'I want to change our life's story': Filipina turns love for cleaning into thriving business in Australia
Because she found cleaning therapeutic, she decided to start a cleaning business with an all-Filipino team.
According to IBIS World industry data for 2025, there are now more than 45,000 commercial cleaning businesses in Australia—up by 3.1% compared to 2024. The industry currently employs an estimated 230,000 people in 2025.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
SBS Filipino
14:08 Filipino For 29-year-old Yvonne Masilang, a former teacher from Pangasinan and now an assistant centre manager at a childcare in Perth, Western Australia, cleaning has always been therapeutic.
It's a passion she has carried since her youth—one she has now turned into a thriving business.
House-Proud Pinay Yvonne Masilang turns love for cleaning into thriving business in Perth Western Australia. Credit: Maid by Yv FB Page
Cleaning is my comfort zone. No matter how exhausted I am, I still have to clean—even if it's already past midnight. My day feels incomplete without it. Yvonne Masilang, Business owner Maid by Yv and Childcare Assistant Centre Manager
She adds that in a single day, she mops the floor four times. Even at the childcare centre where she works, her boss and colleagues describe her as an organised and meticulous cleaner—a trait she says she inherited from her late father's family.
House-proud Pinay turns love for cleaning into thriving business in Western Australia. Credit: Yvonne Masilang/FB
According to Yvonne Masilang, assistant centre manager at a childcare centre and owner of a cleaning business in Perth, her venture not only supports her mother and fuels her passion for cleaning, but also provides jobs and brings joy to her clients. credit: Yvonne Masilang Yvonne, a former teacher and law student from Pangasinan, first arrived in Sydney, Australia, in 2021, before heading to Perth to pursue Early Childhood Education.
House-proud Pinay turns love for cleaning into thriving business in Western Australia. Credit: Yvonne Masilang/FB Before starting her career in childcare, she worked at a restaurant in Sydney and as a housekeeper at a hotel in Perth.
📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino 📲 Catch up episodes and stories – Visit sbs.com.au/filipino or stream on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , Youtube Podcasts , and SBS Audio app.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
The businesses abandoning America over US tariffs
Australian businesses are halting exports to the US, as the Trump administration closes a tax loophole for low-cost goods entering America on August 29.
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
ASX steadies as banks lead recovery after CSL shock
Australia's sharemarket edged higher on Wednesday, bouncing back slightly after a two-day slump driven by CSL's record one-day fall. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 21.8 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 8,918, while the broader All Ordinaries added 3.6 points to 9,177.4. The Australian dollar slipped slightly to 64.7 US cents. Over the past five days, the index has gained 1.03 per cent and sits just 0.5 per cent below its 52-week high. Banks continued to support the market, with all four major lenders climbing. Commonwealth Bank added 0.79 per cent to $172.40, Westpac jumped 2.47 per cent to $38.23, NAB surged 3.68 per cent to $42.03, and ANZ rose 1.95 per cent to $33.41. IG analyst Tony Sycamore said the ASX 200 had performed 'really well'. 'The ASX 200 is insulated because we don't have the concentration of tech stocks that hit the US markets,' Mr Sycamore said. 'One of the reasons why we're seen as a more defensive market is because we've got the banks, and the banks have done well again today.' Seven of the 11 sectors higher. After Tuesday's shock fall of 16.89 per cent in CSL shares, the healthcare giant continued to weigh on the sector, which slipped 1.28 per cent. Other sectors on the decline included information technology (-2.32 per cent), materials (-1.16 per cent), and energy (-1.23 per cent), while consumer discretionary (+1.93 per cent), real estate (+1.80 per cent), and financials (+1.43 per cent) led the winners. 'Elsewhere, we saw some fall in CSL extent today, so there is certainly an exodus which continues from that particular stock, and it does feel like the market's the wrong way around with regards to CSL,' Mr Sycamore said. 'It was certainly a shock yesterday, and in terms of early season bombshells, probably the biggest one I can recall in recent memory.' Top performers on Wednesday included HMC Capital, up 17.74 per cent to $3.85, and Centuria Capital Group, which gained 11.63 per cent to $2.40. Synlait Milk (+8.11 per cent), Service Stream (+7.92 per cent), and Strickland Metals (+7.69 per cent) also posted strong gains. However, some high-profile falls highlighted ongoing volatility. James Hardie plunged 27.83 per cent to $32, while Arafura Rare Earths (-13.64 per cent), Elsight (-13.53 per cent), and Electro Optic Systems (-13.09 per cent) were among the biggest decliners. Mr Sycamore said after recent market jitters and high-profile earnings shocks, investors were seeking safer options. 'The lure of the banks is proving to be appealing,' Mr Sycamore said. 'Given recent uncertainty, investors are moving towards stocks with cheaper valuations. For example, CBA trading at $172 now compared to $192 a couple of months ago makes it look more attractive. 'We're moving into a period where people are going to be more selective and favour cheaper, more defensively valued stocks.' Miners gave back some of Tuesday's gains. BHP, which rallied 1.57 per cent on Monday, retreated slightly in Wednesday's session, reflecting a broader pullback in the sector. 'Big mining stocks had a bad day today, but their valuations aren't expensive by any stretch of the imagination,' Mr Sycamore said. 'We're seeing more stock selection based on value rather than just momentum, which has been driving markets for a while.'
SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- SBS Australia
The employee skills 'mismatch' leaving Australia $9 billion poorer each year
More than half a million permanent migrants in Australia are working below their skill level, despite concerns that widespread workforce shortages are impeding productivity. It's a topic of discussion this week, as 30 leaders from business, unions and civil society convene in Canberra to debate the country's economic future. Former Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson, who presented on skills at the roundtable this week, said there was agreement on the need for skilled workers, but how to achieve that remains a challenge. "It's about how we break down the barriers. Everybody at the roundtable today could see the benefits of building better systems for workers and what skilled immigration can bring to the table. The challenge is how to operationalise it," he said. Skilled migrant 'mismatch' In its submission to the roundtable, the Activate Australia's Skills campaign has suggested that a national governance system for all overseas skills and qualifications recognition is needed. Activate Australia's Skills is an alliance campaign of businesses, unions, social services and community groups pushing a skills and qualifications recognition policy. 620,000 permanent migrants are currently working below their skill level in Australia, according to government figures. Dane Moores is the head of strategic relations at Settlement Services International and is also the campaign manager for Activate Australia's Skills. He told SBS News migrants face a range of obstacles to finding employment. "It's what we call the migrant skills mismatch," he said. "Some of the barriers include a lack of local work experience, limited professional networks and social capital in some cases, language barriers, and in many cases, discrimination in the labour market." LISTEN TO Moores said the group has a number of recommendations to improve the skills recognition process. "We're calling on the government to provide financial support for those migrants who can't afford to go through the system. And secondly, to reduce information barriers by creating an online portal with all the information migrants need to get their skills and qualifications recognised." The organisation's research has found Australia's economy could grow by $9 billion every year or $25 million a day if the skills of migrants were put to better use. There are currently 39 skilled migration assessing authorities approved to undertake assessments for 650 occupations, according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). "Current skill assessment processes are expensive, complex, lack transparency, and prevent migrant workers from having equal employment opportunities," the ACTU told SBS News in a statement. "Thousands of people are being needlessly locked out from filling skills shortages due to barriers unrelated to their skills: excessive fees, bureaucratic red tape, and slow and confusing processes throughout the skills recognition system." Critical sector hampered by 'red tape' Sectors that rely on engineers to support construction and infrastructure have been a focus of the roundtable. Engineers Australia, which does skills recognition for overseas-born engineers, estimates that two-thirds of Australian-born engineers are working directly in engineering roles, compared with half of overseas-born engineers working in engineering roles. The organisation says its recent research found some 47 per cent of migrant engineers actively seeking a job in the sector are unemployed. "Engineers Australia welcomes efforts to make skills recognition clearer and more consistent, but it has to be profession-specific. Alongside recognising overseas qualifications, the real challenge is getting national harmony and consistency across states and territories," Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew told SBS News. Madew added that the government needs to address "the red tape" around licensing and registration between different states, to better realise the "full benefits" of the engineering workforce. A spokesperson for the Skills and Training Minister, Andrew Giles, told SBS News the government is "already doing critical work". "Programs like Free TAFE have provided the opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people to upskill in areas where we need more workers – including in housing construction, nursing and aged care. "On top of that, our Government's Advanced Entry Trades Training program will see the skills of 6,000 people recognised."
