Matthew
Buzza

A simple life, a deep skill set.

I started in old-school IT: hardware, networks, Unix, the kind of field engineering that teaches patience and realism fast. Sixty thousand miles a year, soldering serial leads in the back of vans. Later came NetWare, business software, and early B2B eCommerce integrations for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers.

After my father died and my mother became unwell, I stepped back from full-time IT for a period. Once she recovered, a six-month posting as a windsurfing instructor in Egypt became something larger than expected. It meant managing students at every level, building structured progression under pressure, and learning to read people quickly enough to deliver consistent results when conditions shifted.

I went back in 2006 to run the operation properly. Equipment imports, customs, local licensing, tour operator contracts and targets set from Germany, repair workshops, staff scheduling, accounts, bookings: the full operational load of a foreign business in a developing country, behind a front designed to feel effortless. If guests felt you were on holiday alongside them, everything was working. The centre built the highest lesson turnover in the German owner's group. Clients returned. Some three times a year. The standards and environment the team built together gave good people a foundation to grow into. One of the instructors earned his VDWS qualification through his own effort and commitment. After the revolution, he and his brother took over the centre. They earned that in practice through the work they put in.

Mauritius followed. I arrived to run a water sports operation for the same German ownership group, with nine staff and one centre. I left with forty-two staff, four service points, and a restaurant I had never planned to build. By the time I left, the operation had grown substantially. None of that happened on its own. Owners trusted me with real responsibility, and the team did the hard work that turned growth into reality.

I've always tended to work on systems and operations as if they were my own responsibility, because that's usually how they affect the business. That builds strong long-term relationships, but it also means being honest early when something needs fixing.

If something does not go to plan, the priority is to stabilise the outcome first. In account-managed B2B businesses, continuity matters. The instinct is to sit with the owner or project lead, understand what happened, and agree what needs fixing, not to apportion blame.

The Portal People grew out of the same way I've always worked with systems and teams.

Several of the businesses I worked with overseas later trusted us again when it came time to build their platforms properly.

The Portal People began as a spin-out opportunity supported by the Baker family at Chalvington. Mel Baker, who first gave me my start in IT as a work-experience placement in 1986, has been part of the story from the beginning.