Learn English Via Texting

We talked to Mizuki Nozue of Eigooo about the anytime, anywhere English Chat App and here is what he said about it.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Mizuki Nozue: Thank you for this question. My family and I are doing extremely well. We are isolating and going out for essential items only. I hope that you and your family are doing well too.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Eigooo.

Mizuki Nozue: I am a businessman living in Tokyo, Japan. Eigooo was founded in 2012 and its headquarters are based in Japan. The company was founded by Peter Rosenberg and bought over by me. We now have more than 30 teachers based in various countries and students from Japan, Saudi Arabia, India, and other countries.

How does Eigooo innovate?

Mizuki Nozue: We are aware that most English teaching companies offer video classes. We wanted to come up with a concept that is different, yet effective to learn English. Eigooo allows students to learn English via text. This caters for students who are shy to speak English. We also offer numerous challenges that give students the chance to learn new words or simply enjoy a game, such as Hangman with the teacher.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business and how are you coping?

Mizuki Nozue: To be completely honest, the Covid-19 pandemic did not have a negative impact on Eigooo. If anything, more students were joining and we had to recruit more teachers to deal with the increased workload. We also had more teacher applications due to job losses and people being forced to work from home.

Did you have to make difficult choices and what are the lessons learned?

Mizuki Nozue: We did not have to make a lot of difficult choices during this time and are so thankful for that. We had to concentrate on recruitment and onboarding teachers as quickly as possible to deal with the increased student load.

What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?

Mizuki Nozue: I have two managers that were able to recruit teachers as fast as possible. There is also a scheduler that lets us know where we are short of teachers so that we can fill the gaps as quickly as possible. We also use slack to keep the team together and share issues and ideas. Teachers work remotely from all over the world, so it is important to create a virtual community. I hold monthly meetings with the teachers too.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Mizuki Nozue: I do not know of many companies that are offering English lessons via text. I think we are one of the only companies that do that. We will continue to expand and hopefully be able to reach students worldwide in the near future.

Your final thoughts?

Mizuki Nozue: Thank you so much for allowing us to do this interview. I feel that technology is such an important tool in teaching and learning, especially as we navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.

Your website?

https://www.eigooo.com/