The founder of Manchester-based student networking app Umii on how her own experience of loneliness at university fuelled the launch of the app and her plans for international expansion.
Young graduate Georgia Wheadon took on a founder role of the Umii app in 2020, and officially launched the platform this year following a successful pilot.
The university-based app helps students to build friendships and has partnered with universities across the UK, with the aim of improving retention rates and reducing mental health issues.
“A lot of university dropouts are due to social factors. People feeling lonely or feeling like they are not having a good social experience at university,” she told Prolific North.
According to a recent study by student mental health charity Student Minds, 74% of students reported that the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted their mental health and wellbeing at university.
As the pandemic only exacerbated feelings of isolation and loneliness, it presented an opportunity for the platform to work on a solution to help students to forge lasting friendships.
Propelled by her own struggles she encountered at university, she detailed the issues she personally faced to showcase the problems facing many students.
“I feel like I wouldn’t have had the passion to push this forward, if I hadn’t experienced the problem myself,“ she said.
