Growing up as part of a Aberdeenshire family-run bakery Kevin Coll was immersed in business from a young age.
He spent his childhood sweeping floors, counting takings and helping anyway he could.
Kevin, 56, admits he didn’t know where his career would take him but he always knew business would be at the heart of it.
Fast forward 34 years and the dad-of-three is now running a successful IT firms Solab IT Services and Onboard Tracker with a combined £6 million turnover.
He built his business, which serves clients worldwide, whilst also single parenting three children under the age of five, describing himself as a “trailblazer”.
Experience in family business
Kevin, originally from Greenock, first moved to Aberdeen with his parents at the age of five after his dad got a job as a foreman at Norco bakery in Berryden.
Years later they moved to Laurencekirk when his dad bought a bakery in the village.
Kevin, who went to Mearns Academy, was involved in the bakery from a young age but upon leaving school at the age of 17 he still had no idea what career path he would take.
He said: “I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew it was going to be something sort of business-focused.
“And the reason for that is I was immersed from a very young age in my mother and father’s bakery, shop, and coffee shop.
“Whether it was counting the takings, watching my dad doing the wages, sweeping up or scraping pans.”
From retail to IT
At the age of 19, Kevin chose to do a graduate trainee programme in management for department store House of Fraser.
He’d always had a love of IT but it was during his two years there that the spark really ignited.
Kevin, who went to St Joseph’s School, said: “I really enjoyed it. Whilst I was there we were rolling out the biggest point-of-sale and point-of-receipt system in Europe, and that really got me.
“I’d always been interested in computing and IT and I was involved in the rollout of that.”
Kevin was offered various roles within the group but it was then he realised his calling was IT and not retail.
He got a job working for Central Computers at the age of 20 in 1988.
But after returning from a holiday, he found out the business had gone bust leaving him unemployed.
He hadn’t been paid for two months and the company car had been taken away while he was on holiday.
Start of Solab
Realising the skillsets he had it was then he decided to set up his own business.
The drive to become his own boss pushed him away from going to work for another IT company.
He said: “I had been doing the selling and it was going well but mismanagement killed it.
“I knew what I was doing, but what I didn’t have was any money or any collateral to be able to go and set up on my own.
“So, I approached a couple of friends who were also customers and said to them, look, the guy’s gone bust, let me do your IT support, would you help me with this? And they did.
“Eighteen months later I bought them out and set up Solab in 1991.
“I think the entrepreneurial spirit was always there because I’d seen it with my parents.
“The easy option at the time would have been to take a well-paying IT job with a big company.
“But I’ve never been one for that.”
Single parent working life
Whilst concentrating on building his business Kevin was also juggling parenting Kris, 32, Natalie, 30, and Natasha, 28, who were all aged under five years old when he entered into a shared parenting role.
His priority was always nurturing his relationships with his children.
Kevin said: “I couldn’t do evening work. I couldn’t go internationally. I couldn’t be traveling all the time.
“I had to tread water and stay close to home.
“But the good thing about being in tech is that, you know, I could work anywhere. Whether that be from home, my car, sitting outside the school or waiting outside dancing.
“It was very challenging. You’re doing school runs, getting their dinner, getting them into bed, and be back to work again.
“I’m obviously really proud of what I’ve done, but I think I have actually trailblazed for shared parenting.”
Growth of business
Solab is a digital company providing managed IT support services, while Onboard Tracker, started in 2014, focuses on crew management software solutions that track in excess of 110,000 energy, renewables and marine workers in more than 8,000 sites across 100-plus countries.
Turnover is his first year of business was a “few hundreds thousands pounds” with the group now reaching £6m and 41 members of staff.
Clients include Harbour Energy, Subsea 7, Boskalis, Archer, Technip and Stena Drilling.
Long-term plans for Solab and Onboard Tracker
Looking towards the future of the Bridge Street based businesses Kevin, who has a partner Clare-Frances, intends to keep growing with him looking abroad at opportunities.
He said: “About 40% of our turnover in Onboard Tracker is international.
“We’ve obviously got some fantastic clients. And being in Aberdeen, I think, really helps that.
“If we were in Sheffield, how on earth would you get access to companies who have worldwide bases?
“I think Aberdeen’s a brilliant jumping off point for that.
“We’ve done really well to get a lot of traction in the marketplace we’ve got here. So the next opportunities for us are looking at international opportunities.
“We’re looking at the Americas, Far East and the Middle East eventually as well.
“There’s potentially new offices and build out where we are. But the majority of it will stay here.
“The Onboard Tracker side is just growing at a pace. It’s a runaway success. It’s just a lovely thing to be part of. And it’s just a very dynamic environment.
“I’m very proud of the great businesses my team have helped me build.”
Conversation