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ERLANGER - During many years of managing housekeeping for two of Cincinnati's largest hotels, Henry Mejolagbe was responsible for one of the most important facets of the hotels' reputation: their cleanliness.

He has put that experience to work now with his own business, Executive Housekeepers, which he runs from his office in Erlanger. Because of the time he spent in the hotel industry, he said he understands the key components to success in the housekeeping trade.

"After working in four- and five-star hotels, I know what clean is," said Mejolagbe, who has lived in Cincinnati for more than 15 years, but originally hails from Nigeria. "I just didn't wake up one day and pick up a broom. I know what it takes."

Mejolagbe said hotels are one of the best training grounds for anyone in the housekeeping business, because few others have such stringent specifications when it comes to housekeeping.

"The most important department in the hotel is housekeeping," he said. "If the hotel is not clean, it doesn't matter how beautiful it is, you will not go back."

As a director of housekeeping with both the Netherland Plaza Hotel, when it was an Omni hotel, and the Westin Hotel downtown, Mejolagbe said he was responsible for as many as 80 employees who worked three shifts to keep the hotels in top shape at all times.

Mejolagbe's career here in the United States started with a degree in hospitality from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., which is known for its courses in the hospitality industry.

Leaving Nigeria to attend Johnson & Wales, Mejolagbe said he originally planned to return home to begin working. But immediately after graduation, he was offered a job with the Omni hotel in Providence, and then later was transferred to a higher level position in Cincinnati with what was then the Omni Netherland Plaza.

He spent about 15 years in housekeeping management in Cincinnati before starting his own business about a year ago.

That experience is evident in the way he runs his business, according to his customers.

"His portfolio is pretty impressive," said Megan Moore, a property manager with Middle Earth Developers in Colerain Township, for which Mejolagbe's company cleans apartment residences. "He does what he says he's going to do, which you don't always find in that business. People think, 'If I can carry a mop and a bucket I can clean,' which isn't necessarily the case."

Building trust with customers is one of the most important aspects of the housekeeping trade, said Mejolagbe.

"Customers have to know you're doing a good job," he said. "If I do a good job, they'll tell their friends. I've gotten a lot of business that way."

Because of an increasing amount of outsourcing by large companies for their housekeeping needs, Mejolagbe said he expects significant growth in his business for the next several years.

This year, he expects revenues to be between $200,000 and $300,000. But he expects to triple those figures by the end of 2008 and within five years he expects to have more than 50 employees and be doing business internationally.

"The biggest growth in this business is in commercial work," he said.

With many competitors looking to cash in on the same customers as Mejolagbe and his company, he said he tries to keep a competitive edge by staying personally involved in every project.

"You have to take a look at the work that's going on," he said. "It takes constant checking to make sure that the job is getting done right."

It was his continued vigilance over his staff and their work at the hotels that made him successful there, and he said the same principles apply to his own business now.

"I'm aggressive. I want the job done right."

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