Jimmy Wales of a Chicago futures and options firm. In 1996, he and two partners founded Bomis, an adult web portal featuring entertainment and adult content. The company would provide the initial funding for the peer-reviewed free encyclopedia, Nupedia (2000–03), and its successor, Wikipedia. On January 15, 2001, with Larry Sanger and others, Wales launched Wikipedia—a free, open content encyclopedia that enjoyed rapid growth and popularity; as Wikipedia's public profile grew, he became the project's promoter and spokesman. He is historically cited as a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has disputed the "co-" designation, declaring himself the sole founder. Wales serves on
Wales Co-operative Centre programme of training courses. In 1988, The Wales Co-operative Centre helped establish the first credit union in Wales in Rhydfelin (now called Dragon Savers ). It also started providing advice to trade unions and their members about employee ownership. In 1992 the Wales Co-operative Centre was the largest co-operative development agency in England and Wales. Today (2018) the UK's largest Co-operatives include John Lewis Partnership and the Co-operative Group. In 1995, Tower Colliery became the largest employee-owned company in Wales with support from the Wales Co-operative Centre. The Centre also helped to set up the UK's first credit union based