New firms are rising from the ashes of former Dundee games company Realtime Worlds, which collapsed last year with the loss of more than 200 jobs and they are not all involved in pushing forward the boundaries of computer science.
“There has been a lot talked about what has happened to the technical guys but nothing really about the admin staff,” the firm’s former financial controller Vicki Anderson, who had been with the company for six years told The Courier this week.
Inspired by the games developers who set up on their own, Vicki and Realtime office manager Morag Wilkie have started their own business offering admin and accountancy services to companies of all sizes.
On how they came to set up Your LOAF, she said, “A lot of the guys were toying with the idea of starting up on their own but they had no experience of the business and accounts side and we thought we could help them out.”
Bluetags, the web design company responsible for their internet presence, has been set up by another Realtime veteran, she added.
However, Your LOAF has already branched out into other sectors, including providing admin support for a franchise gym operation, and the future is looking a lot brighter than it did when Realtime folded, she said.
“It was very sad at the time,” Vicki said. “Morag was one of the first 18 employees at Realtime and it started really quite small but it grew so big and losing it was a shame for Dundee.”
Having been through the liquidation of that company, Vicki is adamant it is not an experience she ever intends to repeat. “We are keeping our costs down and we take that same message to our clients,” she added.