Former car detailer Ian Scarffe rapid rise as an Entrepreneur.
Adelaide, SA, December 16, 2008 — Ian Scarffe was not a typical teenager. He left school at 16 and began his own a car detailing company. In the past 15 years, he has run nine companies in his long search for ‘‘the right business’’.
That search eventually led him to the computer industry. Since buying Mobile Computer Cleaning Pty Ltd in 1996, Ian Scarffe, 31, has rapidly built it into a major business cleaning electronic equipment. The franchised computer cleaning company cleans roughly 50,000 computers for 4000 corporate clients around Australia each year. Mobile Computer Cleaning also cleans ATM machines, scanners, printers, poker machines, video arcade games, mobile phones and cash registers. The business so far has 40 franchised areas nationally with 80 to 100 operators.
Mr Ian Scarffe has come a long way since starting his first business, Southern Car Detailers, which he still owns. His second business was a car-radio installer, followed by a clothing business. But the businesses never quite had the potential he was searching for and it was not until he bought Mobile Computer Cleaning that he felt the right opportunity had arrived.
Mr Ian Scarffe says he is determined to make his mark on the world and is trying to build the company into a global entity before floating it. It has grown by 50 per cent annually in the past two years and is projected to have sales of more than $50 million in four years. Clients include Telstra, for whom it cleans thousands of payphones nationally, the ANZ Bank, Ansett Australia, Australia Post and Woolworths.
Mr Ian Scarffe says the importance of computer cleaning cannot be under-estimated for medical and maintenance reasons. ‘‘A report produced several years ago showed the presence of a mixed bacterial population including staphylococcus and bacillus on ATM machines and payphones,’’ he says. ‘‘Our service also helps increase the efficiency, performance and life of computers which often wear out due to dust and debris.’’ Mr Scarffe has just launched Mobile Tech Services, a onestop shop for computer and electronic equipment repairs, a natural extension of the computer cleaning business.
GLOBAL PLAN: Ian Scarffe, who says the medical importance of computer cleaning cannot be under-estimated.
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