Essence Translations is the ATC’s Member of the Month

March 2022

Essence Translations’ CEO Cecilia Poratti in conversation with ATC CEO Raisa McNab.

The ATC’s Member of the Month in February 2022 is Essence Translations, an Argentinian language service company specialising in life sciences translations.

We sat down with Cecilia Poratti, CEO and owner of Essence Translations, to congratulate her on the company’s recent success at the ATC’s Language Industry Awards and to find out more about this upwardly mobile South American language service company.

“Entering the ATC New Member of the Year category was a first for us,” says Cecilia. “We’ve never put ourselves out there like that before. But after a lot of hard work and a hugely successful year, I felt we were ready and deserving,” she adds, laughing.

Essence has a diverse range of clients, spanning the typical industry profile of direct client relationships and partnerships with language service companies, but it’s fair to say the company found its niche in life sciences translation.

How did the Essence Translations story begin?
“After an extensive career as a freelance translator and in-house localisation specialist at Lionbridge, I made the jump to start my own company in 2010,” Cecilia explains. The new venture took shape organically and developed into a team who genuinely love working together and embody a deep commitment to delivering high quality rather than hitting astronomic growth targets.

Nevertheless, global growth in the life sciences industry coupled with Essence’s quality promise has also brought fantastic growth, in the region of 30%, during the challenging pandemic period."

Does she see this upward trend continuing throughout 2022?
“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that making predictions isn’t easy. I do, however, anticipate consistent growth throughout the life sciences, both as a consequence of the global crisis and the sector’s synergy with new tech developments.” In her eyes, the driver of this growth will be the ongoing need for vaccine-related translations more than, for example, those in the realm of medical devices.

Alongside their ATC membership, Essence Translations is active in TINA, the Argentinian language service company association.
“I’ve always been interested in collaborating with other operators in our industry – leaving our corporate identities at home to raise the profile of South American LSPs.” In addition to being one of the select ATC member companies based outside the UK, Essence Translations has been actively involved in developing the industry through Cecilia’s activities at TINA. “I believe in ‘the cause’ and I’m delighted that Argentina is now the epicentre of the South American translation industry,” she says.

So, how did a Latin American language service company claim top spot in the ATC’s New Member category?
“We learned about the ATC through one of our UK-based clients, with whom we have a close working relationship. As an association, the benefits the ATC brings to the table, in terms of outstanding networking opportunities and increased visibility in the UK and beyond, have helped raise our profile. This is huge for us, as we are keen to develop more business opportunities in the UK market,” Cecilia confirms.

What does the future hold for Essence Translations?
“We’ll continue consolidating our position as a provider of both in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese localisation in the US, Ireland and the UK, and, who knows, perhaps we’ll snag more ATC prizes as we expand into the UK market, too!”

Conversation reproduced by kind permission of the ATC.