A Marlborough man who lost his job with computer giant IBM has set up his own business, recycling unwanted PCs.Simon Crisp (34), the founder of Green Machine Computers, collects old PCs and electronic equipment for free and refurbishes them be used by families on low incomes, students, or anyone in need of a computer for around £100.
And for each machine put back on the market, the company donates a percentage to charity – Marlborough-based Afrikaya and Helen & Douglas House are among the recent beneficiaries.
Simon said: “Being made redundant was a complete shock and almost broke me. To make it worse I was a long term temp, so got less than a month’s pay redundancy.
“It was tough at first as we had no income at all, two young children and an older one at senior school. After a week of stress and worry about looking for a new job I decided I never wanted to work for one of the big IT companies again and decided to start my own.”
Simon decided to start Green Machine Computers after spotting a gap in the market, and because he was annoyed that “the machines that often got destroyed at work at the end of their lives were often better than the ones I had at home, yet company policy seemed to be remove these from circulation to be dismantled.”
“If you’re on benefits and your washing machine blows up you’re pointed to a company like Refurbiz in Devizes, which offers second hand nearly new white goods for a low cost, but there is not a company, that offers this for computers,” said Simon.
“That’s when Green Machine Computers was born.”
The firm, which is now six months old, has collected and refurbished computers from around 30 companies, schools and charities across the area.
Recently, Green Machine Computers – which operates from a workshop at Membury Business Park, near Lambourn – was able to offer a laptop and mobile phones to a community in the Gambia.
The laptop was donated to Abdoulie Joku, a member of the Parent Teacher Association at a nursery school in the Gambia with which Afrkiaya is working.
Geoff Miles from Afrikaya explained: “Abdoulie is trainer in the Gambian Army and has recently started an IT course to improve his career prospects when he leaves the army.
“He asked us if Afrikaya could provide him with an old laptop to enable him to take best advantage of the course, otherwise they had to share 1 between 6 of them, and Simo kindly donated one.”
To donate or buy a computer, log on to www.green-machine.org or call Green Machine Computers on 01488 670350.
Marlborough gets its 20 minutes of flame
