without e-⁠residency, i probably would have thrown in the towel

E-⁠resident Ángela Agraz, CEO of BAMBOLEO TALK, is a globetrotting linguist who turned her unique vision of digital language teaching into a real business

For Ángela Agraz, language teaching is not merely a job but a way to connect cultures and build bridges between people—an enduring passion she has nurtured since childhood. She was born 35 years ago and spent her early years between inland Spain and the north of the Valencian region. She grew up accustomed to hearing two different languages at home, as her mother speaks Valencian. This, combined with a trip to Ireland at the age of 12—when she discovered “there was a whole world out there”—inspired Ángela to study translation and interpreting. “I’m best at speaking and interacting with people; I love writing and anything related to oral and written expression,” she says.

Her restless spirit took her to the Netherlands for two years and later, in 2018, on a round-the-world trip in 365 days. It was an adventure in which she mixed tourism with brief teaching stints in the various countries she passed through. “In Australia, I started teaching languages to fund the next leg of my journey. When we moved on to New Zealand, some students asked to continue learning via Skype.” In every new place—Australia, New Zealand, Thailand—she taught classes, explaining, “The exact location didn’t matter, as long as I had a strong internet connection for the video calls.”

These experiences gradually forged the idea of an entrepreneurial project in Ángela’s mind: “BAMBOLEO TALK came from the notion that it doesn’t matter where you are: if you have a clear method and quality teachers, you can reach anyone through a 100% digital platform,” she explains.

Clashing with bureaucratic reality

Upon returning to Spain, Ángela—by then based in Barcelona—was impatient to make her dream project a reality. However, the bureaucracy and associated costs in both money and time made it difficult to formalise the venture.

“I’m a hard worker with no backers, so I began with no resources and barely five students.” Given her low initial income, the Spanish system was practically prohibitive for growing her business, compounded by a maze of procedures that consumed her time.

Ángela’s goal was not to create “an improvised academy” but a solid online system with professionals catering to students of multiple countries and levels. For someone who describes herself as passionate about neurolinguistics and communicative fluency—“What interests me is that the ‘Bambies,’ my students, end up speaking another language with confidence”—it made no sense to pour so much energy into filling out spreadsheets and wrestling with inflexible regulations. “Every administrative step was a headache, and I realised I was losing money. I saw there was no way to grow like that,” she recalls.

That was when e-⁠Residency of Estonia appeared on her radar, allowing her to formalise her company without being overwhelmed by red tape. It was 2019, and a former colleague told her about the programme. “She was already an e-⁠resident and mentioned this option. I had loads of questions: I wanted something clear, legal and straightforward. I quizzed various service providers because I wanted to start on the right foot.”

It took some time for Ángela to leap, as BAMBOLEO TALK was still very new. Finally, in December 2021, she decided to apply for e-⁠Residency:

She recounts, “it felt like I finally had real support to handle invoices, contracts and all the other details of running a company.”

Estonia’s digital oasis

Ángela sums up her experience of establishing her business in Estonia as:

“I loved that everything was done online. I’d come from a period of travelling and teaching remotely, so I needed something that fit my digital ethos. I’ll always be hugely grateful to the e-⁠Residency programme because I wouldn’t have got to where we are without it. Without e-⁠Residency, I would probably have thrown in the towel.”

Furthermore, the speed with which she obtained her OÜ allowed her to focus on what really mattered: creating a language-teaching platform with its own methodology, offering personalised classes and a team of teachers ready to give their all.

Ángela says that having an OÜ backed by the European Union helped enhance her credibility with foreign partners and students. “You need a robust and recognised legal structure to grow and reach different audiences. The OÜ was exactly that.”

In essence, Ángela's key reasons for choosing e-⁠Residency were to:

• Avoid bureaucratic discouragement: “When starting with limited funds, it’s crucial not to waste effort on lengthy procedures. The OÜ let me handle everything online, quickly.”
• Project her business internationally: “My students could be from anywhere. Having an Estonian company inspired confidence in invoicing and ensuring transparent bookkeeping.”
• Focus on teaching quality: “I needed time to invest in my teaching approach, not to spend it all on queues and excessive quarterly filings.”

From student to investor

The term “Bambies” refers to students at BAMBOLEO TALK. Among them was a standout case: a Japanese student who decided to invest in the project after years of honing his language skills with Ángela and her team. “In the end, I got an investor who is actually one of our students, which makes me proud. He’s watched BAMBOLEO grow over five years and has total faith in us.”

Thanks to this financial support, the platform was able to bolster its technology, expand the range of courses and take on more teachers. “I never imagined a student would end up as an investor, but there’s the proof: if your project works, your community can drive it forward.”

When describing BAMBOLEO TALK, Ángela highlights how different it is from the conventional academies she worked at from the age of 19 or the translation company where she was a project manager. “My thing is human communication. BAMBOLEO isn’t just grammar or repetitive exercises; we aim to help people lose inhibitions and start speaking. To achieve that, I use neurolinguistic methods and techniques I picked up on my travels.”

Today, from her base in Barcelona, Ángela coordinates a dispersed team of teachers who serve students worldwide. They continually add more languages to the platform and even consider offering speech therapy services for those who find pronunciation challenging.

BAMBOLEO TALK continues to welcome new “Bambies” and stretch its wings internationally, driven by the ambition that anyone, anywhere, can learn a new language with the rigour and confidence Ángela has always envisioned. She notes that without e-⁠Residency and the chance to set up an OÜ in Estonia, BAMBOLEO TALK might still be just a sketch: “What enabled me to get this off the ground with peace of mind was precisely that initial opportunity. I was self-employed in Spain for a year and saw I couldn’t carry on. The system makes you think your idea won’t go anywhere. With e-⁠Residency in Estonia, I knew my dream could go far.”

Despite the many doors that have opened, she remains grounded and recognises that her success rests on her decision to establish the OÜ in Estonia. “It’s the basis that let me start safely, invoice without problems, and give my classes a professional image beyond a makeshift academy.”