Kenyan businessman Robert Okubo is the founder of 200 Degrees, a Washington and Nairobi-based cleaning company that he started in 2002.
The company provides cleaning services to homes, businesses, institutions, and government offices. It specializes in cleaning carpets, mattresses, furniture, vehicles and buildings.
In an interview with Chams Media’s Daring Abroad, Okubo, who has also been featured on Forbes, explained that when he moved to the US, his intention was not to start a business, but to promote Kenya as a tourist destination.
He was born in the United Kingdom in 1969.
His father was from Busia County, while his mother was from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean.
In the early 1970s, Okubo’s family relocated to Kenya, and they enrolled him in various schools including Victoria Primary School, St. Mary’s, Upper Hill, and Maranda High.
In 1987, his parents divorced, which prompted him to relocate from Kenya to Maryland, in the United States.
However, he soon discovered that life in America was a far cry from the Hollywood and Disney fantasies he had imagined.
After struggling with severe culture shock and a lack of jobs, Okubo decided to relocate back to Kenya after five years.
“My mother couldn’t believe I was giving up the US to come back home,” he said.
After returning to Kenya, he struggled for a while until he landed a job at a travel agency, where he learned about Kenya’s vibrant tourism industry.
Using the experience he had gained, he started his own travel company called Johnny Be Good Safaris.
The company organized trips for Kenyans who wanted to visit different destinations around the country, allowing customers to pay in installments.
As the business developed, Okubo began looking for ways to attract international clients.
In 2002, he decided to travel back to the United States to market his company to American tourists.
Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan.
Around the time Okubo travelled to America, Kenya was dealing with the effects of the terrorist attack on the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa.
The attack put Kenya in a very bad light as a tourist destination.
This left him stranded in America without a clear way of earning money. He therefore decided to approach his brother, who was also living in the US, asking for a temporary job.
His brother encouraged him to apply for a job at Stanley Steemer, an American cleaning company.
At first, Okubo only wanted to earn enough money to cover his expenses and his plane ticket back to Kenya.
However, after joining the company, he discovered something that caught his attention.
“I saw a cleaning technique I’d never seen in East Africa before,” he explained.
Rather than the traditional mops and brushes that Okubo was used to, he was introduced to modern cleaning equipment and technology that the company was using.
After working in the company for several months, Okubo decided to start his own cleaning business.
“I need to save up money, buy my equipment, introduce this back in Kenya,” he recalled telling himself.
He eventually founded 200 Degrees in Washington, D.C., in 2002.
Instead of concentrating on ordinary cleaning services, he decided to specialize in more technical cleaning work that required professional equipment.
His company offered services such as carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, mattress cleaning, and vehicle detailing.
It also expanded into cleaning buses, aircraft, large buildings and high windows.
As the business grew, Okubo began getting more clients.
“I could walk out the door and come back with $800 in a day’s work in the US,” he said.
Over time, he expanded his company’s operations to Kenya, beginning with Nairobi and Mombasa.
His main clients were businesses, government institutions and private organizations.
He also involved his wife and children in the business, with one of his children explaining that she manages bookings.
200 Degrees now has over 30 employees and is seeking to expand into other towns like Kisumu, Meru and Eldoret.
Okubo has also expressed interest in entering regional markets such as Tanzania and South Africa.