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Business centre fosters foreign accent

A business centres in the shadow of Gateshead’s International Business Centre is quickly developing an international flavour of its own.

Northern Universal Languages, formed by Mark Dennison and Aqueel Ahmed in February this year, is one of a number of new companies at the Greenesfield centre with a focus on foreign languages.

The company, which has more than 500 translators on its books, offers both interpreting and translation services in around 90 different languages, says Mark. And this goes up to 120 if you include all the different regional dialects.

Mark said: “Typically, we will offer a face-to-face interpreting service, often for solicitors and sometimes for companies who are meeting overseas clients.

“We also translate website content, sales literature for trade fairs and we have even done complicated machine manuals. We can also provide translations to the general public - marriage or birth certificates, for example.”

As European trade barriers continue to fall and more and more workers arrive in the UK from around the globe, demand for translation services continues to grow.

Mark said: “It’s definitely a growing sector. Great Britain is probably the most sought-after country to live and work in, and the number of students who want to come here to learn is growing all the time.

Aqueel agrees: “The world is a much smaller place now. Everything is increasingly globalised, so translation services are an important tool for companies who are looking to do business right across the world.”

The two entrepreneurs, who have a “virtual office” at the Greenesfield Business Centre, hope to start their own language school where they can teach English as a foreign language. In the meantime, they are broadening their customer base by forging a partnership with a major local printer, enabling them to offer their own clients a one-stop translation-and-print service.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .