Entrepreneur Gould wants thebigword group to challenge global players

YORKSHIRE translation business thebigword is looking at a number of acquisitions as it aims to move from the world’s 12th largest business of its kind to the fifth.
 
Founder and chief executive Larry Gould, a former winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, says that the £42m turnover group has achieved its current position through 97% organic growth and now is looking at buying rivals as it looks to make the leap further up the big league.
 
“The future for me is to work out how we get there, not just through organic growth,” says Gould, who now splits his time between Leeds and working out of the group’s Manhattan office in New York.
 
The company is so focused on improvement that it has created an ‘internal acquisition team’.
 
“We have gone to visit all our own offices and looked at what we would do if we bought them. There has been a huge improvement in performance,” he explains.
 
Gould says a tenth of the firm’s 500 staff work in technology. “Our technology is scary, it will reduce the cost – it’s our secret weapon.”
 
Gould says that when he first launched the business, “the language industry was a pretty unsexy industry run by vegetarians who knitted at home”.
 
It grew dramatically with the growth of the European Union and the fall of the Soviet Union and now has 8,000 interpreters on its books across 73 countries. “The most amazing thing was the worldwide web – people could visit stores online anywhere in the world and the only barrier was language.
 
thebigword works for multi-nationals like British Airways but major growth has come from the public sector, where 40% of its work now comes from, including government departments such as the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office.
 
“We should be very proud that our government is engaging with limited English speakers in this country and that cuts down on racial problems,” says Gould.
 
It helps the NHS with 13,000 face-to-face bookings for people with limited English and sign language a month?? and interprets two million minutes of telephone books in 235 languages a month. 
  

Entrepreneur of the Year
 
ATTITUDE is the key to being a successful entrepreneur and driving your business forward despite massive external pressures like the recession, according to Larry Gould.
 
He even banned the word recession from being used in his Leeds-based business.
 
“As a leader you have got to see that there is massive amounts of business available. What is a 1% drop in the economy?” opines the gregarious Gould, leaning back in his boardroom, wearing a bright flowery waistcoat.
 
“The great thing about this depression is that you can sneak in where others are focused on it. Entrepreneurs have got to be optimistic. We don’t allow our instinct to be destroyed by an overwhelming amount of information…but I’m not saying you have to be thick to be an entrepreneur!” he laughs.
 
He says that entering the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards was challenging and rewarding in equal measure.
 
“It is a dilemma of getting involved if you don’t win and putting yourself through the process. As the head of an organisation you have to put yourself in different situations.
 
“I had to think why should I be an Entrepreneur of the Year?
 
“It was challenging, an opportunity to think and self-critique yourself and also to think about your strong points.
 
“Of course it is ego, some of it is recognition for the people who work for you and the customers.”
 
Gould says that you have to be “brave” to be judged and questioned by your equals but there are huge benefits.
 
“The networking is great because you can share ideas with people. Jeremy Vine presented the awards and then invited me on his radio show which has 6m listeners!
 
“I have had business from some of the people I met through EoY,” he adds.

Stuart Watson, partner and Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Leader, said: “Larry’s business has a great growth story fuelled by technology and deep understanding of the markets they serve. This gives him global reach from their Yorkshire head office which impressed the Entrepreneur of the Year judges who rightly see this as a great model for entrepreneurial growth.”

“I’m delighted to say that Jeremy Vine will be our MC for the Awards dinner again this year. Larry has a way with words that led to his appearance on Jeremy’s show. I cannot promise that kind of result for everyone, but there are great networking opportunities with the UK’s finest entrepreneurs for those in Entrepreneur of the Year,” he added.