When David Andrews left school at the age of 16 to join a local accounting firm, little did he know what future had in store for him. He worked for about five years and then decided that he needed a formal degree to further his career. He went on to do an MA in economics and financial administration at Sheffield University.

Andrews worked as a partner at Anderson Consulting (Accenture) for 14 years and later as a board member for five years before he decided to set up something of his own. His rich global experience of having worked in so many countries such as Africa, UK, US, France, Germany and Australia helped him in his entrepreneurial endeavour.

During his long spell in the IT and outsourcing industry, Andrews realized the importance of back-office work and thought it would be a profitable venture.

Thus was born Xchanging. From the small start-up that it was when it was founded in 1999, Xchanging has evolved to a fast-growing BPO firm employing more than 8,000 people.

The early customers included BAE Systems, Deutsche Bank, Lloyd's and United Biscuits. Today the company manages complex processes and has numerous customers spread across 42 countries.

Xchanging made a foray into India in 2003 and has been expanding ever since. It has three of its top ten global processing hubs in Bangalore, Gurgaon and Chennai. In 2008, Xchanging acquired Cambridge Solutions, listed on the Indian stock exchanges. With this, Andrews became the first British CEO of an Indian-listed company, according to The Times newspaper.

Andrews has been lauded for his entrepreneurial achievements and ability to successfully establish its operations in tier 3 Indian cities. Xchanging recently signed an agreement with the government of Karnataka to lease and jointly develop six acres of land in an SEZ being developed in Shimoga — a tier 3 town. British Prime Minister David Cameron called this project “the very best of UK and Indian ingenuity and creativity”.

He was also named the Entrepreneur of the Year at the Economic Times BPO Awards 201o held recently. T K Arun, editor of The Economic Times and one of the jury members for the BPO Awards 2010, said: “The entrepreneurial dynamism shown in setting up shop in a small town, minimising the carbon footprint and still growing rapidly is definitely impressive.”

Xchanging has also been recognised as one of the top outsourcing providers in the 2010 Global Services 100 provider list. The GS100 survey recognises service provider excellence and maturity to serve the global market. It recognised Xchanging in the four categories of Top BPO, HRO, Procurement Outsourcing and Top Industry-specific BPO vendors.