Quote: ‘Refugee and entrepreneur Shadi Alhakimi wants to teach newcomers Dutch’

Dutch business magazine Quote spoke with Taaly founder Shadi Alhakimi about leaving Yemen, his internship at KPMG where the lunch conversations passed him by, and the app that came out of it.

The lunch table as the trigger

Journalist Tim Berbers describes how Shadi, an internet entrepreneur in Yemen, was targeted by the Houthis and left after an attack on his office, first to Saudi Arabia and then to the Netherlands. After years in asylum centres he studied in Amsterdam and interned at KPMG. There he noticed how hard it is to connect when the conversations are in Dutch.

Practising with someone who really speaks the language

Taaly matches newcomers with taalcoaches who grew up in the Netherlands and speak the language fluently. Quote describes how Taaly now has a sizeable group of coaches and users and is moving towards business clients such as staffing agencies and employers.

“When you are young you prefer talking to someone your own age.”
Shadi Alhakimi in Quote, on matching newcomers and taalcoaches (translated from Dutch)

Taaly today

Taaly has since grown into the digital integration assistant for newcomers: language, participation and work in one app, with more than 30,000 learners, 4,200 taalcoaches and partnerships with 18 municipalities.

Read the full article

‘Refugee and entrepreneur Shadi Alhakimi wants to teach newcomers Dutch’. Quote, by Tim Berbers (3 November 2024).

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