Eric van der Kleij
Encyclopedia
Eric van der Kleij is a British entrepreneur who is currently chief executive of Tech City Investment Organisation—the organisation for the development of East London
into a global centre for technical entrepreneurship.
as a teenager. Deciding that he lacked the technical skill to be a programmer, van der Kleij went on to study business, after which he began a career in technology by commissioning software for golf clubs to keep track of their membership. Van der Kleij became a "serial entrepreneur", creating several telecommunications companies. His first major success began with an Internet call-back business, named RealCall, which allowed advertisers to place a link in their advertisement which clients would click to receive a phone call from the advertiser. The service failed to take off, but from it, van der Kleij developed a business which alerted consumers to possible credit card fraud, which became known as Adeptra. Adeptra expanded into the United States in 2000, which required van der Kleij to raise £30 million in funding. After leaving the company in 2006, van der Kleij was approached by the British Government to assist in the set-up of its Global Entrepreneur Programme
—an initiative to help UK-based technology companies expand and globalise their business.
announced a plan to make the United Kingdom a global leader in number of technology startups, with the creation of Tech City, designed to compete with Silicon Valley
. Eric van der Kleij was appointed to take charge of the enterprise.
East London
East London is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa, situated at 32.97°S and 27.87°E in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River, and is the country's only river...
into a global centre for technical entrepreneurship.
Early life and career
Van der Kleij was born in the Netherlands, brought up in South Africa, and moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 15. His interest in technology was sparked when his brother bought him a Sinclair ZX81Sinclair ZX81
The ZX81 was a home computer produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Scotland by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and was designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public...
as a teenager. Deciding that he lacked the technical skill to be a programmer, van der Kleij went on to study business, after which he began a career in technology by commissioning software for golf clubs to keep track of their membership. Van der Kleij became a "serial entrepreneur", creating several telecommunications companies. His first major success began with an Internet call-back business, named RealCall, which allowed advertisers to place a link in their advertisement which clients would click to receive a phone call from the advertiser. The service failed to take off, but from it, van der Kleij developed a business which alerted consumers to possible credit card fraud, which became known as Adeptra. Adeptra expanded into the United States in 2000, which required van der Kleij to raise £30 million in funding. After leaving the company in 2006, van der Kleij was approached by the British Government to assist in the set-up of its Global Entrepreneur Programme
Global Entrepreneur Programme
The Global Entrepreneur Programme, sometimes referred to as GEP, is a venture capital programme, which aims to create global companies from start-ups, using the United Kingdom as a strategic headquarters and base for international expansion. The GEP was set up in 2003 by UK Trade & Investment....
—an initiative to help UK-based technology companies expand and globalise their business.
Tech City
In 2011 British Prime Minister David CameronDavid Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
announced a plan to make the United Kingdom a global leader in number of technology startups, with the creation of Tech City, designed to compete with Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
. Eric van der Kleij was appointed to take charge of the enterprise.