The importance of languages in international business

BY PAUL ALLEN Business reporter allenp@jamaicaobserver.com

Friday, February 17, 2012

REACHING out to other nations is important in this global environment, said Nadine Boothe-Gooden, managing director of International Business and Language Consulting.

To assist in greeting our neighbours, Boothe-Gooden started her business to make communication and trade easier. The company offers procurement, auditing, quality control and administrative services on the trade side. Translation and interpreting skills are also available through their language services.

"It was inspired by an excursion (I took) to China, she said. "A company needed someone who spoke Spanish and French and had a teaching background. Knowledge of international business was also needed, all requirements which she had.

International Business and Language Consulting is the fourteenth nominee in the Observer's Mogul in the Making start-up programme.

The business is aimed at meeting a particular need as "everybody wants to reach out and trade wherever they can (to) get quality products and competitive prices." Increasingly, China is the country to do business with, she said, adding that Europe is also popular. As such, her company provides Mandarin (Chinese), French, Spanish, Italian and German translators, among others.

"We do quality assurance and inspection of containers when they're being loaded so you get exactly what you ordered," she said. "People can order products directly through us and we do the contracts and communication."

Language training is also offered to corporate clients and individuals.

Additionally, Boothe-Gooden operates another business, this one being in construction. It's a spin-off of her main business as "some of the products that we traded, the customers would ask us to do the servicing and installation," she said.

She wants her business to grow, eventually becoming "one of the largest language service providers in the hemisphere". Many young entrepreneurs "tend to expect too much too fast", she said. "You need patience (and) dedication. Do your constant market research, interact with your clients and see what they need."