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Estendio are aiming to create equal opportunities for disabled students and workers through a range of innovative products. Their first product, Present Pal is the first event presentation App to suit the needs of a dyslexic presenter by giving the user all the information of a script.
Founder and CEO Chris Hughes, who suffers with dyslexia, became increasingly frustrated during presentation work whilst studying his Business degree at the University of Strathclyde. Although he would spend hours preparing beforehand, when it came to presenting his work he would struggle to deliver the content and read his notes.
Chris took his first-hand experience and developed Present Pal with support from Strathclyde Enterprise Hub. After securing the runner-up KickStart prize, he received funding from Gabriel Investments, was named The Herald Digital Business Student of the Year 2015 and became a member of Cross-Party Group on Dyslexia at The Scottish Parliament.
In 2016, Chris was awarded Converge Challenge 2016 runner-up prize. He then went on to win Scottish EDGE Wildcard and Young EDGE awards, and secured a SMART: SCOTLAND grant.
“The skills, contacts and experiences I took from Converge has really empowered me to push on with Estendio. Being able to share my experiences and challenges with other entrepreneurs has really helped me understand what it means to run your own company. The training was very useful for my own personal development and knowledge of corporate governance.”
Talking about his plans, Chris says: “2017 will prove to be the most exciting year yet for Estendio as we will launch Present Pal and hopefully give many students a proper chance to reach their full potential. We are also very pleased to be piloting with a FTSE 100 company in spring who want to test Present Pal both on their dyslexic and non-dyslexic staff.”