Andrés Moreno is the founder, CEO, and executive chairman of Open English, which now operates under the umbrella of Open Education. Open English is the top online English school in the Spanish-speaking market. Over 500,000 students in 40 countries have enrolled in the programme since its founding in 2006, with about 70,000 students presently enrolled.
In 2003, Andrés founded Optimal English, a English education company that provided one-on-one education with Latin American executives. He then decided to take this experience to create a platform where anyone could learn English, anytime, with native speakers. Andrés founded Open English with Nicolette Rankin, his wife, and Wilmer Samiento, a former classmate, in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2008.
“I absolutely believe in a great combination: a good idea, perseverance and a lot of passion,” he told Busy.org. “That’s the formula I used with Open English, when nobody believed in online education, and less in investing in a Latin American country, and is the one I’m using now in my new project, Next University. NextU, which is the short name, is an online university that offers certificates in high technology areas. The secret in both projects is the same: detect an area of need and offer a practical, fast and economic solution. If your offer is good and you believe in it, you will necessarily succeed.”
In 2009, Andrés and Nicolette moved the company’s headquarters to Miami, Florida, and in 2010, the company opened branches throughout the rest of Spanish-speaking Latin America. Open English expanded to the Brazilian market in 2011, acquiring 10,000 students in its first year in the country. The company earned $120 million in venture capital, $65 million of which was prompted by its success in the Brazilian market.
Andrés is also a founding board member of Endeavor and a founder of Éxito Ventures.
Tags: education, Latin America
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