Aberystwyth student scoops £20,000 prize
The founder of an online social community for language learners is the first winner of the £20,000 Aberystwyth University InvEnterPrize student competition. Jake Stainer is a second year student studying Marketing and Spanish at Aberystwyth and founder and Managing Director of language website Papora, www.papora.com . Papora was inspired by an exchange visit to the Spanish city of Gijon in 2007 and Jake’s desire to keep in touch with friends and improve his Spanish. Free to use and designed to bring native speakers and learners together to exchange languages, Papora now boasts around 11,000 users from 135 countries learning more than 100 languages. Jake plans to use his £20,000 prize to develop the site, add new features, increase its online presence and develop mobile applications. He said: “I am very pleased to be the first winner of the University’s InvEnterPrize. I have been developing the idea behind Papora since I was 16 and this competition has given me the opportunity to test...