More than words

INTERVIEW/Olga Gashi, Word Perfect: ANYONE LOOKING for a young Irish company whose growth has been a perfect reflection of the socioeconomic development of Ireland over the past decade need look no further than Word Perfect Translations.

Set up by Olga Gashi (29), a Russian linguist who came to Ireland in 1996, it provides translation and interpretation services - and it has grown from a desk, phone and computer in 2001 into a company with a turnover of €2.7 million last year.

"We set up a few years before the countries of eastern Europe joined the EU in May 2004," recalls Gashi, "but even so there was a huge flow of immigrants and refugees already arriving here at the time, attracted by the country's prosperity.

"We faced immediate demand for an extraordinary range of languages - everything from Russian, Chinese, Arabic and Romanian to French for the African countries and a range of Indian dialects. You name it, we had it."

Gashi and her Albanian husband, Jimmy, had both worked as freelance interpreters and translators, so they knew the business from the inside - and saw its potential as well as its shortcomings.

"We knew there was a gap in the market, we were certain of that. But we also knew that a lot of important issues were not being addressed by the existing service-providers," she says.

"Often, for example, there were no proper service agreements in place and there was no proper training for the interpreters or translators. In fact, the whole area was very unstructured. And we knew that if we got involved all that would certainly have to change." Change it did, and rapidly too. Word Perfect now has four offices, in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Cavan, employing 16 administrative staff. It has a database of about 3,000 translators and interpreters, of whom some 400 are employees of the company.

"We are unique in this business in that we actually employ these staff," says Gashi. "We give them contracts of employment, we operate a code of practice, we have strict confidentiality agreements and we direct them in their work.

"Yes, there is a cost element to this, but on the other hand it substantially improves our quality control. And it also gives us an edge over our competitors, because every client knows that when they use one of our interpreters, we - Word Perfect Translations - are responsible for their performance."

Interpreting, according to Gashi, can be a sensitive business. "For example, if you're called in to tell someone that a loved one has been killed in a car crash, there are ways of doing that sensitively and then stepping back," she says.

"Similarly, interpreting in a legal setting means the interpreter must be familiar with the legal terminology, know how the Irish legal system works and know how to remain impartial at all times. And, of course, there's an in-house English test."

Word Perfect has brought such change to the sector that, in 2007, Gashi won the Ernst Young award for emerging ethnic entrepreneur of the year.

The firm's client base is a mix of public-sector agencies and corporate clients, from the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, Courts Service, Pensions Ombudsman, Garda Síochána and Fás to Quinn Direct Insurance and ESB International. It also works for about 90 per cent of the hospitals in Dublin, providing interpreters to clients within 30 minutes of call-out.

"All of our growth has been organic," says Gashi. "We've never sought financial backing, because we've never had to. We're in a service industry. We win more contracts, we employ more people."

ON THE RECORD

Name:Olga Gashi

Company:Word Perfect Translations; www.wordperfect.ie

Job:Founder and joint managing director.

Age:29

Background:MA in linguistics. Set up Word Perfect Translations in 2001 with her husband, Jimmy. Developed a certificate course in community interpreting with Dublin City College in 2005.

Won Ernst Young award in 2007 for emerging ethnic entrepreneur of the year. Image magazine young businesswoman of the year 2007.

Inspired by:Ann Heraty, chief executive of CPL Resources and winner of the Ernst Young entrepreneur of the year award in 2006. "I met Ann through the competition and have been a big admirer of her business model and of her inner strength in developing it."

Challenges:The number of immigrants leaving Ireland as a result of the economic downturn is changing the nature of the Word Perfect business.

"The interpreting side of the business has gone down, but the translating side continues to increase, so it has balanced - luckily for us."