Friday 29 March 2024

Matthew Sammut and James Abela at Cellini, Naxxar

There’s nothing more guaranteed to make you feel your age than meeting two whiz kids who are barely in their mid-20s and who are already running a thriving business.

Matthew Sammut and James Abela, both 24, may not be well-known faces and names, but their company NIU is certainly on the map when it comes to website development.  In fact, it is thanks to them that this very website was up and running in (I kid you not) one week.

Today we are meeting for lunch at Cellini wine bar in Naxxar, which is housed in a beautiful old townhouse right next to the church. Run by the gracious couple Stefan and Kelly, the proprietors of Fra Giuseppe in Balzan, it is a welcoming, cosy place which has daily specials and where the personal touch is part of the charm.

Cellini is an excellent wine bar for an evening out, but is also open for lunch, serving good hearty food which is exactly what we needed in this freezing weather.

Cellini is named after the sculptor Piju Cellini

 

The two business partners met during their second year of university where they were both reading for a degree in IT. James overheard Matthew giving a fellow student some advice on a certain subject and, impressed by his knowledge, asked him over to his house to study together.

“Little did he know I was not really that intelligent,” Matthew quips.

“In fact, we ended up choosing different areas of study and we both did much better,” James adds with a laugh.

But Matthew was smart enough to have already set up his own company at the age of 18 with his good friend Liam. “We always wanted to go into business for ourselves so we decided to start developing websites. Our first client ended up being the guy I was taking driving lessons from! He casually asked me what I did for a living and when I told him, he asked us to create a website for him. I told him ‘sure just give me a couple of photos’ and that was it. We were completely self-taught and looking back now I realized we knew nothing; we had to learn how to buy domains and so on. However, that first website still exists, the guy never changed it, and it is very dear to our hearts.”

And that’s how NIU began – the word spread by word of mouth and they never advertised. They worked on laptops from Matthew’s parents’ home, meeting up after university and working until 4am. It sounds like one of those classic stories you hear about all the time about Internet “geeks” who end up becoming rich and famous.

When James came into the picture he was at a crossroads himself – either to go into the family insurance business with his father or to strike out on his own. Meeting Matthew was the turning point, because in between their studies they would always end up talking about business. Although he was reluctant to upset his father, James decided to take the plunge.

In the meantime, NIU had moved into its first ‘office’, a flat belonging to Liam’s grandfather, where they could at least meet clients “without my mother yelling at us that we had taken over her living room”, Matthew chuckles at the memory. When circumstances changed and now with James on board, they had to find somewhere larger, so they found another flat, fixed it up and moved everything within two days.

“It was a whirlwind, and we don’t even know how we found those new premises so quickly.” They both agree that sometimes in life, when things are meant to happen, everything simply falls into place like clockwork. They are also firm believers of the “things happen for a reason” philosophy.

“Dejected as we were that we had to move out, we were lucky that the new flat was much bigger and we had two spare rooms so we thought of turning one of them into a classroom for IT courses. We called it ICE, the Institute for Computer Education, which still exists today,” says James.

In between laughing at recollections of how ‘green’ they were, they describe how they worked out the costings for those first computer courses on simple Excel sheets, trying to figure out how they could finance the school. “You have to remember we were still students living on a stipend. Then we started the first course, saw there was a demand and it just grew from there, again through word-of-mouth.”

When he first started the business with Liam, Matthew admits it was more like a hobby, but it was James who soon cleared him of that notion, pointing out that if they were going to do it, it had to be done properly. Along the way, Liam left the business to go study abroad which was another setback which they had to adjust to. Not one to do anything by half measures, James insisted that they should invest in good equipment immediately. “We set up our computer lab to very high specifications – we could have easily done it for one third of the price, but we would not have had the same good feedback from the public.”

The new premises soon proved too small and within a few months NIU had moved to their present offices near St Dorothy’s convent on the outskirts of Zebbug.  In one year, they had gone from a living room operation to a high tech building which is a testimony to their success story. In business, first impressions count:  the minute you enter their sleek, minimalist offices, you know you are in good hands. But to get to this point, they have had their share of headaches and obstacles.

“Having to move so many times in one year was terrible, especially as we were in our final year at University doing our theses,” says Matthew. James gives me an example of the craziness: “At noon I was doing the interview for my thesis an at 12.30pm I was in the office selling a website.” Luckily they both had understanding tutors who allowed them to do their theses part-time.

Matthew Sammut and James Abela: the brains behind NIU

Hearing them describe how they were juggling their studies with a thriving business, some people might ask, ‘why bother finishing a degree when you’re already running a successful company?”

But they both shake their heads vehemently at this, “No, no, there was never any question of stopping our studies. A certificate is like a bus ticket to take you places. What you learn at University is problem-solving because if you ask me what I actually use from my degree, the answer is nothing,” Matthew points out.

As ridiculously young businessmen they had to fill in the gaps of their knowledge on the job. They readily admit that they were lacking in basic business skills (“we had no idea how to write an invoice for example)” while their book-keeping consisted of the most rudimentary practices.

