A FAMILY firm that began life 12 years ago after literally being formed on the hoof after a shock redundancy is the first-ever monthly winner of the Daily Echo/Jurys Inn Southampton Doing the Business Awards.

Taylor Made Computer Solutions, which has grown from a husband-and-wife team to a 66-strong enterprise with 250 clients and a £5m-plus annual turnover, is an inspirational story of how to seize the initiative when opportunity knocks.

Every month the Daily Echo's business writers, Ron Wain and Gareth Lewis, will choose what they consider to be small to medium-sized firms with special attributes that set them apart from rivals.

Taylor Made, based at Cams Hall Estate in Fareham, has carved out an enviable reputation for being an outsourced IT department for clients.

For example, a number of legal firms in Southampton use Taylor Made to deal with their IT requirements, which include monitoring staff computer usage.

Other clients include the Rose Bowl, home to Hampshire Cricket, and the business arm of the Beaulieu estate in the New Forest.

Taylor Made also provides technical and resource support to a company's own IT staff.

The firm's beginnings are somewhat astonishing, bearing in mind the following key events all took place within a head-spinning 24 hours.

Twelve years ago Nigel Taylor, the founder, had just been given his marching orders from a small IT supplier after a promising deal failed to materialise.

But a chance call minutes later from a customer requiring a laptop proved to be the moment he turned entrepreneur.

After vowing to deliver, Nigel located a £2,000 one, handed it to the client and netted a £1,000 profit.

The delighted client, on hearing he was Nigel's first customer, paid up within the hour to provide all-important cashflow.

But the invoice required VAT, so Nigel had to register as a business.

After a frantic brain-storming session with his wife Alison, the name Taylor Made Computer Solutions was born.

Minutes later an account with the bank was opened and Nigel, from Warsash, was in business.

He even put up a symbolic shelf in the bedroom of their house, which had been turned into an impromptu office.

"You've got to have shelves if you've got a business," joked Nigel, 41.

"Alison did put her foot down though when the shelves stretched around the walls down to our bed."

Taylor Made also has arguably the best retention rate of any firm in the south.

In those dozen years only two people have gone one of whom returned.

Nigel said: "Our objective has been simple to become the Solent region's IT company of choice for the business market, and it is this philosophy that runs throughout all the services that Taylor Made provide."

The firm, with its famous fleet of 20 branded cars, which is being increased to 40 next month, also has a training division, Taylor Made Training Solutions, which provides training programmes targeted at IT professionals and IT end users.

Taylor Made, which banks with NatWest and uses Southampton based BDO Stoy Hayward as its auditor, also offers management skills training for general business use.

Nigel said of being the first monthly winner of the Doing the Business Awards: "It's a real honour, and we are surprised to win it."

Joining Nigel and financial director Alison at the Jurys Inn to collect the glassware was 20-year-old Chris Robinson, a service engineer, who said: "Taylor Made is an excellent place to work for they really look after you well."

Daily Echo business editor Ron Wain said: "Taylor Made is a major player these days in the Solent region's business community, and the award is well deserved.

"They appear to genuinely care for their staff, and there's a keen sense of collective pride in what the company does.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the big boys start eyeing up this efficiently-run venture. One to watch, for sure."