IN this week’s SME Focus we hear from an entrepreneur who has enjoyed a long career in business in Scotland after learning in his boyhood in the USA how tough business life can be.

Name:

Elias (Al) Vanden Akker

Age:

72.

What is your business called?

Ideal Schools.

Where is it based?

In St Enoch Square, in the heart of Glasgow. We also have a presence in Manchester.

What does it produce, what services does it offer?

Tuition for bookkeeping and accounting exams via distance learning. In essence, it is an old-fashioned correspondence school, but using modern, online technology. We specialise in bookkeeping and accounting, though that includes taxation, self-assessment and so on. Most of our students want to become self-employed. Up to 70 per cent, are female, with an average age between 25 and 40, often at home with children. Under money laundering regulations, they have to have accreditation to act as bookkeepers, and we facilitate that. We also have people working in accountancy who want to improve their qualifications. Our main accreditation partners are the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) and the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).

To whom does it sell?

Most of our students want to establish themselves in business, perhaps doing the books for micro or small businesses, and many are seeking a working role which they can fit round family or other commitments. We also have a substantial cohort of students from overseas who are keen to gain a widely-accepted financial qualification.

What is its turnover?

£325,000. This has fallen back slightly in the last year or two, since 95 per cent of our students come from outside Scotland, and the recent referendums - with possibly another one to come - have caused significant uncertainty.

How many employees?

Eight including a number of self-employed markers and course content monitors.

When was it formed?

I set up the business in 1983.

Why did you take the plunge?

I was the director of education for a very large US-based business college called ICS, which had 150 people in the Glasgow office alone. When I was 40, I became unhappy and felt that I wanted to try doing things on my own. I had recently completed an MBA and it possibly changed my business thinking.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

I was born in Holland and moved to America when I was young with my mother, who was a bookkeeper and my father, who became a farmer. During the Vietnam war, I volunteered for the US Navy and in 1966 I was posted to the Holy Loch in Scotland, where I met my late wife. I returned to the US and took a degree in economics in Michigan under the GI Bill and then came back to Scotland to lecture and write courses, before joining ICS. I was made a tutor, then a senior tutor, then director.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

I had a good relationship with the Royal Bank of Scotland which provided adequate overdraft funding. I also had some private funds. I started in November and in six months I had several hundred students and adverts in all the papers. The business is seasonal, running in parallel with physical colleges, but some of the students paid the fees in full and some in instalments. This evened out the cash flow very efficiently.

What was your biggest break?

That came when the business was already well established. In 2007, the ICB discussed with us the new money laundering rules which meant that bookkeepers had to have an ICB qualification. They accredited us and that has made a huge difference. Our partnership with the AAT has also been very helpful.

What was your worst moment?

Only a couple of years into the business, we were hit by a long postal strike. You have to remember that there was no email or social media then, and everything had to be physically delivered to the students and returned by post to us. So everything just dried up. It was beans on toast all round. No cheques were coming in and no work was going out. The bank was very supportive, but it nearly killed us.

There was another postal strike in Scotland, later on, but we had learned our lesson by then and we bundled our material into sacks and drove it to Carlisle, to post it in an area unaffected by the dispute. You can always find a way round.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

Hearing from students who have passed their exams. I love talking to the students and explaining the courses to them. We have a vibrant Facebook community, including people who have now been in business for themselves for years.

What are your ambitions for the business?

Continuing as we are and switching even more to e-learning and putting more and more material online. Our students still like hard copies, but the answers have to be emailed in. E-learning will also make it easier for overseas students. I intend to take more of a back seat over the next five years, but Brian McVean, my second in command, and my son Scot will take the business forward.

What are your top priorities?

The AAT syllabus is changing this autumn, and our material has to match their exams, so a lot of material has to be revised and rewritten to remain compliant. We will bring in external help for that. At the same time the ICB are also renewing their Level 4 qualifications, so we will be dealing with the changes implicit in that.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do that would help?

They must continue to support, by tax incentives if necessary, the micro and small business sector. There are over five million SME’s in the UK which make up well over 95 per cent of all businesses. They should be nurtured since only their success will help the UK meet its growth forecasts.

What was the most valuable lesson that you learned?

Never give up. There are no limits to what you can do. As a young boy on the farm, things were poor and we worked day and night. One year a hurricane flattened all our corn - days of endless rain ruined the entire crop. My father had to buy hay from Canada to feed the animals. But we got through.

How do you relax?

I used to travel extensively with my wife, who died last year. I read a lot now, and I spend a lot of time at the local bowling club, where I've been for the past 20 years. In winter, we have a pool competition where I'm the old guy. That suits me fine.