HELPERS was founded in Budapest in 2004 by a team of locals who had all spent years abroad and were familiar with the challenges of expat life. The original concept – providing everyday assistance and problem-solving for foreigners – was a unique one, which quickly grew into the other areas of HELPERS Expat Services (paperwork, information search, property management). After about one year we had built up an extensive and invaluable network of providers and professionals in Hungary and the region, and HELPERS began offering its services to companies also, including business launch, translation, market research, and expat services for relocated employees. Two new branches – HELPERS Slovakia and HELPERS Romania – opened in early 2007. All branches are operated by locals, while the know-how and supervision are provided by the head office in Hungary. Thus, HELPERS combines the insider’s knowledge with the outsider’s perspective, making us the ideal one-stop-shop for expats and foreign businesses in CEE.


MANAGEMENT – HELPERS HUNGARY


Barbara Ürögdi
Managing Partner
Head of Helpers Expat Services

Barbara grew up in Budapest, and has lived, studied and worked in Hungary, the US and Serbia. After completing her degree in Budapest, she moved to New York, where she pursued a graduate degree in Linguistics, as well as teaching adult literacy. She later added two more years to her expat experience working as a teacher in Novi Sad, Serbia. This is where the idea for HELPERS was born out of the countless difficulties she encountered, which would have been impossible to overcome without the help of locals. After moving back to Hungary, Barbara became one of the founders of HELPERS, where she works as General Manager and Head of Expat Services.


Nenad Ignjatović
Managing Partner
HELPERS Regional

Originally from Novi Sad, Serbia, Nenad has also had his share of expat life. After finishing university and working in sales all over former Yugoslavia for a couple of years, he moved to New York, where he spent a year working and traveling. As part of HELPERS, his role mostly involves liaising with the company’s many business partners and associates, as well as overseeing the launch and daily operation of HELPERS subsidiaries in Romania and Slovakia.


Dániel Bodonyi
Managing Partner
Head of Language and Business Services

Dániel became familiar with the challenges of living in a foreign country when he was studying on a music scholarship in Dulwich College, London. When he returned to Hungary, he enrolled in a Bmus course at the Academy of Music as a pianist and chamber musician. Subsequently, he studied for his MA in English Language and Literature. In November 2004, he joined HELPERS, where he runs HELPERS Language and Business Services.


THE HELPERS HUNGARY TEAM

Dr. Bruce Lippard
Senior Translator

Bruce studied at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and moved to Hungary in 1984 as a research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He has been one of Hungary’s top freelance translators and editors for over a decade now, and we are proud to have him on board full time as of February 2007.


Ádám Bartos
Project Manager; Editor

Before joining HELPERS, Ádám worked as the online editor of the Budapest Business Journal, and participated in several Hungarian-English dictionary projects for various publishing companies. Ádám is one of Hungary’s fastest translators, drawing on his subject matter expertise to balance speed with accuracy to an extent matched by very few in Hungary’s translation market.


The helpers

Our helpers are the young people who go out and fix clients’ everyday problems. They are educated, speak fluent English and often other languages, know their way around town, and are excellent problem-solvers. While doing their job, they rely on our knowledge-database, our network of contacts, and their own area of specialization. Some helpers are law students or professional drivers, dog-trainers or athletes – and we assign them to whatever task suits their skills and temperament best. Regular clients can have their own helper to call on directly, without contacting the office first – which further simplifies and speeds up their projects.


Our network

In our work, we rely heavily on our extensive network of providers (carpenters, electricians, plumbers, doctors, accountants, lawyers, etc.) and freelancers (translators, proofreaders, consultants, etc.). A lot of our time and effort goes into expanding, optimizing and supervising this network, which is an invaluable resource in carrying out the variety of projects we are faced with every day. We are proud to be working with some of the best professionals on the market.