WHEN the 18-year-old Rob Cotton was set upon by a gang of louts, one evening in Southport, it was not just his ankle that was broken - his dreams were shattered in the attack too.

An excellent young cricketer on the verge of signing for Lancashire, Rob's game plan was to get the A-level grades he needed to win a place at Manchester University's Dental School.

Living in the city, he planned to combine his studies with his cricket.

That fateful evening sparked a whole chain of consequences, which led Rob, now 39, to an accountancy degree, a high-flying career as a management consultant, finance director and, now, successful entrepreneur.

He has just floated his Manchester-based IT assurance company, NCC Group, on the Alternative Investment Market, raising '38m.

As a 20 per cent shareholder in NCC, following a '30m management buyout in 2003, the flotation has made Rob a millionaire.

Tall, tanned and lean - doubtless the result of running between four and six miles a day in the gym - he has no intention of cashing in his chips and taking a back seat.

Flotation

"This is just the beginning," he says enthusiastically. "The flotation is not the end, no one has taken a penny out of the business because the job is not done."

Looking back at his journey to NCC, he says: "I was never really interested in technology. At school I was always going to be a dentist or a cricketer.

"My life could have been very different. I played a lot of sport at school, but I was a pretty decent cricketer. At the age of 18 I was playing pretty much first-class cricket and would have joined Lancashire.

"Then one evening I was mugged in Southport. There were three of us and about eight of them and we put up a fight. During the attack I was knocked over and my ankle was over the kerb and someone jumped up and down on it.

"It was not a pleasant experience, it caused me excruciating pain for a few months, and it also meant that I screwed up my A-levels."

He struggled to overcome his injury in the hope of making a county trial, at the expense of his schoolwork.

"I did not get the grades I needed to get in to study dentistry, I thought about taking another year and re-sitting, but I couldn't face seeing all my friends going away and being the only one left."

A ring-round of various institutions saw Rob embarking on a degree in accounting and finance at Liverpool Polytechnic.

ALTHOUGH devastated at being unable to follow his sporting and academic dreams, Rob decided to make the best of his new direction.

Unlike many undergraduates who spend three years in a drunken haze of late nights and non-existent mornings, Rob opted to pay his way.

He relates: "My family ran a care home and I had always been working. When I was a student I would sometimes have three jobs on the go at the same time, I was intent on buying myself a better car.

"I always had a big work ethic, I did not want to spend all hours drinking and getting a huge overdraft.

"I would work in a rest home at night, which is the most rewarding thing I have ever done, I also packed veg, was a bingo caller and a nightclub barman."

Such was Rob's success at paying his own way he caused some consternation on day one at the accountancy firm where he was beginning his training, by rolling up in a better car than some of the partners.

He spent his 20s, in his own words, "trying to make myself more marketable". After his training he joined a business consulting firm, which taught him a lot.

He says: "I learned that in business the simple application of common sense is the most important thing, some people make business hard, it doesn't need to be." There then followed a spell as finance director with car dealership group Evans Halshaw, where he earned his entrepreneurial spurs in the truest sense.

"I passionately believe the finance part of a business has to understand the business, walk the shop floor and be a key part of it.

"You can never ask someone to do something you would not be prepared to do yourself."

Challenge

To this end Rob rose to the challenge set by a member of the sales team to "do better yourself", by going on the shop floor one Saturday.

For the record, he comprehensively outsold all the salesmen, which he modestly claims was "lucky".

His education continued at the hands of another celebrated and mega-rich entrepreneur, John Caudwell, the man behind the phones4u retail chain.

There he learned the benefits of staff exchanging views and speedy decision- making.

"It was a very positive experience, if you perform well for John he will look after you, he's very bright and very forthright. We have got a robust environment like that here. My door's always open."

He helped the turnover at 20-20-Logistics, the wholesaling and distribution arm of the Caudwell Group, grow from '80m to '300m, before leaving to join NCC.

It is at the Manchester company where the married father-of-one has found his true calling. He has revolutionised the business, driving sales, raising the profile and leading it through a management buyout and flotation on AIM.

NCC now supplies its software assurance services to 89 of the country's top 100 listed companies.

Don't bet against the century being reached.