They attribute their success to the fact that they had people recommending them almost immediately. James makes a good point: “that is the beauty of Malta being so small – the potential for   networking is amazing. We had clients passing us on to other clients right away, especially when they realized that our motto, Design, Develop, Deliver was not just a catchphrase. We really do our utmost to make sure we deliver on time and give people good service; sometimes it is so rare to find good customer service that when they do find it, people are often amazed. Clients tend to judge you not when you’re at your best, but when you’re under stress.”

As in every sector, there is fierce competition between IT companies.  The mistake some of the bigger companies make is that they assume  the industry is still the same as it was ten years ago when there were just a handful of companies to choose from, and clients did not mind waiting. Not any more – in this fast-paced world where customers search for products and services online, your image is only as good as your website. Technical glitches need to be solved yesterday, and impatient fingers tapping away at keys don’t want to wait around until your website slowly loads its images.

Although NIU has grown, in real terms it is still a small outfit, employing only five full-timers; the number of clients they handle, however, is impressive. The advantage which Matthew and James have  is that, with their IT degrees and background in computer programming, if a technical problem crops up they can step in and handle it themselves if necessary.

Like all good business partnerships, although they have completely different characters, the two of them complement each other. James is more quiet and reserved, while Matthew is jovial and laidback. I ask them to describe each other’s strengths.

“James brought with him his knowledge of accounts and business, and he is ideal because he is also an IT person,” explains Matthew.

“Matthew, apart from having a very good eye for web design, is excellent at client relations,” says James. “We also share the same ambitions, which is not easy to find in people our age. Most people usually become ambitious later on in life, in their 30s, so to find someone my age who had the same drive and goals was very fortunate.”

Their age sometimes works against them of course.

“We go to meet clients, who are often the top businessmen in Malta, and they just stare at us. You’re the directors?! Our challenge then is to convince them why they should choose our expertise to do their website, and why they should rely on our advice on how to use Facebook, for example.”

Throughout all this, ICE continued to grow as well, with a steady stream of students and various courses available, using part-time tutors in the evening. Even in this are they have to be careful, making sure that they only employ the best people who are truly qualified in their field and most of all, capable of imparting their knowledge to others.  In fact,  job interviews for ICE consists of Matthew and James asking the prospective client to give them a one hour lesson in the subject.

“We keep learning new things every day, and with Internet, the potential is endless. It’s not just a matter of launching a website for a client; we also help them make the best use of online marketing to promote it. So we tell them, let’s do a Facebook page, let’s do a campaign, let’s do a competition, let’s translate the website into different languages. Meanwhile, because we have contacts with different businesses, from restaurants to hardware shops, we too have learned a lot from our customers. We have now branched out into social media marketing as well, keeping our clients informed of all the latest developments and tools.”

Inevitably, their line of business means that they are never really “off”.

“We have very understanding girlfriends,” they both agree. “Even if we’re abroad, our mobiles are always on because we cannot afford to ignore clients’ questions when a problem crops up.”

As friends and business partners, they trust one another implicitly and always act as a team so that no foolhardy financial decisions are taken.

There are drawbacks to being young entrepreneurs, of course.

“Many of my friends are living the life; some of them are spending a few years abroad which I’ve always wanted to do, but which now I cannot,” James points out. “I also need to make some time to take up some kind of sports again, because I’ve gained weight and I’m going crazy.”

The only time they really rest is when they go abroad (despite their constantly bleeping phones).

Their families, although anxious at first because of the risks involved, have been very supportive. James’ father gave them practical advice and ideas on how to run a business while in the case of Matthew’s father, he is always willing to land a hand when something needs to be fixed at the office.

The downside has been the inevitable backstabbing from those who were envious of their success. “We had someone reporting us to the police when we opened our office, and if we had not had the necessary permits we would have had to close down and would have gone bankrupt. We have always done everything above aboard but,  since we opened the school especially, there have been those who have tried to trip us up – however, we just keep moving forward with new ideas. In Malta once you get a good reputation you will move quickly – but if you get a bad reputation you can just as quickly fail. One bad move and you’re ruined, one good move and you can get another client. For example, all the emails which are sent from the company have to be written in good English and we watch our staff like a hawk on this point.”

The success of their business has brought with it added responsibilities, reflected in the maturity which they bought have for their age.  Looking back, they never imagined as children that their lives would turn out like this. Matthew wanted to be a doctor until he got his first Amiga computer as a present and was hooked. James took it for granted he would work in insurance like his Dad but wanted to combine it with his love of IT.

But destiny had other plans for them, when a chance remark on campus led to them becoming friends. And as long as they continue with their feet on the ground as they are now, things for NIU can only get better.

 

WHAT WE HAD FOR LUNCH

 

Soup of the day with baked Maltese ftira croutons 

Pan fried chicken breast set on roast vegetables

served with burro del chianti & limoncello cream sauce topped with bacon

 

Roasted duck breast set on roasted vegetables

and cranberry port sauce.

 

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