CCTV business started by Andy after battling back from coronavirus
‘I thought I was going to die’
A BATTLE with coronavirus saw Andy Kircher lose his job and nearly lose his life.
But this has not stopped the determined entrepreneur, who took the terrible situation and turned it into a positive by starting his own business.
Andy, 50, from Hilsea, contracted coronavirus last October.
Initially he had a headache which lasted three days, but then his temperature began to change erratically, and he was struck down with flu-like symptoms.
He said: ‘It was horrendous. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. For 10 days I was in bed. I lost at least a stone in weight.
‘For 14 days I thought I was going to die. When I went back to work, I was no longer needed. That was the thanks I got so it was time for me to leave and find something else.’
Andy, who is married and has four step-children and four grandchildren, was thankful that his wife didn’t catch it.
After recovering, he began to think about how he could use his skills to start his own business - and he launched Safevue CCTV.
Andy, who had previously worked fitting dashcams and trackers on cars, was asked by a friend to fit a security system and the idea snowballed from there.
He said: ‘My friend asked me to look into a CCTV system for his business in North End. He had had quotes for £2,000, £3,000, even £5,000 – I managed to source and fit him an equivalent system for just £1,000.
‘He recommended me to another shop, and then to another, and it’s just grown from there. It started off with me giving a bit of advice to a friend and it’s grown into a full-time business.’
Andy said he had seen a massive surge in interest for CCTV since the pandemic has left many businesses unmanned.
He also said a rise in desperation, has led to a rise in crimes such as house burglaries, and now technology is affordable and reliable.
He said: ‘Crime is massive at the moment.
‘I hope that with my company we can make the community safer.'