Serial entrepreneur returns to roots for honour

Serial entrepreneur Steve Purdham will be returning to his roots when he collects an honorary degree from Teesside University.

The boss of online music service WE7, who became a founder investor along with former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel, originally studied computing at Teesside University – and while there met his wife of 30 years – Julie.

Now Steve is to receive a Doctorate of Business Administration at Teesside University’s annual graduation ceremonies.

From Spennymoor, Steve says he started his first business aged eight – selling sticks: 'I learned that with hard work you could make a profit but sadly my supplier was avoiding VAT so when he was caught I also learnt that a business can quickly disappear,' he laughs.

His fascination with technology as a teenager led him to be the first in his family to go into higher education: 'Normally it was down the pit or to the local factory but I managed to get sponsored by International Computers Limited to study computer science at Teesside which was one of the UK founders of practical computing courses in the late 70s.'

His love of being a DJ in the pubs and clubs of the North East when he was younger combined with the internet – provided some foundation to his latest venture with Peter Gabriel. WE7 launched five years ago is an online music service where visitors can choose the type of music they want to listen to and create their own personal radio station based upon the artists they love. Retail giant, Tesco, has recently bought WE7.

The son of a grocer and a shop assistant – Steve’s love for all type of technology allowed him to take his degree from Teesside University and carve out a career based around businesses with a technology focus but would eventually encompass all aspects of business, in particular, Sales Marketing and Customer care.

On being a serial entrepreneur: 'I love building businesses and taking them from nothing to something. One example, SurfControl Plc grew into a great success in the late 90s early 00’s – a pioneer Internet business that protected businesses from the nasty stuff on the web. 'Unusually SurfControl was effectively built and focussed as an American business with ‘off-shore’ development in the UK Silicon valley of the north, which is Congleton Cheshire. It ended up having 14 offices around the world with over 700 staff.' SurfControl Plc was sold in 2007 for over $400m.

Now 55, Steve says: 'I am delighted to be receiving an honorary degree from Teesside. My time at the University inspired what became my future and holds many happy memories for me – not least opening up the world of technology and meeting my wife, not necessarily in that order. I am looking forward to seeing the changes to the campus. I’m very impressed with the facilities and courses available now and the reputation the University has for digital technology.'

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