Innovating within the Language Service Industry: Our Visionary Founder Mebrak Ghebreweldi
Innovating within the Language Service Industry: Our Visionary Founder Mebrak Ghebreweldi
Born and raised in Eritrea, East Africa, Mebrak is the founder and director of two organisations: Vandu Languages and Diversity Resource International (driorg.com).
Growing up in a farming family with six brothers and two sisters, she soon learnt that she “needed to make sure she was equal to them”.
Her home country, Eritrea, was annexed by Ethiopia as a province in 1962, following a war that began the previous year and lasted for three decades.
When Mebrak was only 16 years old, she joined the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), an organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. She remained in the organisation until Eritrea achieved its independence in 1991.
She joined as a barefoot doctor. “It wasn’t a formal qualification, but we could give out tablets and dress wounds” explained Mebrak. She then became a morse code radio operator in a tank, working in the artillery for several years, and later assuming the responsibility of a radio operator and communication officer at the military HQ.
During that time, she understood the importance of communication. “You see, the military is a different game. If communication breaks down, some way along the line, the cost is life”.
Founding Vandu Languages
In 1992, she became an international student in the Southbank University of London, completing a degree in Business and Computing. Her plans were to return to Eritrea and put her skills to practice there, but after becoming a single mother, she took the decision to stay in England for her two under-5-year-old boys.
Facing the challenges of single parenthood and financial instability, she refused to stay still and started working on the development of a translation agency in the UK.
“I worked almost 24 hours a day. I’d get up, take the kids to school, work, get them back, maybe take them out swimming and still be working by 3:00 a.m.” recalled Mebrak.
After six months, she had 30 linguists covering 16 languages. Within a year, Mebrak's dedication bore fruit—she no longer required housing benefits, as her translation firm flourished into Vandu Languages, a company that now has over 1500 translators and has helped migrants and refugees to get training and become professional interpreters, some of whom have gone on to set up businesses of their own.
A passion for culture and community
“I am very much connected to Eritrea’s culture, politics, social, economic, and social media. I also love to read about Eritrea and dance to my country’s traditional cultural music” says Mebrak.
Fluent in Tigrinya and Amharic—Eritrean and Ethiopian languages respectively—she also holds an understanding of Tiger, another Eritrean dialect. “My children can understand a bit of Tigrinya but sadly they’re not fluent. This hurts me a little and I will take action to help change this as they're both keen to learn the language”.
The core of her organisations relies in the value that they provide for communities. For Mebrak and her team, Vandu Languages, far more than a business, embodies a sustained investment in the social and economic tapestry of Sussex.
A Message of Empowerment
Mebrak’s story is a clear example of resilience, empowerment and fight for equity. Every day at Vandu, she brings an inspiring message to remind us that our work transcends translation, interpretation, and bilingual advocacy, and we are breaching a pathway for many people who need our knowledge and support.
“I might be exaggerating, but for me, communication is next to breathing, next to life itself. You eat. You drink. You breathe. What do you want after that? You need to communicate”.
-Mebrak Ghebreweldi
About Vandu Languages
The foundation of Vandu languages and its original values shape everything we do to this date. We provide general translation services as well as translation for businesses, digital marketing, healthcare, education, finances, insurance, government, travel, and legal documentation.
We also offer face-to-face interpretation and on-call interpretation. And bilingual advocacy for vulnerable individuals in over 100 different languages including Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Mandarin, Tigrinya, and Arabic.
To know more about us and the services we provide click here.
