My working week...

Business7 - 24th April, 2009

With a language degree from Oxford University and a keen interest in e-business, Christian Arno founded Lingo24 in 2001 at the age of 22.

Initially the business was run from his parents’ home in Aberdeen and a £5,000 loan from the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust helped kick start plans to make the company the top online translation brand.

Arno said: "Whilst there was the obvious advantage of having a short commute from my bedroom to the office, the main benefit was reduced overheads. I was able to offer major clients prices up to 30 per cent cheaper than our competitors”.

Virtual offices were opened in New Zealand and China with physical offices in Romania and Panama following.

Arno said: "There are strategic reasons why I opened all these offices where I did. The skill-sets in these particular locations combined with the multiple time-zones means we can literally operate around the clock."

After a long time having employees working from home, this really helped us to communicate more effectively both internally and externally."

Last August the firm opened an Edinburgh office and Arno said: "We've come a long way in the past few years. But without doubt the most special move for me was establishing a physical presence in Edinburgh. Scotland is Lingo24's home."

Lingo24 has around 100 full-time members of staff worldwide and had a turnover of almost £3million in 2008 which Arno believes will be in the region of £4m in the coming year.

Outside of work, the 30-year-old is a keen follower of his hometown football club and made trips to Madrid and Munich to watch Aberdeen's UEFA Cup run last year.

He also plays football and table tennis and enjoys listening to bands including Radiohead and Belle and Sebastian.

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