An IT firm founded three years ago has carved out a niche for itself by concentrating on smaller businesses.

Mobile Tech, run by Robbie Swainson and Kevin DaCosta, began as a home business. It now has an office and store in Pembroke.

“We’ve been friends for a very long time. We have gone from playing marbles together to running a business together,” said Mr DaCosta, 34, in reference to his colleague Mr Swainson.

“We come from the same background and we know we have to work, work, work.

“We started in the living room, then we moved to the back of the garage. Now we’ve expanded.

“We needed additional space, so we took this space on Euclid Avenue in March last year.”

The company started as a two-man IT consulting company, concentrating on maintenance agreements and upgrades It now employs five people at its store.

But Mr DaCosta, who previously worked for information technology firm ACT, said: “We were taking things back and people were coming in for repairs and we had spare parts stored. We were tripping ourselves up with all the work we had.”

The new showroom, which is next to Signworx, has a range of computers, laptops and accessories and provides IT services.

Mr DaCosta said: “We also have an online service where you can purchase everything in the store online.

“We like to keep our stuff up to date and we’re trying to have a site that’s always up to date. If it’s on the site, it will be in stock.”

Mr Swainson, 38, said the two friends decided to branch out on their own after the economy took a downturn and his employer, Computer City in Hamilton, closed down in 2012.

“It’s been strictly word of mouth. We didn’t do much advertising. It’s people who have known us in the industry for the past 20 years,” he said.

Mr DaCosta added: “We’re aiming to be a one-stop shop for everything. People don’t need to go to multiple places to buy things and get them set up.

“We decided to target small businesses, mom and pop stores — that’s how we have grown to where we are.

“Now we’re getting some knocks on the door from the financial world. They are small shops and the companies they’re getting IT services from are very expensive.”

Explaining the difference with Mobile Tech, he said: “It’s good because they call just one person. We have a great relationship with a few internet service providers in Bermuda and great relationships Stateside for procurement of equipment.”

The firm is certified silver by software giants Microsoft in small and mid-market cloud solutions.

Mr DaCosta said: “We do a lot of consulting and cloud-based products and systems management.

“We offer services where people don’t need an IT person and people don’t need a server on site.”