Best Startup
We are a translation and languages solutions company, founded in London in 1992. As of 2015, we can provide technical translation between more than 150 languages into over 400 language combinations. At its core, Aktuel Translations remains a classic translation agency, with old-fashioned standards of fair pricing and traditional standards of rigour.
Tell us about yourself?
Robin Bennett is an author and entrepreneur. He has also written books on the swashbuckling world of business.
Aged 21 he was all set to become a cavalry officer and aged 21 and a half, he found himself working as an assistant grave digger in South London wondering where it had all gone wrong.
He went on and founded The Bennett Group, aged 23, and since then has gone on to start and run over a dozen successful businesses in a variety of areas from dog-sitting to cigars, translation to home tuition. The list is a bit exhausting. In 2003 Robin was recognised in Who’s Who as one of the UK’s most successful business initiators.
Translation forms the core of The Bennett Group, given Robin’s university background in Modern Languages.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
When innovating, allow for things to take twice as long as you think and cost twice as much and you’ll be about right.
What problem does your business solve?
Effective communication world wide – it’s at the core of any international concern.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
The realisation that every year we almost double the amount of data we produce globally and over 75% is not in English. This includes websites and marketing materials that enable British companies to sell to markets outside the UK, information about important innovations, important legal developments and research … the list goes on.
What is your magic sauce?
We remain very traditional in our approach where other companies perhaps cut corners with machine translation or non native speakers translating. This has meant we can now compete with any of the giant ‘blue chip’ translation providers. We have grown in every recession since 1992 and during the pandemic.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Steady growth but not exponential. We tried that in the early 2000’s and it puts too much pressure on quality – of translation and life!
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Consolidation of the market, with very large companies buying up or forcing smaller translation companies out of business. It’s a big market with high margins and very competitive. We’ve survived by being the best at what we do.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We explain that, after 30 years, we have access to the best translators and project managers on the planet but because we are relatively small, with low overheads, we can compete on price and not compromise quality.
