EMPOWERWOMENT PROJECT- START-UP WOMEN S STORIES

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Elvin Craig
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EMPOWERWOMENT PROJECT- START-UP WOMEN S STORIES Name-surname: Irina Maria Kaitar Age: 37 Sector/Area of Enterprise: Translations/Tourism Contact Information: The name of the company: KAITAR IRINA

1 EMPOWERWOMENT PROJECT- START-UP WOMEN S STORIES Name-surname: Irina Maria Kaitar Age: 37 Sector/Area of Enterprise: Translations/Tourism Contact Information: The name of the company: KAITAR IRINA MARIA INTREPRINDERE INDIVIDUALA ikaitar@gmail.com My story of entrepreneurship: Mobile: Before the project: I am a 37 year-old freelancer. I am engaged to a wonderful man and friend who supports me in my activities and helps me get up when I am down. We don t have kids yet but hoping to someday. My field of activity is in the field of languages. I trained to be both a teacher and a translator. I got my bachelor degree in English and Japanese, language and literature and a master s degree in linguistics. So, technically I was ready to both translate and teach these languages but I didn t feel ready to do that yet so I worked in a number of companies doing secretarial jobs that mainly required knowing foreign languages. I learned from each job, from each foreign or Romanian director everything I could learn while changing jobs and experiences. Later on, when the economic crisis hit and things were uncertain, I spent a whole year trying out the freelancing world. It was hard to live on a translator s inconsistent income so I was looking for new options to improve and survive the crisis. This is when I decided that it s a good time to go ahead and accomplish my dream of visiting Japan and try and find some job there. Once I got to Japan a new world opened up. I managed to get a job in an international company where I spent almost three years 1

teaching English. I had a wonderful time with my Japanese students of all ages, from kindergarten to University and Senior Managers in all kinds of companies.

2 teaching English. I had a wonderful time with my Japanese students of all ages, from kindergarten to University and Senior Managers in all kinds of companies. I learned a lot from all of them while teaching. I was a very fulfilling time of my life because of all the satisfaction I got from seeing their great results and achievements. Picture 1: A group of Japanese Lawyers in Brasov City I started thinking of setting up my business as a freelance translator once I moved back to my home town, Brasov, after having worked in a couple of companies. I started by going to various business that I thought might need my services, mainly public notary offices and translation offices. The translation business is a very tricky one because you never know when the next big work is going to come. Income wise it is a bit risky 2

to start this kind of business without having some well-established business relationships with companies that may provide you with constant material for your work.

3 to start this kind of business without having some well-established business relationships with companies that may provide you with constant material for your work. I had a rough 2007 when I started, with very little income. This new experience made me look for another steady job with a safe salary as income. After a few more years of contract working for various international companies, when the crisis hit Europe as well, I found myself in the situation that again I had to rely on my freelancing business which was yet again difficult to develop. In 2009 I decide to go to Japan to improve my language skills and experience a new culture, a new world. Picture 2: Living in Japan After spending 4 years in Japan I came back to my home town to work for a small Japanese company and 3 years later I quit and I decided to give the freelancing one more chance. So, even though I set my company up in 2007, in 2017 I basically started from scratch trying to find clients and establish business relationships. This was not an easy thing to do since my professional network was mostly located in Japan rather than in Romania. Reaching out, making myself available on professional websites and sending my services offer to various business owners has helped me set up a new network which I am striving now to improve and grow. 3

4 Picture 3: My Logo Picture 4: Working in Japan My story before the project Before the project there was no ecosystem for me, except for the little collaboration I had established long ago. The ecosystem now means that I have some connections that I wouldn t otherwise have. The ecosystem helped me learn about similar stories to mine and hear what other entrepreneurial women did when they were in my situation. The ecosystem showed me that there can be a so much to learn from other peers and one can always find support and advice in 4

