400ThinkBusiness.ie has selected 24 Irish women and men disruptors and trailblazers who are shaping the business world is defined by a number of characteristics, the most common being fearlessness.
Their selection is based on women and men of various ages who have not only put their belief in good ideas but are still changing the world around us, driving new ways of doing business but with sustainability at the core.
One of those listed is our Vyta’s CEO, Philip McMichael.
Philip McMichael is the CEO of Vyta, the largest secure IT disposal company in Ireland. Philip got his start in the industry running a computer repair shop with a small team on the Boucher Road in Belfast. When people started to bring in their old computers and other ICT, as a true disruptive entrepreneur, Philip identified a gap in the market for securely disposing of these devices and recovering the value from them.
“In the early days, people simply passed their old computers on within the family, disposed of them in landfill, or maybe one or two more security conscious people thought to shred their old hard drives. Seeing examples of this every day, I saw a big opportunity to delete the data on these devices and then resell a refurbished machine – benefitting everybody involved.”
This was the market disrupting opportunity that led to AMI being established in 2001. From humble beginnings, Philip has helped Vyta grow significantly over the years to become a €7.6 million turnover organisation with 75 staff working from two processing facilities in Dublin and Belfast. It is targeting €10.5 million revenue with a total headcount of 90 by 2021. Today, AMI actually returns money to customers who dispose of decent quality machines. In 2019, it returned over €4 million to its private and public sector customers throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. It also provides shredding services in Ireland, the UK and across Western Europe.
Read about the 23 others:
https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/irish-business-disruptors-2020/
