#WeArePlay
Discover the stories of people from all over the UK building apps and games businesses on Google Play.
Stay tuned for more stories coming soon.
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Meet Tessa and Saasha from the UK, best friends and founders of Olio. The app helps millions fight waste by giving-away, sharing or selling food and household items.
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Meet Yvonne and Alyssa from London, founders of Frobelles. Their dress-up game increases representation of African and Caribbean hairstyles.
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Co-founders
Tessa Clarke
Saasha Celestial-One
Company
Olio
Location
London, UK
Downloads
5,600,000+
# of employees
99
Tessa and Saasha met when studying business. Both ex-consultants, they are passionate about the environment and recycling. The idea for Olio came when Tessa was moving: she could not pack leftover food in air-freight, and could not find anyone to take it. The app began helping people give away (and get) spare food in their neighborhood, but they recently launched a feature for lending and borrowing household items too. It is now used in 62 countries, and Olio also partners with supermarkets and restaurants with their volunteers collecting and redistributing surplus food – an estimated 1 million meals per week.
"We have so many stories of people who have been feeling depressed or like they are lacking a sense of purpose. And through our volunteering, they are getting to give back to the community and connect with others"
Co-founders
Alyssa Awuah
Yvonne Ottley-Awuah
Company
Frobelles
Location
London
Downloads
50,000+
# of employees
2
At age six, Alyssa loved playing mobile dress-up games but struggled to find characters that looked like her. Her mom, Yvonne, wanted Alyssa to embrace her natural look with confidence and, despite not having any prior experience creating games, suggested they create their own. Frobelles is a game to style the hair, clothes and accessories of three sisters – Coco, Kelli and Krista – and swap finished looks on social media. It celebrates hair styles from their African and Caribbean heritage, like up-dos, locs and protective twists. Alyssa is now 11 and has many new ideas. Next, they are planning an Afro-anime collection and adding boy characters.
"It was hard to create the game and thanks to Google Play, the easiest part for us was to get it published"