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Business Background
Since its incorporation in 2003, Akorbi has been a business dedicated to producing
culturally correct and impeccably accurate translations. With these traits, we have
grown from selling our services to a handful of clients in the fields of telecommunications,
agriculture, and political science to receiving the loyalty of an abundant and diverse
customer base.
Once Akorbi started operations in the U.S. in 2003, our young business quickly grew.
In the year of our incorporation, our portfolio expanded to include prestigious
clients such as Southwest Airlines, Aetna Insurance, and 3M. Without much delay,
Akorbi opened an office in Argentina, and we were granted Minority and Woman-Owned
Business Certifications in the U.S. Also in 2003, Akorbi earned media recognition
from US News & World Report, and Claudia Mirza, the founder, was featured
by SCORE as a success story, highlighting her role in the business' rapid
transition "to a highly successful enterprise."
In 2004 we experienced continued growth and success. Technology services were added
to our portfolio after we added executives to our staff from Cap Gemini Ernst and
Young and the U.S. Air Force. We also began participating in the community, expanded
our offerings to include localization services, received media attention, and became
8(a) certified at the federal level. We were highly involved in the Hispanic community
through southern U.S. Hispanic Chambers of Commerce as advocates, trainers, and
by promoting entrepreneurship. As for the media, in a Hispanic Trends interview
with Southwest Airlines, Akorbi was commended for its high quality and culturally
sensitive translations, and Univision featured Claudia Mirza in the program Abriendo
Puertas as a local Hispanic role model. Akorbi was also recognized in the
publications El Sol de Texas and Al Día.
2005 was another year of rapid growth. Akorbi was awarded contracts from the U.S.
Army and the U.S. Air Force in technical services, as well as a major contract from
a well-known Fortune 100 company, providing technology solutions in the retail industry.
Additionally, we expanded PeopleSoft systems and consulting services into the oil
and logistics industries. We solidly began providing solutions in new markets such
as government, IT, retail, healthcare, and others, while sustaining our growth with
language consulting for our customers' globalization efforts. New language customers
also included the nation?s leading Hispanic advertising firm. Also in 2005, Akorbi's
headquarters moved to a larger location in Irving, Texas. In October, Akorbi was
honored by receiving the Woman-Owned Business of the Year Award by the North Central
Texas Regional Certification Agency (NCTRCA).
The stream of success and accolades stayed steady in 2006. Akorbi and its CEO were
recognized by the Dallas Business Journal as one of the area's top 40 rising stars
under 40 for our contributions to national and international business. As a company
that the Dallas Business Journal characterized as "leading the charge into uncharted
territory," we added to our terrain in this year the U.S. General Services Administration
(GSA) schedules, on call for the services of General Purpose Commercial Information
Technology Equipment, Software and Services, and Temporary Administrative and Professional
Support Services (TAPS). The government continued to demonstrate trust in us when
we were awarded a contract with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services. Other community
and media recognitions included a feature story in the Dallas Morning News, the
esteem for our partnership with and indispensable services to Aetna Insurance in
a special issue of Forbes magazine, and the honorable mention of our CEO as a community
hero by the Metroplex Technology Business Council. Aetna Insurance praised Akorbi
in the 2006 Diversity Report, relaying the message to 20,000 readers of the extreme
value of our offerings.
As Akorbi's recognitions reflect the importance of diversity within the community,
we strive to perpetuate a commitment to such through our offerings and personnel.
In 2006, to increase our ability in meeting the needs and desires of our clients,
we opened a new office in India, providing the company with a more solid base of
technology expertise and also focused not only on our existing contributions and
partnerships in the legal field, but sought specifically to intensify our knowledge
in that area.
2007 was an equally successful year. We won awards, added prestigious accounts,
and received media recognition. In this year, the U.S. General Services Administration
added Akorbi to its schedules in another arena: Language Services, confirming and
maintaining the prestige of our roots, while for efforts in that field and beyond,
at Fort Worth's Entrepreneur Expo® 2007, our founder and CEO won The Mayor's Entrepreneur
Award. It is an honor that recognizes the "true entrepreneurial and community spirit
of an outstanding small business owner." Akorbi continues to distinguish itself,
as well as receiving constant acclamation for the qualities infused into every service
we deliver: consistency, efficiency, innovation, and accuracy.
Throughout 2008 and 2009 Akorbi continued to gain recognition and valuable market
share within the localization industry having been awarded additional large health
insurance, state and federal government contracts. Akorbi entered a more specialized
line of business by providing security cleared sign language interpreters for U.S.
Government defense facilities. In 2008 the company became ISO 9001:2000 certified
by the International Organization for Standardization. ISO 9001:2000 is a process-based
certification that recognizes organizations that successfully link business objectives
with operating effectiveness.
In 2009 Akorbi underwent many changes, experiencing
80% growth after creating a strategic team of professionals from many well-respected
localization firms in order to reposition the company to penetrate new vertical
markets. Also in 2009 Akorbi developed a proprietary translation management system
for workflow, vendor and customer management.
In addition to running the company,
Akorbi’s CEO has recently become a recognized board member of the Greater Dallas
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 2010, being responsible for leading the technology
committee and Viva Dallas. Today, Akorbi is shifting its focus toward not only language
translation and interpretation but creating language automation and engineering
translation software for larger commercial accounts. The future of Akorbi looks
bright as the company continues to grow in both sales and personnel, becoming a
well-known provider of translation technology and services in a rapidly changing
industry.
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