Entrepreneurs who founded Peterborough online shopping channels Hochanda and Ideal World to retire

The entrepreneurs who founded Peterborough’s online shopping channels Ideal World and Hochanda are to retire.

Paul Wright and Valerie Kaye created Ideal World in the 1980s when it was a mail order catalogue business which first appeared on TV screens as Ideal World in April 2000.

At its height, the company, in Newark Road, employed 615 staff and was listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) raising £7.5 million.

The couple sold the business in 2011 but six years later went on to found a rival online shopping channel Hochanda Global based in Oundle.

In a message to the Peterborough Telegraph, Mr Wright stated: “Valerie Wright and I, the founders of Ideal Shopping and in 2017 Hochanda, the dedicated second channel, have both found we are confronted with different personal health issues and given our respective ages, felt it was time to retire.

"We have put our legacy into other hands to take the business into the future.”

The couple have sold their interest in Hochanda, which includes the Create and Craft channel, to a new investment team.

A new managing director, Paul Goodrum, has been appointed.

In a statement a Hochanda Global spokesperson said: “We can only thank Paul and Val for their dedication and vision with their shopping TV and crafting industry as without them, there would be no Create and Craft.

"We wish them well for their retirement. They certainly earned it.”

It adds: “Create and Craft will be going nowhere and we look forward to you joining us on the dawn of our exciting new future.”