Anna Bastek, Co-Founder of Wolfestone, has been named Swansea Bay Woman of the Year 2009, after also winning her category award for Swansea Bay Business Woman of the Year.
The honours were presented at a prestigious ceremony held at Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall, attended by business leaders and public figures, with guest speaker and actress Ruth Jones of Gavin and Stacey fame.
Hosted by Sara Edwards, the awards are now in their sixth year and celebrate the most inspirational and high-achieving women across the region. Surrounded by her Wolfestone colleagues, all of the company’s female staff and co-director Roy Allkin, Anna’s win was met with an outpouring of support and celebration.
Originally from Poland, Anna moved to Wales in 2004 to complete a Master’s thesis in Marketing. After securing a GO Wales placement with Quantum CAD, she quickly rose through the ranks to become Marketing Director, overseeing a 700% increase in turnover and growing the team from 2 to 20. But her ambitions didn’t stop there.
In 2006, Anna co-founded Wolfestone with Roy Allkin after identifying a major growth opportunity in the global language services market. Together, they built the business from the ground up — initially while holding down day jobs — and within just three years, Wolfestone had become one of Wales’ most successful international start-ups.
The company offers translation as its core service, supported by language solutions such as transcription, voiceover, localisation, interpreting and post-editing.
Reflecting on the award, Anna said:
“I’m extremely proud of how we’ve built an international, award-winning company from scratch and during one of the worst economic downturns since the 1930s. There were many challenges to overcome, especially as someone new to the UK, but I now lead a dynamic and growing team with operations across Europe and North America. Our turnover has more than doubled year on year, and there is still so much opportunity ahead in the translation industry.”
On a personal level, Anna has her sights set on financial independence, further travel and a future book project. She is also exploring venture capital opportunities to help support other entrepreneurs — especially women — in realising their potential.
“There are so many talented women who can drive the economy forward. If I can help champion that, even in a small way, that would be a dream come true,” she said.
