PAUL Richards is aware of his good fortune in early life – and is determined others get the same opportunity.

Mr Richards grew up in the Faifley area of Clydebank and won an assisted place at the prestigious Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow.

He prospered at the fee-paying school and went on to gain a masters at the University of Aberdeen, which led him to a place on the British Gas graduate programme.

After leaving British Gas Mr Richards went into management consultancy, working for Capgemini and Vision Consulting – but his ambition was to start up his own business.

And, when he did, he resolved that he was going to make sure people in his home town were going to benefit.

“It was always apparent to me that my friends from home and my friends from school were much the same – but my friends from school had more opportunities,” said Mr Richards, who launched Clydebank-based Together Energy in 2016.

“It always made sense to me that, when I set my own business up, I would come home and make sure I created some of the extra-curricular opportunities and horizons for people from home that haven’t been as fortunate as I have been.”

Together Energy, which is based in Clydebank Business Park, has acquired around 60,000 customers in the two years it has been operating.

Mr Richards developed the model while working as a consultant on a project for a Polish company looking to move into the UK market.

The plan did not get off the ground but Mr Richards saw merit in the idea. “So I took the business case and built the company up myself.”

A key part of his strategy is to keep operating costs as low as possible. “Our cost to come into the market has been lower than anybody’s in the UK,” said Mr Richards, who owns 74.6 per cent of the equity in the business.

“There’s 60-odd active suppliers in the market. Because we’ve got the experience and good grounding in the industry, we’ve managed to build up the systems and the processes we need, rather than having to spend lots of money on consultants and third parties.”

Alongside the tight focus on costs is a deep social commitment. The company now employs more than 100 staff – most of them from what Mr Richards said are the “bottom 10 per cent of postcodes” on the basis of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Around 40 of them have been taken on through a partnership with Street League, a charity tackling youth poverty through sport.

“These are kids that would never think of university – or any real qualification – being open to them,” said Mr Richards, who offers a gateway to higher education in partnership with Strathclyde University. “They’re even earning a £17,000 basic [salary].

“But the flip-side of that is you don’t need to teach them empathy. That is a hell of a lot harder to train than coming to work on time and making sure you iron your shirt. They’ve got it instinctively. Most of them have grown up in poverty.”

Three staff are now at Strathclyde, with another four on the access course, but Mr Richards acknowledges the strategy is not without difficulty. While many of the young staff possess raw potential, their lifestyles can be chaotic.

Many had previously been told not to expect much of a future.

Mr Richards said: “It’s not always easy, but there are things that should be difficult but become easy. Getting the right culture for your business when you are recruiting from there is easy. People realise how well you look after them and become loyal to the company. Loyal staff means loyal customers. “They also care about the brand, so when customers are phoning and complaining they really care about it.

"You have staff who can be high potential one day, and pretty much AWOL the next.

“Taking a three, four-year view on the growth of the individual [is important]. It’s hard, but I’d rather be dealing with that than a homogenous culture.

“Where things are difficult, the fixes are much easier than where they are difficult for a massive corporate.”

As part of Mr Richards’ nurturing philosophy, staff are offered a range of perks to boost their prospects.

Declaring that the school system has “failed” many of his recruits, he has employed a full-time teacher – who taught him at Kelvinside – to help with literacy and numeracy.

Also, an addiction counsellor is on hand, and there is a gym on the premises, supported by personal trainers. Free health insurance is provided to all staff through Vitality.

Mr Richards believes the investment can help people make telling adjustments to lives which bring benefit in the long term. Besides, the company also gains from having healthy, skilled staff.

“When you start to offer things like university and private health care – these things start to change how the guys view money, how they spend their disposable income. They start to take a longer-term view.”

He added: “It’s not about changing them, it’s just about changing some behaviour, so they are a little bit more consistent in the workplace, and they have as full a life as possible.”