SweepSouth Exits Nigeria Over Unfavourable Environment

By Adedapo Adesanya

After about five months of its operations, SweepSouth Nigeria has announced plans to suspend its operations in the country from Friday, November 25, 2022.

In a notice seen by Business Post, the South African home cleaning service startup said the unfavourable macroeconomic environment has hit its business hard and has forced its hand to halt services.

“Due to the unfavourable global macroeconomic environment, the home service industry continues to be hit hard. This has meant that our business cannot sustainably operate due to the economic pressures being faced at the moment.”

It noted that the “difficult decision” would impact its loyal customers but noted that all services within the next three days would be handled while those after the set deadline would be cancelled with customers.

“This has been a difficult decision to make considering our passion to serve the Nigerian market. We know this decision will negatively impact our SweepSouth community and Sweepstars. Therefore, we ask for your support and understanding as we navigate this time.

“All bookings scheduled to take place between now and November 25^th will remain in place. We will be cancelling all bookings scheduled to take place after November 25^th, 2022 – customers will receive full refunds for any bookings that have been paid for in advance, and full refunds for Sweepcred loaded in customers’ accounts,” it added.

Despite its exit from the Nigerian market, the company said it would continue to provide its service in South Africa and Egypt, adding that it will continue to study the market for a possible re-entry in the future.

“While we will no longer be operating in Nigeria, we will continue to keep abreast of activities in the Nigerian market and work towards a potential re-entry into the market at a later date.”

The Johannesburg startup entered Nigeria in June 2022 to allow people to book home cleaning services at affordable prices and connects them with cleaners they call SweepStars, who are carefully vetted and are professionals with extensive experience in home cleaning.