Aline Sara, founder of Natakallam, to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin

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TechCrunch is coming back to Berlin to talk with the best and brightest people in tech from Europe and the rest of the world. In addition to fireside chats and panels, new startups will participate in the Startup Battlefield Europe to win the coveted cup.

Grab your ticket to Disrupt Berlin before August 1st as prices will increase after that. The conference will take place on November 29-30.

We are busy collecting some of the most awesome speakers in the world, and not least among them is Aline Sara, founder of Natakallam, the innovative startup which gave refugees hope.

In the summer of 2014 Aline had just completed her masters in International Affairs at Columbia University and was looking for an affordable way to practice her Arabic—specifically, her native Lebanese regional dialect—from New York City. It was also at that time that Syrians, fleeing the violence from the brutal civil war, were pouring into Lebanon, where today, roughly 1 out of 4 people are Syrian.

Like most Syrians outside of the country, and notably the 5 million-plus who are living in neighboring countries, Syrians in Lebanon cannot easily get work permits, making their capacity to work and sustain a livelihood incredibly difficult.

Aline thought of connecting her need to access conversational Arabic to that of displaced Syrians to access an income. Thus came to life the idea of NaTakallam, pioneering the concept of leveraging the Internet economy and refugees’ language skills to provide language services to users worldwide, who, through their engagement, help support displaced persons’ livelihoods. They are now expanding to serve other nationalities and offering translation and interpretation services.

Europe – TechCrunch

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