Mahurangi Matters - Introducing Quickleen-S 03 Dec 2014

Matakana couple Alison and Peter North are as surprised as anyone that they have recently become the sole NZ distributors of a multi-purpose cleaning product called Quickleen-S.

The couple met at university in Johannesburg, where Alison trained as a geologist and Peter as a mining engineer. After graduating, they worked in the gold mining industry but became disillusioned with the cosseted lifestyles that often left employees with very little to show for their working life when they retired.

Alison switched to IT and software development, while Peter went in to merchant banking and corporate finance. But when the first of their three daughters arrived, they decided it was time to find a place where the girls could have a happy and safe childhood.

Their first port of call was the Seychelles, which was idyllic but limited in terms of opportunities for their children. They visited England and Ireland, and also considered Canada and Australia. But it only took one visit to New Zealand to convince them that they had found the environment they were looking for.

“We love NZ’s family values and the involvement parents have with their children, not to mention the countryside and outdoor lifestyle,”Peter says. “We would go out for a jog and pass roadside stalls with honesty boxes. Amazing! It was this sort of experience that made us realise that this was where we wanted to raise our kids.”

The family moved to the Matakana, built a house under the brow of Sugar Loaf (Pukematakeo) and have since adopted a menagerie of seven alpaca, 50 sheep, two dogs, a cat and two horses.
“We’ve been searching for a business for about 18 months that would allow us to work from home but also, importantly, a business that we could feel passionate about,” Alison says. “Quickleen ticked the boxes, but it wasn’t until we tried the product ourselves that we were really sold. It is a cleaner that works on any surface other than oiled timber.

I am very fussy when it comes to cleaning and I have never seen anything like it.”

At this stage, Quickleen can only be bought online, but Alison and Peter are looking at ways to make it more widely available through retail outlets.

“If you saw it on the shelf, you possibly wouldn’t pick it up because it looks just like any other cleaner. We have to find some way to demonstrate that it is anything but ‘just another cleaner’.