Duane’s interest in IT started at 14. He was living in a children’s home in Newham, East London and was suspended from school. The staff at the children’s home were left to teach him. As they weren’t teachers they didn’t know what to do so they left him with a ZX Spectrum and a book on how to program it. After spending his late teens contracting for organisations such as the CBI, the BBC, Proctor & Gamble, Eidos and Reuters he found himself at aged 19 between contracts and out of cash. He made some very bad decisions that would change his life forever. His peers from his upbringing in care were involved in criminal activities and he got involved in a bid to earn some fast money. This ultimately resulted in him being arrested and spending time in prison in the US and the UK. In the 2.5 years he served in prison in the UK he spent his time teaching basic IT skills to other inmates and received a Millennium Volunteers Award from the then home secretary, David Blunkett. He quickly stumbled on the market opportunity for an easy to use accounting application. On his release he received support from the [Prince’s Trust](http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/) to start a web development business. He quickly stumbled on the market opportunity for an easy-to-use accounting application as explained in more detail on our [About Us](http://www.kashflow.com/about/people/about/ "About The Company") page. Duane was so impressed by the support he received from the Prince’s Trust whilst establishing his first business that, with the approval of the Trust, he set up [trustNetworkers](http://www.trustnetworkers.com/)**.** trustNetworkers was a non-profit organisation that arranged networking events for Prince’s Trust startups with the help of the London Youth Support Trust and sponsorship from DLA Piper and Workspace Group. In February 2006, KashFlow Software Limited was formed when [The Rt Hon. Lord Young of Graffham](http://www.kashflow.com/about/people/about/people/lord-young) invested in the KashFlow product. Duane has since gone on to meet leading figures from the business and IT world, including receiving [praise from Bill Gates](http://www.kashflow.com/about/people/press/billionaire-gates-praises-KashFlow-founder/ "Billionaire Gates Praises KashFlow Founder") in 2008. As well as the [numerous awards](http://www.kashflow.com/about/people/about/awards) the company has won, Duane has also won numerous awards himself including Young Entrepreneur of the Year and was named as one of The Most Impressive Businessmen aged 30 or Under by Esquire Magazine in 2008. _Follow [Duane Jackson on Twitter](http://twitter.com/DuaneJackson)_ or check out Duane’s profile on [Google Plus](https://profiles.google.com/104808275348139955836/about).
