'IT is a locomotive that can influence our country's economy and image' , says PicsArt co-founder

PicsArt, one of the leading photo editing app and social network globally, is growing on daily basis. The app has 90 million monthly active users and more than 400 million downloads. Besides being one of the leading photo editing apps, PicsArt is also known as a company that stimulates the development of IT sector in Armenia. At the moment, the company employs 350 people in Armenia. Besides providing jobs, the company periodically organizes free IT trainings and educational programs. For several years now, PicsArt is actively promoting the development of artificial intelligence sphere in Armenia.

On May 28th, as part of the First Armenian Republic Independence Day celebration, Hovhannes Avoyan, the co-founder and the CEO of PicsArt was awarded ''Anania Shirakaci'' medal by the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan for his accomplishments in the fields of economics and science.

Below is an interview with Mr Avoyan:

Mr.Avoyan, how do you see the future of IT sector in Armenia and what is the role of PicsArt in it?

I see the IT sector as a locomotive that can considerably change both to the country's economy and image. IT sector has always been the stimulating force for the development of other areas of economy. Today the success of any field is dependent on IT. Therefore, the success of the IT sector is very important for the development of Armenia’s economy. Of course, PicsArt influences Armenian IT sector, as it is one of the largest IT companies in Armenia. Moreover, PicsArt success is a result of the Armenian mind and work. We are an international company;  we have offices in various countries, but our largest workforce - all the developers, are located in Armenia.

PicsArt is considered to be one of the leading application in its field globally. Could you talk about the recent achievements and what is the secret of the PicsArt success?

Today, PicsArt is the largest and the most complete mobile app for adjusting and editing images. We have 90 million monthly active users;  400 million people have downloaded it on their phones. The possibilities that PicsArt provides for editing images can be compared only with those accessible on computers only. Today, you can do incredible changes to your images using the simplest phone. We provide not only tools but also a large number of free to edit images, which people can use in their creative processes.

What is the number of employees in the company? Also, I would like you to address the issue of the lack of the IT specialists in Armenia. How do you find qualified specialists?

We have 350 employees in the Armenia, mostly young professionals.  We have developed our own educational programs. We provide free training opportunities for smart students and young specialists to gain sufficient skills and become part of PicsArt or be competitive on the IT market. We have trained 150 people last year. An important achievement for us is the creation of an artificial intelligence (AI) training program. It is a completely new program for preparing AI specialists, as the field is very important. Artificial intelligence is in high demand for the development of businesses. It is the current IT development trend. As a result of artificial intelligence, we are now able to atomize a lot of processes and tasks, thus completing more tasks with less effort.