EPISODE 1
The Early Days
Today, we reflect on the early days of Greenlight Computers Ltd. Gary Dodson & John Sewell, long term friends from ICL in the 1980’s & 90’s, launched Greenlight on 13th November 2006.
John and Gary had considered starting a business several years earlier, GOYA leisure, but the corporate careers were progressing nicely so that went on the back burner.
In 1994, in what turned out to be their final year in ICL, Gary won the contract and project managed the manufacture of the terminals for the Camelot UK National Lottery. John was also a key player running the final assembly factory operations.
Following the successful launch of the lottery on 19 November 1994 and after 10 years at ICL, Gary was approached to join Fujitsu Services where he had a further 10 years and held a variety of senior posts.
Around the same time, John was part of the management team when Celestica, a Canadian multinational electronics manufacturer, acquired the manufacturing and repair arm of ICL. John went on to enjoy the following 10 years in Celestica.
For more information, please see their LinkedIn profiles below:
Greenlight Computers Ltd – launched 13 November 2006
After a period of discussion, during which Gary wanting to start a T-shirt business for something different, John convincing him that IT services was the best way forward.
Initial discussions considered buying a local IT business, Blue Spot Computers, but it was quickly decided that a clean start allowed John & Gary to retain strategic control long-term.
Greenlight Computers was the name selected for three reasons: firstly, when we repair a computer, we leave it working (Green Light), secondly, our staff operate locally in a 10-mile radius of home/office (Environmentally Green) and thirdly of 100’s of business cards spread across Gary’s dining table the 3 that stood out were lime green.
As with most entrepreneurial ventures Greenlight started with a period of investment, with John and Gary each putting money in to hire 2 technicians and take an office at One Central Park in Manchester, next door to Fujitsu at the time. Gary took on Sales & Marketing and John took on Operations from the beginning, and it’s largely stayed that way for the 20 years so far.
Development was frustratingly slow at the beginning, as the SME world is markedly different from the corporate world, but they are proud that two of the first three clients are still with Greenlight today. In year one money was invested; by year two the business didn’t need further investment and in year three, the directors were able to take out the money they originally invested. It was year four before the directors could start taking a small wage and dividend.
They still look back fondly on the first corporate video with John in action and narrated by Kevin Vogt an early member of the team.
Local – Global strategy
The vision for Greenlight from the beginning was a model described as Local – Global, directly opposed to the corporate strategy of centralisation to create efficiency.
Local delivery, supported by global knowledge has always been Greenlight’s strategy, building strong relationships with clients locally and vendors globally for the benefit of our clients.
Attracting clients has always been easiest when a face-to-face meeting can be held. The corporate knowledge that Greenlight can bring to the conversation gives the SME clients we target the confidence they were dealing with an IT partner who could grow with them. In the case of two of Greenlights largest clients in 2026, those relationships began with not just IT advice but also business advice from the Greenlight Directors.
2006 to 2026 Tech Evolution
In the early days of Greenlight creating an image was a labour of love requiring professional design skills, the images below took 3 seconds to generate using AI!!
They depict two areas of significant change that seemed fast at the time but look pedestrian now as we move into the era of AI versus humans.
We hope you found this a useful insight into the starting of a business organically. A key decision for Gary and John was not to borrow money. Many businesses start with someone else’s money through loans or equity, which typically enables a quicker growth in the short term, but the Greenlight model was always to retain control and decision making by self-funding. Both models work with the right mindset.
Next episode
In the next episode of this 20-year celebration we will cover the pre-covid years and the development of Greenlight Computers as an MSP, with a “Single Point of Service” approach.
The diversification into Telecoms and Digital Marketing to provide this single point of service was driven by client demand.