Surprise 1st birthday party for IT business to mark successful first year

An experienced IT consultant who took the plunge to launch his own business in Coventry received a surprise on its 12-month anniversary.

René Wheeler, who has 30 years’ experience in the IT and telecoms sector, set-up SolaaS (Solutions As A Service) from an office at the Coventry Transport Museum in the city centre to provide customers with flexible monthly contracts instead of fixed three-to-five-year deals for telephones, retail security and connectivity services, and has grown to achieve a turnover that has surpassed expectations.

Within 12 months, the business has secured more than 30 clients throughout the UK including school and college academies, a leisure and tourism organisation, and commercial and industrial businesses as well as becoming partners with global, awardwinning cloud telecoms company Wildix.

René’s wife, Michaela, who is also Operations Manager, decided to throw a surprise birthday party to mark SolaaS’s achievements which have included the business being voted Start-up Business of the Year for the West Midlands at The FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards.

René said: “I’ve just been super lucky with recruitment. Every position we’ve recruited we’ve just got the best people. We wouldn’t have achieved what we have had it not been for the people we have. It’s been fundamental.

“I’ve had challenges over the year, but I’ve got such a loyal base of people around me that they’ve made it really quite plain sailing.”

SolaaS now employs six people including two apprentices to develop the business’s skills for the future and more recruitment is on the horizon.

“We’ve laid the foundations for many more years in business,” he said.

“We’re twice the size of what I expected so goal-setting for next year, we’ve got to think much bigger. We’re building a community of customers and that’s how we want to grow the business.”

Since launching the business from scratch, René has received mentoring and guidance from Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub’s Jim Vithanage.

“Jim has proved to be a fantastic mentor with his sound advice and guidance every step of the way,” René added.

“He has encouraged me to attend networking events and I’ve joined CW Champions which I’ve found really helpful.” Jim Vithanage, Account Manager at the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub, said: “Grant funding is not always necessary because knowledge and mentoring are equally important, if not more so. The Growth Hub provides this through our experienced Account Managers.

“René has been so open to developing, expanding and stepping out of his comfort zone and he wants a business that fits his standards.”