The Bank of England's shock decision to pump billions of pounds into the banking system should help allay fears that nervousness among banks could lead to a prolonged rise in the interest rates that they charge each other. With the rate many firms pay on borrowings pegged to the London Interbank Offered Rate, any sustained rise in Libor would be seriously bad news.

While Governor Mervyn King's reputation was left in tatters, many will applaud the Bank for having the bottle to change its mind so publicly, not least mortgage lenders like Northern Rock that borrow heavily on money markets.

As the post-mortem into the crisis over Northern Rock gets under way, some will wonder whether salespeople who punted loans to Americans who could not afford them should ultimately take the blame. Others might finger the investment banking hotshots that morphed loans into supposedly low-risk packages with fancy names like collateralised debt obligations.

In the form of the internet, an altogether more benign-seeming invention has also generated seriously worrying unforeseen consequences with many using the anonymity it offers to help pull off all sorts of crimes.

In a classic case of turning an apparent problem into an opportunity, the serial entrepreneur who is the subject of this week's focus, Alex Hewitt, thinks he has come up with a solution which could ease worries across the world.

Having won backing from Scottish travel tycoon John Boyle's Hamilton Portfolio, he can put serious money into an attempt to go global.

Name: Alex Hewitt.

Age: 43.

What is your business called? NetIDme Limited.

Where is it based? Headquartered in Glasgow. Offices in the US, Canada and Australia.

What does it produce? Security and identity verification software.

Who does it sell to? Security- conscious internet users and companies.

What is its turnover? Pre-revenue with projected sales of £1.4m next year How many employees? 14.

When was it formed? In 2004.

Why did you take the plunge? This is my fifth business start-up in just over 10 years. The first was when I was a Projects Manager for the Motherwell Bridge engineering group, running a division that produced health and safety software.

I bought the division in a management buy-out and started my own business, Lexware International Limited in April 1996. (This was sold on to AEA Technology for a seven-figure sum in 2003). Two have been joint ventures, one of which was in Australia, and one is a local IT support company and the latest NetIDme.

I suppose what initially persuaded me to give up security of paid employment was the desire to control my own destiny and the thought that if I didn't try it I might live to regret it.

The opportunities, however, were all a result of coming across a need in a market. NetIDme is a prime example of this. Some years ago, I became more and more concerned about the safety and security of my own children using the internet, particularly instant messaging. Having 20 years of software business experience, I was sure that someone would have developed a system that parents could use to help reduce the risk to their children when chatting online and put my fears at ease. After a long search it was apparent that no one had - so I did.

What services does it offer? NetIDme provides four main security products and services.

The first is a service for kids (and adults) that enables them to identify who they are chatting to online. Personal details are securely verified offline in a similar method to a passport application. Once verified, users can swap their own virtual ID card (Net-ID) online. The Net-ID displays their true age, gender and general location, enabling other users to identify them.

The second is our parental control software which provides parents with the ability to control who their kids chat with on instant messenger, by, for example, applying age limits of who they can chat to.

The third is an age and identity verification service for online service providers that enables them to control the purchase of age-restricted goods online, and in the case of social networking sites to control access to age-sensitive material or to age-restrict areas such as teen-only chat rooms.

And the fourth is a secure internet-based instant messaging system for companies.

How did you raise the start-up funding? From the proceeds from the sale of my previous business, Lexware International, a health and safety software company, to a plc, with (£750,000) second-round funding from a venture capitalist, Hamilton Portfolio. To date we have invested over £2m in the venture and I have just over a 50% stake.

What was your biggest break? Probably when we secured a deal for our corporate instant messaging system, ChatSure, with a Fortune 100 company. The system is being trialled by four of the largest companies in the UK.

What was your worst moment? We received a huge amount of worldwide media coverage when we launched back in August 2006, and this resulted in hundreds of thousands of people a day visiting netidme.com. We simply weren't geared up for such a huge number of people all trying to register at once.

We ended up having to take the site down for 24 hours to cope with the unprecedented demand. As you can imagine, that was a bit of a nightmare.

What do you most enjoy about running the business? The pride, sense of achievement and providing staff with the opportunity to grow and excel in their careers. In some respects, starting and building a business is like raising kids.

In the early days, you have sleepless nights and there are never enough hours in the day. As it grows, you move into protective mode making sure that everyone who is now involved keeps the vision and does not do anything that puts the company at risk, like chasing after toddlers that keep wandering off.

And finally, as the business matures you have to be sure that you have put all the pieces (systems and people) in place that will ensure the business continues to grow and flourish and learn to let go.

A bit like setting rules and making sure, as best you can, that your teenage kids know the boundaries and you hope that will keep them safe when they "fly the nest".

What do you least enjoy? Excessive paperwork and all the other administrative stuff that goes hand-in-hand with running your own company.

What is your biggest bugbear? Producing financial forecasts and business plans. Unfortunately, these are essential to the success of any business and it is crucial that they are done, but they take so much time and effort.

What are your ambitions for the firm? To help grow the company to a medium-sized business within five years which, with its technology, will make the internet a safer place. By applying our child protection technology to the corporate marketplace, as we have with our ChatSure Instant Messaging product, we are set to grow the business and generate significant revenues.

What are your five top priorities? We want to roll out our identity verification technology as widely as possible across the internet and help raise parental awareness of the real dangers that kids face online.

We plan to do what we can to help educate and empower kids, so that they can protect themselves online.

We've begun applying our technology to help solve security problems in the business world where instant messaging is fast catching up with e-mail as a key business communication tool.

We will continue to develop new software tools that both companies and individuals can use to protect themselves.

What single thing would most help? A contract with another major corporation or social networking site, that would secure the business as a world leader in its field.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned? Always have a plan B and a plan C. In every aspect of running a business, I always have a plan B and a worst-case scenario (plan C), and ensure that if everything does not go according to plan (which is often the case) I always have a fallback position and no matter what happens (within reason anyway) I always have a way forward. I try very hard never to get in to the position where I am faced with "If this doesn't happen, I am stuffed".

What could the Westminster government and/or the Scottish government do that would most help? Legislate. The internet is a wonderful and fantastic resource for everybody, but it can be a dangerous place too.

There are protection measures in place to prevent kids from buying alcohol, 18-rated DVDs or gambling at every local store or supermarket. Yet it's simple to purchase age-restricted goods online with debit cards which are available to anyone over the age of 11.

Companies like NetIDme, are willing and able to work with the government to close these loopholes and we need guidelines and legislation that will compel companies to make the internet a safer place.

A "safe-for-kids" kitemark for online service providers would go a long way to helping parents make informed choices on what their kids can and should be accessing online.

How do you relax? Taking time out with my family, sailing and turning my mobile phone off - which I don't do often enough.