Back from the brink Entrepreneur overcoming obstacles to provide for family

“I was in a position where I couldn’t even buy food, I was depressed and wanted to give up. I was thinking the worst and now I am employing people.”

Those words from Tanya Smart capture just how dramatically her life has changed since THE STAR last told the story of the mother struggling to cope with her autistic son, Daniel, while battling financial hardship and depression.

Today, Smart is running Tanya’s Swifty Cleaning Services, travelling across parishes to clean homes, nursing homes and businesses, and employing a team of about five people.

“Everything has changed. I had lost hope and now I see where others are grateful that I am here,” Smart told THE STAR.

“After the interview, people reached out to me from all over Jamaica, overseas. They have been a tower of strength. They have been assisting me in every way, in every area, and teaching me how to cope with my son and what to do and what not to do.”

When Smart was first interviewed last October, her fledgling business had few resources.

“Mi neva know where mi woulda get the money to buy the first bottle of bleach. All I had was the two mops, the bucket and rags,” she recalled.

Despite that, she kept going and now Smart and her team are travelling for jobs in St Elizabeth and Manchester.

“We are trying to expand a bit more to go further out into different parishes and establishments,” she said. “Once them call me, mi and my team go. If it’s even just the windows them want us to do because we do a good job on the windows, so people recommend us for that.” Referrals generally have become a major part of the business.

She now arrives at jobs in branded shirts, a far cry from the uncertainty surrounding the business when she first started. The business has also become more formal, with Smart receiving help with her accounting and business development.

“A chartered accountant, Kevin Ralston from MoBay, he does all my accounting documents for free. I even have a receipt book with my logo and I also have my stamp,” she said.

For Smart, however, the biggest change is the breathing room that financial stability has given her and her son. Daniel, who previously required her constant supervision, is now less aggressive.

“My other son has a year left in college. Daniel is coming on, he is less aggressive and I am able to pay someone to stay with him when I am out with my team working,” Smart said.

“Sometimes you’ll hear Daniel singing and I realise that he is happy. Now I don’t have to watch him 24/7. I can run to the shop and come back. Before I couldn’t do that at all.”

She said changes to Daniel’s diet have also helped him.

“I am able to cut him off of a lot of sugar and give him better foods, so he is calmer; he is not as aggressive as before.”

And while Smart still has difficult days, she says her mental state has improved significantly with all the support, which came after her story was published and has extended beyond only encouragement. The Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities provided her with $200,000 to purchase equipment for the business.

“They helped me to get all my cleaning stuff, my vacuums, bucket, everything,” she said.

Smart is also pursuing another grant as she works to expand into cleaning sofas, mattresses and blinds. Through entrepreneurship training, she is learning how to manage and sustain the business.

“The machines are expensive and I have to be renting right now but I know it will work out,” she said. The progress has allowed Smart to make improvements to her home, to the point where she can move in.

“My church sister who allowed me to live in her house, the family has moved back so I’m going back to my house. It’s still not finished but I am able to move in and do things on my house on my own,” she said.

But perhaps the most meaningful part of her transformation is that the woman who once struggled to meet her own basic needs can now help others meet theirs.

“It feels great. When I see the ladies wearing the branded shirts, I really have to give thanks. They even say to me, they are so appreciative being able to come and work with me, because it’s not easy on a lot of people right now.”

Still, she wants other parents raising children with autism to see possibility rather than despair.

“I believe God put talents inside of us to do something,” she said.

“I am grateful to THE STAR and all the people who have helped and encouraged me. It’s not easy as a single parent raising an autistic child but we can’t give up,” she added.