At 19,
Ben Way is already a millionaire, and one of a growing number of teenagers who
have {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}their fortune through the
Internet. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}makes Ben's story all the
more remarkable is that he is dyslexic, and was {{U}} {{U}} 3
{{/U}} {{/U}}by teachers at his junior school that he would never be able to
read or write {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}. "I wanted to prove
them {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}", says Ben, creator and
director of Waysearch, a net search engine which can be used to find goods in
online shopping malls. When he was eight, his local authorities
{{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}him with a PC to help with school
work. Although he was {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}to read the
manuals, he had a natural ability with the computer, and {{U}} {{U}}
8 {{/U}} {{/U}}by his father, he soon began {{U}} {{U}} 9
{{/U}} {{/U}}people $10 an hour for his knowledge and skills. At the age of 15
he {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}up his own computer consultancy,
Quad Computer, which he ran from his bedroom, and two years later he left school
to {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}all his time to
business. "By this time the company had grown and I needed to
take on a {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}of employees to help me",
says Ben. "That enabled me to start {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}}
{{/U}}business with bigger companies." It was his ability to consistently
{{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}difficult challenges that led him to
win the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the same year that he formed
Waysearch, and he has recently signed a deal {{U}} {{U}} 15
{{/U}} {{/U}}$25 million with a private investment company, which will finance
his search engine.