What does it take to open a new business in the ICT industry in a small island like Malta right in the middle of the international economic downturn, get your business going, secure international clients, and plan to expand your workforce within one year of starting operations?

All this would be hard enough for anyone to conceive and attempt, but if you are two 22-year old twin brothers, then the magnitude of the accomplishment gets even bigger.

i-Tech met Karl and Mark Cassar in their small office at the Kordin Business Incubation Centre from where they run their company named CasaSoft. While writing this article a few days later, Karl informed i-Tech that they had been told to vacate their premises. In the meantime they have located a new office in Blata l-Bajda and they plan to start operations there as from next January.

CasaSoft Ltd. was formally incorporated as a software development company in March 2010 and started operations from KBIC. However, both Karl and Mark have worked on a freelance basis for over seven years, having juggled between work and study while reading a university degree. They are both graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (Honours) in the computer science and artificial intelligence area.

While Karl takes care of the technical aspects of the company, Mark is the creative mind behind it. Karl recalls the challenges they had to face when they had to study and work at the same time, and then launch their commercial enterprise.

“Back when we started working on a freelance basis a long time ago, the major challenge was juggling school/university studies with work, having to constantly schedule work based on our university work load and exam periods. The other main challenge was in attracting clients who appreciated our high quality of work, and establishing a good reputation for our company. Not to mention that it was very difficult to find someone to invest in a start-up like ours.”

Somehow this reminds us of great youngsters who have shaped the history of computers. Bill Gates founded Microsoft after dropping out of university, the founders of Yahoo! started the first links page while in college and Facebook started as collection of students’ profiles at Harvard.

However both Karl and Mark insist they want to keep their feet firmly to the ground, especially in these challenging times.

“Our incubation period was abruptly ended and we have been forced to move on to a new office space outside the KBIC. Initially, we were told the incubation period was for a three-year period, but we were told to move out in just six months because our line of business does not deserve such aid,” explained a distraught Karl to i-Tech.

“Although we received help from Malta Enterprise and the KBIC administration was extremely helpful in guiding us in starting our own business and incorporating the company, we do not know exactly what kind of aid we have been provided during our stay in KBIC. The office is rented at a rate which, when compared to local prices for offices, is relatively expensive. We are now moving into a much larger, 200 sq. metre office space in Blata Bajda which should be able to accommodate us for our future expansion goals.”

Indeed the Cassar brothers hope to expand in the near future, hopefully increasing their team from the current three to five people, adding a Flash developer and web developer to the team.

The size of the team is deceiving. CasaSoft managed to secure international clients that include e-learning systems for a UK client and outsourcing clients in the UK, France and India. The international economic downturn in fact played into the hands of CasaSoft, as businesses around the world sought new ICT companies that could provide a good product but at more competitive prices. Internet was the only marketing channel used.

“One of the main points we have always focused on from the day we started working in this area was quality,” insists Mark.

“We strive to create projects that excel in quality in every aspect, both in functionality and eye-catching design. Through this commitment towards quality, we have managed to attract several foreign clients who found us through the internet and chose us over various other international companies. In order to keep such clients happy, we do our best to provide realistic deadlines and keep up to them. We go the extra mile to even provide them with an end-product that is of higher quality than they were expecting.”

Although this sounds relatively easy and straightforward, it was hard for two 22-year old brothers to start a business from scratch. But they had already showed their mettle by winning the local competition of the Imagine Cup in 2008. Sponsored by Microsoft, the competition challenges software developers around the world to come up with original ideas. The Cassar brothers invented a software-based car-pooling system.

Microsoft played an important role in the professional formation of the Cassar brothers as Microsoft supported them as university IT students by providing the MSDNA platform, which gives easy and free access to students to all Microsoft products. To this day CasaSoft continues to rely on Microsoft’s products, including Windows (both personal and server operating system), Office, and Visual Studio.

CasaSoft intends to enroll in BizSpark, a Microsoft initiative that helps startups by giving them free licensing to its products for three years.

“Our advice to other small companies is to keep up to date with the latest technology and strive to give the best you can,” concluded the Cassar brothers.

www.casasoft.com.mt