Andrew Foyle was 12 when he began selling computer software packages to schools on the other side of the world.

A decade later he was being feted in the national Press as one of the best entrepreneurs and among the "richest under-30s" in Britain.

He shrugs it off now - "it was news to me" - but concedes the sale of his previous venture, Argogroup, involved seven figures.

Now 32, Andrew is chief executive of Imparo, the Chichester-based educational software house he founded in 2001.

Having lost operational control of Argogroup, Andrew is determined to lead Imparo from the front - although sometimes from a distance.

The serial entrepreneur now has a villa in the French Alps where he indulges his love of skiing.

"I have rigged it up so I can use it as my office," he says.

"I would rather be working with a view of the mountains than overlooking a car park in Chichester."

Although he has built a lucrative career around technology, Andrew is more interested in sales and marketing than the product itself.

He describes himself as a realist and refuses to get too emotionally involved with a commodity in case it outlives its usefulness.

"I am a computer hobbyist," he says, "but I also like the sun and the sky.

"I don't like technology for technology's sake. I have always liked computers for what they can do, not how they do it."

This basic logic supports his vision for Imparo, which supplies more than 3,000 schools in the UK with computer-based lessons. He says: "Parents seem to be more interested in what role they can play in their children's education than ever before - not that they were disinterested in the past but they seem to be much more aware of what they can do to help their kids.

"But we know that none of this would work if the children did not like the product. That will always be the most important thing."

At one stage during the interview he flips open his laptop and shows me a demonstration of The Big Bus - Imparo's flagship product for three to 11-year-olds.

The graphics are groovy and attention-grabbing but serve an educational purpose and are a mile away from dog-chewed text books.

Later this year Andrew hopes to launch The Big Bus on to the consumer market and hopes schools will help him sell the product to parents.

He says: "Schools are commercially minded these days and if they are happy to promote Walkers crisps or Tesco I would hope they would promote our product."

Andrew could talk forever about The Big Bus and twice compares his energetic sales pitch to a sort of evangelism.

For him the bug for selling things - and making a profit - bit early.

His father was managing director of New York-based John Wiley and Sons Publishers when computers were becoming a part of classroom furniture.

Andrew got a discount on some of the software and started selling it to schools in Australia via a cousin who was living there at the time.

He says: "It was better than a paper round and probably not as wet. It was then I realised I wanted to market and sell things and make money.

"Dad turned me into a capitalist at a pretty young age, although he stuffed me on the discount.

"I remember Dad showed me his business card and it had 'managing director' on it.

"I told him I wanted to be an MD and he reminded me that I had to be MD of something - and I really liked the sound of that."

Andrew never made it to university. He intended to study economics and politics in London but during his gap year went into business with a friend.

By the mid-Nineties QD Enterprises was one of the biggest software writers for Acorn Computers with a £500,000 turnover.

It later became Acorn's internet service provider.

When Acorn was killed off by Mircrosoft, Andrew and his father co-founded Argogroup, which bridged the gap between the internet and mobile technology.

Venture capitalists Apax put £10 million into the project but it was their involvement which eventually led Andrew to sell the company in 2002.

He says: "They wanted me to have more support at management level and I was 28 and did not want to upset people who had been so generous with their cash.

"I ended up being president and founder. It was a sort of ambassador's role. I became the face of Argogroup if you like.

"But I lost a lot of control of the day-to-day running of the business. I like to run things and make my own cock-ups, so eventually I left."

Now in charge of Imparo, Andrew is happy being the captain of the ship again.

And his strategy? "Always surround yourself with excellent people and then bask in the reflected glory. That's the secret."

Friday June 04, 2004