Late in the afternoon two weeks ago around Dembel City Centre on Africa Avenue a crowd of people are headed back home, class or somewhere after work.

A growing number of people keep adding to the line of commuters waiting for minibus taxis that take a U-turn back in the direction of Meskel Flower.

On the left side, there stands a tall building casting its long shadow with the sun going down in the west. The newly constructed building is in the final stage of completion and is undergoing the process of being cleaned to host its expected commercial occupants.

Wegagen Bank, one of the larger commercial banks, already takes up the ground floor of the building.

Yilekal Desalegn, who has been working for the cleaning company for six years, was sitting on the first floor, unsaddling his t-shirt to remove the dust.

He graduated from Don Bosco Technical College in Engineering but is currently working as a cleaner for buildings, since he could not find a job in his field of study.

Yilekal, who believes the business provides adequate income, works from 8:00am to 5:00pm.

‘‘Even though ceramic cleaning is a tiresome job," said Yilekal. "I'm dedicated to it.”

He cleans commercial centres and embassies, which need cleaning every day, and other big buildings that need an occasional one, such as once or twice a year.

Since there are different types of surfaces of walls, countertops, marble floors, ceramic tiles and doors, special cleaning agents are required depending on the nature of the materials they are made of.

Even though the city's trade bureau does not have a category that registers cleaning services, the number of companies that provide the service is rising. The companies are registered under cleaning and security services.

Five years ago, 618 companies were licensed for cleaning and protection, but the number grew to 937 in 2019. Asma Cleaning Service, Bezan General Cleaning Service, Cheko General Trading Plc, Yoab Cleaning Service and Bethlehem Cleaning Service are among the businesses operating in the city.

To get a license, these companies must combine cleaning services with other services, according to Birhanu Tegegen, director of trade registration & licensing at the city's trade bureau.

The scope of the services includes cleaning up buildings that have completed construction, security service for buildings, and janitorial service for houses and embassies.

These businesses make the life of some people like Derge Lemma, who owns a one-storey house around Haya Hulet, easier.

He used Crown Group Cleaning Service to clean up his house two months ago, and he says he was happy with the work that was done.

Derge, a 48-year-old father of two, has been using regular guys to clean his house, but two months ago he heard that there are companies that clean houses and buildings.

‘‘It took the cleaning company a week to finalise the job,” said Derge.

AG TN Trading Plc, a grade-seven construction company, has also been a customer of Crown Group Cleaning Service for the past one year. The cleaning company was founded a year ago by Myc-Ael James Machio and has hired 52 people, most of which are homeless youth.

Recently, AG TN Trading paid a total of about 40,000 Br to have their two buildings cleaned.

Myc-Ael, 33 years old, who was born in Kenya to an Ethiopian mother and a Kenyan father, earned a degree in journalism. The love of journalism got him involved in different media in Ethiopia. He worked as a junior reporter on at the Sub Saharan Informer and as a senior editor at the Daily Monitor newspapers.

Myc-Ael, who wants enough money to open his own media house, started the journey to make money opening the cleaning company.

His company cleans embassies, hotels, and different office and commercial buildings both in the capital and regional cities.

Crown which provides janitorial service on a regular or request basis works with Kenya Embassy with 12 janitors and Southern Sudan Embassy with six employees.

The company charges a maximum of 160,000 Br for buildings and 15,000 Br for residential houses, and it will take from one week to up to ten days to finish cleaning these buildings.

Expanding his business, Myc-Ael plans to incorporate different kinds of businesses like laundry services, car interior cleaning and property management that can generate more income.