20 SOUTH
E Peter Kelly
Year of Birth: 1957 Residence: High Wycombe
Business: Softcat – founder, retired as chairman 2012. Providers of standalone and managed IT services Business Location: Marlow – head office, London, Manchester and Bristol Worth: Kelly remains a 55% shareholder in Softcat. Worth estimated at £140 million* Turnover and year: £395.8m in 2013
Description: Kelly describes himself as a “weird and eccentric entrepreneur“. He has been guided by the mantra of “work should be fun“ and built a hugely successful business
Commentary: Kelly hitchhiked around the world before joining Rank Xerox sales in 1981. In 1987 he set up a recruitment company, shortly followed by an Apple dealership in 1988. In 1991 he set up an ISP and then in 1993 Softcat was born. Softcat aims to be an extension of a company’s IT department, by giving access as either standalone technical services, on-going managed services or a combination of both. Utopian ideals of a happy workforce equals happy, satisfied customers have proven a powerful guiding principle for Softcat and ensured not only staff loyalty and performance, but a consistently ascendant bottom line.
Over the past five years turnover has risen from just over £113m in 2009 to just short of £400m in 2013, with profits keeping pace. Kelly’s unofficial title before retiring in July 2012, was ’minister of fun’. He ensured
that team bonding did not finish at the end of the working day. Fun incentives are offered to the staff and top performers are well rewarded with trips to far flung places as well as meals at fancy restaurants. Softcat has been voted 4th in the Best Place to Work List (for 50-499 employees). CEO Martin Hellawell said: “What Softcat has to offer to the market is not unique. So the only way we can differentiate ourselves is with customer service. It’s as simple as that. It’s why we’re successful. And we do that because we have staff who love Softcat.“ The direction originated with Peter Kelly and continues to this day.
Quote: “I just care that people are happy.“ *Source: Sunday Times Rich List.
RN NTREPRENEURS Business THE M A GA ZINE TM
David Sanger
Year of Birth: 1965 Residence: Hook, Hampshire
Business: Rollover – founder, sold in 2006, remains a non-exec director. Escential - chairman; delivering laboratory manufactured scents to businesses in UK. Riverbank IT – non-exec director responsible for corporate strategy, growth, acquisitions, coaching and mentoring the directors and senior managers (10% shareholding)
Business Location: Maidenhead, Slough and Milton Park Turnover and year: Rollover £13.1 million in 2014
Description: Fast-food entrepreneur originally, now using the experience to coach and mentor a diverse range of businesses
Commentary: After reading Economics and Politics at Exeter University, Sanger trained as a chartered accountant at Ernst & Young before moving to an advertising agency. Frustration with the decision-making process led Sanger to open his own business, a chain of sandwich bars in West London. Not an immediate success, working 5am to 9pm six days a week and the shops were still losing money. A new strategy was needed. Sanger hired a manager for the shop and secured bulk orders from hotels and local hospitals. Sales tripled in two months.
In 1995 Sanger discovered a hotdog machine in Copenhagen and with a £500 purchase and some modifications back in England he installed it in one of the shops using high-quality hotdogs from Germany. Sales were excellent and more machines were ordered, one for each shop. To
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concentrate on the hot dog business Sanger sold the shops in 1997 and opened hotdog retail outlets, “an absolute disaster“ he admits himself, opening 18 outlets in 18 months. He finally called a halt but spent another 18 months sorting it out and lost £1m in the process.
The wholesale operation survived and was aquired in 2006 by Piper Equity Group for £9m. Sanger is still a non-exec director and has fingers in several other pies, most notably Riverbank IT Management and Escential, as well as being governor of a prep school and working with a number of charities.
Quote: “Its not making money that has inspired me, it is wanting to be the biggest and the best.“
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – OCTOBER 2014
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