In this interview, Mursal Hedayat explains how Chatterbox leverages a proprietary matching algorithm to pair highly educated refugee language trainers with corporate learners, aligning professional backgrounds and interests (e.g., engineers teaching engineers). He highlights the unusually high education level of refugees in the UK, framing it as a massive, under‑tapped economic opportunity. The conversation moves to early corporate traction, citing BNP Paribas as a flagship client that values both the quality of language instruction and the social impact of employing displaced talent. Hedayat contrasts Chatterbox’s human‑centric approach with low‑engagement, digital‑only language apps, arguing that personal interaction drives faster proficiency gains. Finally, he acknowledges the potential to expand beyond multinationals into the small‑ and medium‑sized business (SMB) segment, suggesting a broader market for inclusive language training.
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TranscriptAuto-generated · 4 min
Helping refugees get gainful employment is the basis of an exciting growth company called Chatterbox. And Mursal, you're doing this using technology to match the right language trainers with the right language learners. How do you do that?
We use a matching algorithm to pair language learners with refugees based on their professional backgrounds and interests. Of course, refugees make slightly different kinds of teachers than average. They usually come with decades of experience in their former professions, as well as illustrious educational backgrounds. So we're able to match, for example, engineers with Arabic-speaking engineers, aid workers with French-speaking medical doctors. In the UK, at least, the level of education of refugees is higher than the UK average. So we're talking about a very highly educated population, perhaps more so than most people would give them credit for. What Chatterbox does as a company is to not just help to vocalize that fact, but take huge advantage of it in what is, in my opinion, one of the biggest economic opportunities in the world right now.
Global multinationals need this type of language training, and you've been able to secure a few of them out the gate or in your early days. How has that success worked for you?
Large organizations like BNP Paribas really love to work with companies like Chatterbox. I think not only are they able to get a world-beating language learning experience, but they're also able to say something very telling about their view on the world, which is one that it should be more inclusive economically and one that empowers the disenfranchised.
In terms of the outcomes, Mursal, with respect to language proficiency, do you have any statistics around how much faster you're getting people to learn? Because I know a lot of the online education platforms, language platforms, do not have a great level of engagement.
The general trend is that technology tends to improve our lives. It tends to make things better, more entertaining. Unfortunately, with language learning, that just hasn't happened. The digital-only applications that you and I have probably downloaded onto our phones and deleted maybe 2 weeks or 2 months after— Right. They're not really making significant progress in bridging the language skills deficit that's emerging in countries like the UK and the US. What we've recognized at Chatterbox, and part of the reason why the companies we work with are so happy and impressed to work with us, is because we're able to motivate learners in very different ways. So first and foremost, we motivate them because we have a much more human language learning experience. Humans are the focal point of language learning for us, and I think the focal point of language learning for everyone. Why does anyone learn languages? To connect meaningfully with other people.
I think that makes a ton of sense, and I think you're going to get a lot more traction with multinationals. But what about the small to medium business market? Is there an opportunity to have a big impact there as well?
I think so. I mean, the global language learning market is, you know, billions of dollars in size and growing rapidly. The online segment, especially given recent changes, of course, to how learning is delivered. So there are massive opportunities here. And what's especially exciting is, as we branch out to impact more than just the refugee community, we'll be adding languages like English, German, and perhaps even Japanese in the future, but still benefiting marginalized workers.
