One man's journey from leaving school with just one GCSE to running a business with a £1million turnover

Ryan Davies, 38, completely turned his career around after graduating from an electronic media design programme at the University of Sunderland.

He is now managing director of Surge, which offers management consultancy for businesses using technology.

After leaving school with just one GCSE, Ryan enrolled on an art course.

He said: “I was never any good at taking instructions. So I guess starting my own business was something I’d always considered doing.

“But I wasn’t academic at school and left with virtually no qualifications. I went to college and ended up on an art course.”

After finishing the art course Ryan completed a graphics design course at Newcastle College, and then studied at the University of Sunderland.

Ryan graduated from Sunderland in 2005 and says the three years he spent there gave him what he needed to succeed in business.

He added: “At first, I was doing flash websites, back in the day. That lasted about eight months before I was taken on by North East games company, Eutechnyx, staying there for more than two years.

“We were working on games like Ferrari Challenge and Pimp my Ride. It was good, I enjoyed it.”

There were also hard times after a job offer on the Isle of Wight fell through and he ended up living in his girlfriend’s sister’s caravan before finding employment with a video game developer.

Then he returned to the North East to achieve his real ambition and started his own business in 2010, co-founding app-development company Gospelware. Within eight years the company grew to employ 20 people.

In 2018 he founded Surge, which has gone from four employees to 19 in just two years.

He added: “University gave me the time and support to create a portfolio of work, to give me a direction to go in. I worked hard, sometimes morning until night, but it was a brilliant three years and a time I will never forget.”