5 a professional from a different environment with a different perspective on things. Picture 5: Interpreting for Japanese auditors My story at the project: After the project: After joining the project and being part of a new ecosystem I got some new ideas and I started exploring what other possibilities I had using my foreign languages knowledge besides translating. This is how I realized that I could work in tourism and have tour agencies as my clients besides the commercial companies I used to deal with as a translator. 5

Picture 6: Project meeting and mentoring session It seems to me that not having an ecosystem for support it make it much more difficult for an entrepreneur to survive, much more if the entrepreneur

6 Picture 6: Project meeting and mentoring session It seems to me that not having an ecosystem for support it make it much more difficult for an entrepreneur to survive, much more if the entrepreneur is a woman. My freelance experience showed me and taught me that not belonging to a community of professionals can be the difference between succeeding and failing. So the ecosystem is vital for when things don t go as planned and one needs advice or examples of how to sort the situation. Also, the ecosystem may be a source of new business because of the networking that it provides. 6

Picture 7: My Office The meetings we had during the project helped me understand what an ecosystem is, how it works and why it is important so, when I came back to my country I joined some

7 Picture 7: My Office The meetings we had during the project helped me understand what an ecosystem is, how it works and why it is important so, when I came back to my country I joined some professional associations and I started looking for support groups made up of people with similar professional orientation, people that I could rely on for advice and networking. Mainly the groups I joined are casual groups established on Facebook, this being a very useful tool in today s world, not only on a personal level but also a professional one. I will take part more often in events organized by the professional associations that I joined and I will try to meet face to face with as many possible business collaborators or customers. 7

going to grow and become mine which in turns will hopefully inspire others to join

8 Picture 8: Study groups at Rome Workshop In my line of work I believe that being part of an ecosystem helps and will eventually lead to a new ecosystem which is organically going to grow and become mine which in turns will hopefully inspire others to join until they will organically and naturally create their own ecosystem. Picture 9: Rome Workshop 8

9 1. Before I was stuck in one field of activity, after I got to explore new areas. 2. Before I didn t have a European network for support, now I do. 3. New collaborations, ideas and hope for a better future. 9

10 MY ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECO-SYSTEM: 10

11 1. POLICY Policies impose standards that we have to follow In my work I have to comply with the requirements of the International Standards specific to all aspects of the translation process. If standards change we fully have to comply with the new ones. 2. FINANCE Budgeting is sometimes difficult As self-employed budgeting on a variable income as the one of translator can be difficult. This means that it is difficult to predict how much money I will have coming in during a given month. It is important to save a large percentage of my income on good months to be able to make up for the bad ones. 3. EDUCATION Always studying In order to keep up-to-date with the challenges in the translation industry I consider attending workshops, seminars or conferences organized by professional organizations. Continuous professional development and continuous learning is crucial in my job as Japanese is not at all a simple language. 4. TECHNOLOGY Translating devices versus interpreters New devices on the market as the one that Google has launched - wireless headphones featuring real time language translation from Google Translate - can make my job less important or even disappear. 11

12 5. HUMAN CAPITAL Humans are more accurate than machines As only parts of the translation job can be automated by now and human translations are by far more accurate. I believe that the most widely used Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean will also remain in high demand. Machine translation is faster but it is not for professional activities. 6. MARKETS Flexibility in my work Normally the translation services I provide include translation of paper-based documents but as well translation of digital documentation so this offers me a wide range of opportunities to work for customers from different parts of the world. My Recommendations for Developing Existing Traditional Entrepreneurial Training Programs: a. Women should be able to get more access to affordable training especially in the technical and legal filed because regardless of each woman s domain, none of us can progress unless we have a minimal training in the technical or legal fields that are certainly part of every business these days. b. On-going training programs should be easily available to everyone who needs such trainings. 12

Finding The Recipe For Success How failure helped me find the recipe for success in small business.

Finding The Recipe For Success How failure helped me find the recipe for success in small business. By: Daphne Wells, founder of Growth Business Consulting I absolutely love seeing women thrive and flourish