Overcome language barrier to get export success

Larry Gould, the chief executive of Leeds-based thebigword, believes the biggest barrier to companies exporting is language.

“The opportunity for Yorkshire companies is amazing,” he said. “Exports in the region have grown to more than £17.5bn. There’s no reason why cities in Yorkshire can’t become the San Francisco of the UK (the home of Silicon Valley). But companies have not got to be scared to export.”

He added: “The biggest fear is language.”

Mr Gould said companies should be sitting down and thinking about their strategy for selling overseas. “The market’s there and the prosperity of this country is founded on export,” he added.

“It’s about looking at your product or service and deciding which country would like what you make, or do, or provide, and then doing some online research.”

Thebigword, which sponsors the Exporter of the Year category at the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards, is seeing a revival in the economy through its clients. It is currently receiving 900 new enquiries a month. “That’s the highest it’s been in a long time,” said Mr Gould.

“We are seeing optimism driving the revival,” he added.

Mr Gould said the awards judges were looking for companies which have thought about their market and have done some research about what their competition is and what the opportunities are.

He added: “The legalities of selling in a lot of places have disappeared so there is no issue any more. There are some industries that are exceptions but there are very few.”

Thebigword, which employs 400 staff in Leeds, has 13 offices in 11 countries and employs around 7,000 linguists a year, including 350 a month in Yorkshire. It translates 500 different language pairs.

Its linguists work from 73 different countries.

Its newest office is in Brazil where it opened a base for a global customer. It is also looking to expand further in North America, China, Japan and Europe.

The company recently won a contract with the Ministry of Defence, worth between £6m and £18m, to deliver interpreters for its training of the Libyan military.

Under the contract, thebigword will provide up to 55 interpreters a day who will work alongside the UK and Libyan troops.

The company, which has a turnover of £46m, is also investing in developing its translation management system to translate words between six and eight times faster than it can at the moment.

“The appetite for translations is growing and speed is becoming such an important thing. We will be unbeatable when it comes to speed,” said Mr Gould.

In the last 12 months it has invested £5m compared to the £1.5m it usually invests in a year.

Mr Gould’s ultimate ambition is to make thebigword, the world’s leading translation company and said he will look to expand through acquisition from next year.

Since their launch in 2006, the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards have attracted high profile guests from the world of British politics.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is the headline speaker at this year’s awards. The former leader of the Conservative Party is leading the Government’s efforts to reform the welfare state and get more people back into work.

Previous speakers have included David Cameron, when he was Leader of the Opposition, and Chancellor George Osborne.