Meet the duo who moved to Northampton with little to their name and now run a business rooted in resilience
Meet the husband and wife duo who moved to the UK and had just £1 to their name at one point in their journey, and now run a well-established business in Northampton.
Ashish and Iram Kumar moved to the UK under the Highly Skilled Migration Programme in 2007 with their 11-month-old baby, arriving with no contacts or UK credit history.
Eventually, after settling in the town, the couple went on to found software development company Web Alliance in 2012 from their home.
More than a decade on, Web Alliance now operates from offices in Moulton Park, supports hundreds of small businesses across the UK, and employs a unique hybrid team.
This consists of nine Northampton-based employees and a 25-strong in-house development team based in rural India, many working from their home villages to stay close to their families.
Director and co-founder Ashish was born in a small town in the north of India and as a shy and introverted child, his curiosity behind a screen led him to university – where he studied computing and started his journey into the programming and software industry.
After completing his master’s degree in 1999, Ashish worked his way through the ranks and his employer in India gave him the opportunity to become a software developer at their Tanzanian office.
That is where he met his now-wife. They got married in Tanzania and their first son was born there in 2006.
The pair felt a pull towards something bigger and in 2007, Ashish applied to the UK’s Highly Skilled Migration Programme. He was granted a two-year work visa and if he could secure a job paying over a certain amount within the second year, his visa would be extended for three years and they could build a life in the UK.
They resigned from their jobs, sold everything they could not carry with them and boarded a plane to Birmingham with their 11-month-old son.
It proved a challenge to secure accommodation and more than half of their savings disappeared in one day when they had to pay six months rent up front and a deposit.
“We bought the cheapest furniture we could find because we didn’t know charity shops existed,” said Ashish. “At one point, waiting for a salary cheque to clear, we were down to our last £1.”
In a miraculous turnaround, Ashish and Iram reached the salary needed to remain in the country and “that moment changed everything”.
The pair welcomed their second son in 2009 and once both children were settled in school, they knew it was time to build something of their own.
Ashish and Iram knew that SMEs needed affordable and flexible software that is built around their processes, and began developing bespoke workflow automation systems.
Within a year they had 26 clients and Ashish joined Iram full-time in 2013. For a decade, they ran the business from the two-storey extension of their home before purchasing their office in Moulton Park Industrial Estate.
13 years on from the launch, the business has supported hundreds of SMEs and built a company rooted in resilience and purpose.
“Web Alliance exists because two programmers once believed that with enough hard work and sacrifice, they could build a better future and I’m proud to say we did,” Ashish concluded.