Word Perfect Translations was formed in 2001 by Olga and Jimmy Gashi. The firm offers translation and interpretation service and is the largest supplier in its sector in Ireland.

The main office is in Dublin supported by regional managers based in Cavan, Cork and Galway. As the needs of multicultural Irish society continue to expand, Word Perfect Translations has grown to provide a service for which there was little demand for previously.

The company employs nine full-time staff and has 2,500 interpreters and translators registered. Olga won the award for Emerging Ethnic Entrepreneur of Year in February 2007.

Products/Services:

Along with translation and interpretation services, which includes general, technical, legal and documentary translations for both public and private clients, Word Perfect Translations has also developed a special qualification for community interpreting with Dublin College.

This course, which covers legal, medical, ethnic and technology modules, is designed to prepare translators for various situations and cultural backgrounds they are likely to encounter. The company is able to provide an interpreter to clients within 30 minutes to any location within Ireland, as well as offering a 24 hour on-call service.

Customers:

Word Perfect provides linguistic assistance to a large client base, many of whom are in the public sector.

These include: the court services, hospitals, An Garda Síochána, Fás, the Refugee Appeals tribunal and probation services, refugee legal services, the Pensions Ombudsman, Quinn Direct insurance and ESB International.

Q:What vision prompted you to start up in business?

A:Having worked for a number of other language service providers, we felt there was an opening in the market in an area which was unstructured and barely established.

Q:What is your biggest business achievement?

A:Every time we win a new client I consider that an achievement but setting up Word Perfect is the biggest business achievement. We started small, now we have 2,500 translators and still continuously recruit freelance interpreters.

Q:What's the best business advice you ever received?

A:In Russia we have a saying: "you cannot pull a fish out of a pond without labour." In other words, you achieve nothing without hard work; if you want something, you should immediately start working for it.