Management: Lingua-World founder Nelly Kostadinova

Of course we can think without speaking – but we are driven to communicate our thoughts to the outside world, and to that end language is and will always be our most important instrument.

200 Years after Wilhelm von Humboldt, we find ourselves in a time called the Age of Communication: We find ourselves increasingly in dialogue with people whose thoughts are grounded in a language system other than our own.

Speeches for your success
Passion, willpower and charity. These are the three top key words for the Lingua-World CEO Nelly Kostadinova. She has been one of the top 100 public speakers in Germany since 2018, and shares her ideas with a varied audience: people of all ages, entre­­preneurs and entre­pre­neurs-to-be, people with a thirst for MORE. Her story of success has inspired and motivated people across the globe. With her strong charisma, humour and energy, Nelly Kostadinova is perfectly suited to your speaking event.

Company history since 1990

In 1990 the journalist Nelly Kostadinova came to Cologne by way of a scholarship grant from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. At that time she didn’t speak a word of German, but her work for “Deutschlandfunk” radio soon changed that. Soon translation work for public authorities and interpreting in court became part of her daily routine: As an expert in English, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian the then 35 year old secured her livelihood in Germany.

1997 she founded the translation office Lingua-World in Cologne- as the subleaser of a lamp seller in the "Belgischen Viertel", where a great number of agencies and media companies are still located today.

2001 Lingua-World moved to its own company house in the neighbourhood of Klettenberg.

2001 the first branch office opened in Aachen, with further locations in Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Stuttgart following soon after.

2006 the Dusseldorf branch opened. In the same year, Nelly Kostadinova decided to expand the business concept through franchising. The first partner, Andrea Gaviel, opened a branch in Bremen. The translator and interpreter still leads this office, which is one of Lingua-World’s most successful offices in Germany.

2008 the Hamburg branch opened.

2009 Lingua-World was nominated for the Cologne Entrepreneur Award. In January of this year the Berlin and Essen branches opened.

2010 Nelly Kostadinova was nominated as one of three female entrepreneurs for the international Business Woman Award – Veuve Clicqot. The winner has not yet been chosen.