BLACKBURN'S economy is reported to be booming with an estimated 3,000 new jobs expected to be created in the borough over the next five years.

Traditional industries are being replaced by a new generation of high technology companies which are taking on international competition - and winning.

Business Editor Andrew Calvert met Peter Kennedy, one of the new breed of e-entrepreneurs, to find out how Blackburn is succeeding on the world stage.

Peter calls himself a professional salesman. Not for him the tag of 'consultant' or 'account manager' - he is proud to be a salesman. And selling is what he does best.

Along with his partner, Martin Evans, Peter has built up Blackburn software company Formfill into a global business converting expensive paper-based processes to digital ones.

In the space of just four years, the company is achieving profits of £3.5 million on sales of £6 million. It expects to double its workforce of 32 this year and has set itself a five-year target of growing turnover to £200 million.

Formfill's first international office opened in Melbourne earlier this year and Peter is looking at opportunities in Toronto to tackle the North American market.

So how does a company with an old mill town address, run by a man with a Rossendale accent that needs subtitles south of Watford, succeed among the sophisticates of Silicon Valley?

"They find us refreshing," said Peter. "They think our strange accents are rather quaint and we have established a good reputation within the industry for delivering pragmatic solutions.

"To be honest, when I am talking to people, say in the City, my accent goes worse, not better.

"Customers are fed up with software companies having projects lasting months and sometimes years. There is a growing acceptance among large firms that small companies can find solutions." Formfill was attracted to Blackburn by the town's Technology Management Centre. Peter and Martin had been working for a computer company that sold both hardware and software.

"We decided that software was the route to go down and took one small room at the centre," said Peter. "In the first year, we out-grew that and took three rooms. Then we were told to stand on our own two feet."

The company is now in custom-designed premises at Blackburn's Phoenix Park, but is already looking at new properties in which to expand.

The partners are pleased with their choice of location and have had few problems recruiting the quality staff needed for their high tech business.

"We employ intelligent people and let them get on with it," explained Peter. "It is an exciting place to work. Our people enjoy the intellectual challenge of solving problems and there is a mutual respect for each other's skills."

Peter sees no reason to move from Blackburn as he plans the next stage of the company's development into local authority markets.

Formfill has been given the contract to run a pilot project for Manchester City Council to streamline the payment of invoices. Its Australian operation has won its first major contract to supply software to New South Wales Gas and North America now beckons for Peter and his team.

Not bad for someone who never quite qualified as an electrician when he left school.