Tea Dietterich’s idea of a good time is a warm bath with a glass of chilled sancerre and a grammar book. For any globetrotting chief executive, the bath and wine are perhaps not surprising. The book is the clue to what makes this CEO different. “I’m a complete language nerd,” says Dietterich. “And a tech nerd.”

Dietterich, 50, owns 2M Language Services. Since launching it in 1999 in Western Australia, she has grown the business to have 15 full-time staff and more than 1000 part-time and contract translators and interpreters in offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Manila, Cordoba (Argentina) and Paris – and remotely across the globe.