Maid to order

In an almond chiffon skirt and with a Louis Vuitton bag on her arm, Dong Yundan looks like any fashionable office lady on the street.

But her title, chairwoman of Guanpoer China Housekeeping Services Chain, might leave an impression that she is a middle-aged woman dressed in a plain blouse, with a pair of rough hands due to hard work.

"That is definitely an out-of-date interpretation," Dong says. "Today even many gentlemen are into housekeeping business in China."

With their pockets getting deeper, Chinese people are willing to buy not only private cars and expensive watches but also housekeeping service from cleaning and cooking to baby care. The housekeeping industry has not only become a goldmine with huge market potential but also a buffer for the country to relieve employment pressure. In Shanghai alone, more than 300,000 people are working as housekeepers. Over 80 percent of them are migrant laborers from other provinces, with the rest being laid-off women workers.

With about 2,000 contract workers in Shenyang, Liaoning province, Guanpoer has developed into one of the country's largest home service chains with about 90 franchised outlets.

The eight-year-old home service company recently signed an agreement with US-based Warner Technology and Investment Corp to prepare for a public listing in the United States. Its stocks are expected to be first traded on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) by the end of August, Dong says. If successful,Guanpoer would become the first Chinese home service company to raise funds on a foreign capital market.

Dong says she will use the capital to open 100 new outlets around the country by the end of this year.

Stocks are traded on the OTCBB because companies are small and unable to meet exchange listing requirements. Also known as unlisted stock, these securities are traded by broker-dealers who negotiate directly with one another via computer networks and phones.

Warner Technology and Investment Corp is a specialized consulting firm that assists private firms seeking to become public companies through initial public offerings or reverse mergers.

Creating a brand

Dong did not expect she would one day run a private business in the early 1990s when she got an accounting job at the local grain bureau of Shenyang after graduating from college. While her husband earned a handsome salary at a foreign medical equipment company, Dong thought "the iron rice bowl" job at the grain bureau was a perfect choice for her.

But her "iron rice bowl" was broken in 1999 when the grain bureau dissolved as the government liberalized the country's grain distribution system. Dong became a full-time housewife as her husband's salary alone could support a decent life for her and their son.

"But that is not I wanted. It was miserable waiting all day long for my husband to come home. I did not want to get old like that," says Dong, who was eager to find opportunities to get back to work.

At that time they just moved into a new 200-sq-m apartment that her husband bought. After several weeks of cleaning and maintaining of the big apartment, Dong realized how tedious the work was. She decided to look for a part-time ayi, or housemaid, to take care of the apartment. But the house-keeping service market in Shenyang was still in its infancy and Dong was unable to find a satisfactory ayi. That gave her the idea that she turned into a success story.

"I believed many people have the same needs as me, which meant a great market potential," Dong recalls.

A year later she launched Guanpoer, a Chinese word for female housekeeper. She hired mostly laid-off women workers and started to build her own home service kingdom.

With over 30 outlets around Shenyang, Guanpoer's headquarters is located in an office building in the northern part of the city. Equipped with computers, large cabinets lined with document folders, bright windows and house plants, it looks like any other modern office, rather than a home service agency, where one usually sees a middle-aged woman sitting beside an old desk answering phone calls and booking house keeping service.

Dong's ambition is to create a well-known brand in the Chinese home service industry. "'Filipino housekeeper' could become a brand for the home service industry of the Philippines. Why can't China have its own brand? We have not only a huge market but also an abundant supply of labor," Dong says.

Guanpoer was recently certified ISO9001:2000 through Orion Registrar, a quality and environmental systems registrar based in the United States, which makes it the only Chinese home service company to comply with an international management standard.

Housekeepers at Guanpoer are required to work in compliance with its working manual, which illustrates specific working procedures. For example, they must follow seven procedures to clean a window and 12 steps to wax the floor.

Dong says she was determined to standardize the home service process due to her personal experience with a part-time ayi.

"She attempted to clean my kitchen first, then my restroom and then my bedroom, using the same piece of cloth. I stopped her and got very angry," Dong recalls.

"House keeping service has a lot of trivial details. If we don't pay attention to those details, it would be impossible to keep our customers," she says.

While most of her counterparts act as house keeping agencies, introducing ayi to clients and collecting commissions, Dong signs employment contracts with the housekeepers.

Customers are charged by Guanpoer who pays the housekeepers monthly salaries, which Dong believes improves the company's quality control.

Guanpoer also worked with Ping An Insurance to develop a special insurance product for housekeepers who accidentally damage or destroy customers' possessions while cleaning and maintaining their houses. The insurance company will pay up to 5,000 yuan per customer.

"I don't like doing housework at all. But because of that I set up the requirements for the house keeping service from a customer's point of view," Dong says. "I believe that makes a difference."

Soap opera fan

Dong is a fan of South Korean soap operas, which have captivated thousands of Chinese viewers with scenes of families huddling around dinner tables over plates of kimchi and rice wrapped in seaweed.

"I like South Korean dramas because of the details of their family life, the elegant homes, appetizing food, traditional Asia values and an emphasis on family relations," Dong says.

But more importantly the soaps brought inspiration for a new business. Dong opened a domestic service training school in Shenyang at the beginning of this year.

"It is common to see in the South Korean dramas that a young girl would be sent to a domestic service school by their parents before her wedding in order to learn some basic skills in cleaning and cooking. I am sure there is also such demand in China," Dong says.

China's first generation of the only-children, also known as "little emperors", is now stepping into marriage. Faced with stiff competition for getting to the best schools, they have been kept away by their parents from housework to concentrate on study.

"They are expected to meet many problems when starting their own families. One cannot always live in hotels or eat in restaurants," Dong says.

Most of the students at Dong's schools are young ladies who were born after 1980. Besides learning cooking and cleaning, many are moms-to-be and come to learn baby and child care skills. Dong has an ambition to open about 200 such schools around the country.

"The hostess of a family plays a very important role. She affects the future of her child," Dong says.

(China Daily 07/28/2008 page12)