From the care system to the boardroom – entrepreneur tells GCSE students hard work matters more than grades.

As thousands of young people across England prepare to receive their GCSE results today, Manchester businessman Dez Derry is sharing his own experience of leaving school with low grades, entering the workplace at 16, and eventually going on to build a successful career in business.

Dez entered the care system as a child after suffering neglect and abuse, before being fostered and adopted along with his two brothers. They were among the first Asian sibling groups to be adopted by white parents in the 1980s.

Looking back on his school years, Dez says:

“I wasn’t really good at anything. I was disengaged, angry at times, my attention span was short, I probably had a chip on my shoulder because I felt I didn’t ‘fit’. My energy went into the wrong things and I spent time with the wrong people."

When his results came in — 2 Cs, 4 Ds, an E and an F — he admits he wasn’t focused on education:

“At the time I don’t think I really cared about my results. But I knew deep down that my adoptive parents, who had worked so hard to give us a chance, were disappointed.

“My dad was the picture of hard work. He worked to the bone in a concrete factory to provide for his family, including me and my brothers, at home.

“My adoptive parents supported me emotionally but there was no getting away from the fact that I had to stand on my own two feet after 16 and earn some money.”

After leaving school at 16 Dez spent years bouncing from job to job, including working on production lines, in warehouses, and a salt and vinegar factory then in door to door double glazing sales. It’s there he discovered he had people skills and an ability to build relationships.

He went on to found the Manchester digital agency mmadigital, which grew into Blume and was acquired in 2022. Today he is an investor in a number of businesses including Fletchers Group and LeBlanq, and serves as an ambassador for the charity Adoption Matters and also Foster Care Matters, encouraging more families to consider adoption and fostering, particularly of sibling groups and children from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Dez says his results did not define him — and wants today’s school-leavers to keep their options open:

“GCSEs aren’t everything. If they were I’d be living a very different life. At 16 or 17, they can be a starting point to work out where you want to go.

“I think I've gone on to make my mom and dad proud in other ways that don’t involve exams. Things have come good in the end.

“But you can’t bypass hard work. When I eventually found what I was good at, I had to graft for it. The most successful people I’ve met in business, sport and politics all have one thing in common — work ethic.”