Moving to a new city can be exciting, but also challenging, especially when you don’t know anyone and are unfamiliar with the local language and culture. That’s why Les Amis was born, an app just for girls and plans between women.
Anna Bilych and Oleg Pashinin, two entrepreneurs with an ambitious spirit, created the app to make it easier for girls to find friends in an unfamiliar place.
They decided to find a way to change and help ambitious women create their social and professional networks in Barcelona.
The inspirational start of the Les Amis App
The story of Les Amis, a Barcelona-based startup, is a testament to the power of community and ambition.
Anna Bilych, originally from Estonia, came to Barcelona after working at PayPal in Dublin, where she had helped develop a community of women within the company.
When she arrived in Barcelona, she realized that she needed to build her social network again, which proved to be a challenge, as it was a new and unfamiliar city for her.
Les Amis: the application that facilitates the creation of friendships in Barcelona
The need to build a strong social network in a new city led to the creation of Les Amis. This app provides a safe space for ambitious women to connect, spend time together and support each other.
Anna, with her previous experience in creating women’s communities, is leading the initiative, while Oleg is in charge of the technological side, including the application.
When they started their project a year and a half ago, they used strategies such as Instagram promotion and social media ads to raise awareness of Les Amis. As the community grew, they stopped relying on advertising. Its presence on Instagram and TikTok helped its exponential growth.
Events to connect
Les Amis hosts a wide variety of events each week, from Taiwanese tea ceremonies to painting classes and film screenings on the Palace rooftop.
Groups are deliberately small, usually with no more than ten participants, to encourage greater interaction among members. This closeness facilitates the creation of genuine friendships.
The spirit of Les Amis is based on sharing common interests, such as culture, music and good food. Most of the members are between 25 and 36 years old and work in technology, are entrepreneurs or artists.
To join Les Amis, women must complete a form outlining their attitudes and ambitions, and their membership must be approved by Anna and Oleg. In addition to one activity per month, members have access to a variety of free activities, such as book clubs and exercise groups.
