SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA. NEW YORK, USA - The Ani project was officially launched this past weekend with the commencement of the first Ani English coaching sessions between 20 amazing students in Yerevan and 20 inspiring coaches from across the Armenian diaspora.

Ani is a world first, innovative, non-profit platform that allows Armenians from the diaspora to help students in Armenia learn English through Skype. Ani matches students in Armenia with English coaches from the diaspora, students and coaches then Skype once a week for 45min using the Ani lesson guide to practice, test and improve the student’s English.

Today only 4% of Armenians can speak fluent English. Ray Nazloomian, one of the founders, says “our mission is to radically transform English proficiency in Armenia such that by 2020 100% of Armenian students can speak fluent English”.

Ani partnered with 2 schools in Yerevan (Shirakatsy College and Public School N155) to launch the pilot to 20 students in grades 7 through 11. They also recruited 20 coaches from across the Armenian diaspora, including the US, Australia, Canada and the UAE.

Laurie Dabaghian, a doctor from New York, who was matched with Greta, a 14 year old student from School N155 who herself wants to be a doctor when she grows up, said, "it was truly amazing! Within minutes of the call we bonded, she started talking about her family, her friends, her ambitions and how she wanted to improve her English. Before I knew it the 45 minutes were up. I can’t wait till our next Skype. Ani is such an easy yet powerful way to give back to our homeland.”

The response from Yerevan and the diaspora has been so positive that the Ani team has been inundated with student and coach registrations and as a result have had to accelerate their plans for a second round of sessions. They also have plans to expand their presence at the two pilot schools as well as branch out to other school in Yerevan and key regional centers across Armenia over the coming months.

Ani was founded in July 2015 by siblings Ray and Mel Nazloomian, two Armenians born and raised in Australia who were startled by the fact that only 4% of Armenians today could speak fluent English. Knowing how important speaking fluent English was in an increasingly globalized world they were interested in exploring how modern technology could be leveraged to mobilize the 9 million + Armenians around the world to help improve English proficiency in Armenia. They soon met Gevorg and Lilit, both from Yerevan who had recently struggled with this very thing – they knew how important English was to their futures, they wanted to improve their English, but couldn't easily or affordably access resources to make this a reality. Together, Ray, Mel, Gevorg and Lilit set about a journey to create a simple, scalable, powerful platform which they hope will mean that every Armenian student can speak fluent English by 2020.

For more information please visit www.myani.org or email ray@myani.org.