourage large cleaning companies to come on board with the living wage because it makes business sense and helps to build a fairer community.”
We had the pleasure to meet Sabrina one of your employees. She was so lovely to deal with and efficient in her job, you should feel grateful to have her as an ambassador for your company. Ka pai
Hi Louise, what lovely words, thank you so much for sharing! We agree with you that Sabrina is wonderful. Ngā mihi nui ❤️