TWO former employees of Gamestation who set up on their own are looking to expand their business.

Adam Cooperman and Steve Wilde, created SmartSize IT in 2010.

Steve, who was head of infrastructure at Gamestation had originally hired Adam at Gamestation as a 16-year-old trainee.

The pair now hope to take on apprentices to increase their new business.

Adam Cooperman, now 24, said the business, which has mainly large clients, is hoping to increase its presence in the small and medum-sized business market in York.

Having originally started on a consultancy basis, working from home, they are now looking for offices in York, and hoping to take on extra staff.

He said: “For the past six months now we have been pushing our support services and trying to get our message out to local companies. In 2013, we’re having a big push to get our name out there.”

The business currently employs three people and hopes to take on two further support staff in the next few months.

Adam said: “I started on £14,000 as a college drop-out. Since then I have gained enough professional qualifications for it not to be an issue and have worked for some major companies, as a consultant for a power plant in the Cayman islands, their Ministry of Education and multimillion-pound businesses.

“We really believe in developing people and getting people to have the experience we have had in IT.

“We want to get them to the same level as quickly as we can,” he said.

“Staff retention is everything. If you lose a member of staff, you lose that relationship with the client.”