By Rebecca Fannin, Contributor

One of the more interesting aspects of my role covering innovation trends in emerging markets is the opportunity to see companies close-up as they scale. Such was my recent experience attending a summit held by CSOFT International in Beijing and Sanya, the Hawaii of China. CSOFT was celebrating its 10th anniversary with a two-day program of experts speaking about globalization trends in the so-called localization business in which it operates. One clear takeaway? I am sure that CSOFT would never have become a profitable player in this market without the visionary leadership of its very determined president and CEO, Shunee Yee (pictured with me). Sounding a bit like Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Shunee says “the sky’s the limit” on her startup’s potential, which she envisions becoming a $1 billion business.  The company’s nifty-looking headquarters at Beijing’s sleek, new World Finance Centre is a symbol of her ambitions. The summit I attended was designed to bring together employees and celebrate ten years — and many more. It did not disappoint with lots of good cheer and information exchange plus such treats as a dinner overlooking the Forbidden City and a luau on the beach to wrap things up. CSOFT, which she founded in 2003, has revenues topping $30 million and an average annual growth rate of 30 percent over the past ten years. Having reached that tier without raising any outside finance and entirely through organic growth, Shunee is now pushing CSOFT to expand its presence and profile overseas. After plans to open an office in Shenzhen this September, the next move is likely to be branches in Silicon Valley and Berlin, building out its remote operations in many markets. The outsourcing company’s business is naturally international, and three-quarters of its clients are based in the U.S., including Pfizer, Intel and Dell.  What CSOFT does essentially is translate or localize training manuals, how-to guides and promotion materials in various languages for companies doing business across borders.  It may not sound all that exciting but it’s essential. Along with her husband, Carl Yao, who is an executive VP in charge of the company’s technology, they are working together to keep CSOFT up to date technologically too. Carl showed me a mobile app he’s been working on that brings in elements of both Twitter and Wikipedia so that users can instantly translate terms and share them with the community. CSOFT got on the fast track when the multilingual localization firm that Shunee was working for in the early 1990s was acquired by outsourcing company Lionbridge. She was sent to open an outpost office in Beijing. When that rep office did not get off the ground, she promptly folded the team she had assembled into what became CSOFT in Beijing. Articulate, poised and personable, Shunee’s background follows the typical returnee path of the first generation of China’s tech entrepreneurs. Growing up in an intellectual household as the daughter of a dean at Nanjing University, she was under a lot of pressure to achieve. After graduation from Nanjing Normal University, she taught for eight months, then decided to quit to go to the U.S. There, she earned a Master’s degree from the Rhode Island College. It was in the U.S. that she also met her husband, who was working on his PhD in computer science, and later joined her in Beijing.  Now they and an employee group of …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest