A Voice at the Table: Mursal Hedayat’s Chatterbox Unlocks Refugee Potential

Target 10.2 – Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all

In 2016, Mursal Hedayat was living in London, with a university degree and a strong sense of purpose. But something wasn’t sitting right. Her mother, a qualified civil engineer, had arrived in the UK as a refugee, and despite her education and experience, she couldn’t find work. The system simply didn’t recognise her value.

Mursal, herself a former refugee from Afghanistan, saw that her mother’s story was far from unique. Many refugees had been doctors, teachers, architects or lawyers. But when they arrived in a new country, those skills were overlooked. Qualifications weren’t recognised. Experience was dismissed. The result was isolation, wasted potential and a quiet sense of exclusion.

So Mursal decided to do something practical. In 2018, she launched Chatterbox, a social enterprise that hires refugees as online language tutors. It was a simple idea with powerful logic: many refugees are multilingual. Many professionals want to practise conversational language skills. Why not bring the two together?

Chatterbox provides tailored language coaching, French, Arabic, Spanish, Farsi and more, to organisations and individuals. But behind every lesson is something deeper. Each tutor is a refugee with a story. And each session is a step towards financial independence, confidence and inclusion.

Within a year, the platform had grown rapidly. Mursal secured seed funding, won the Next Billion Edtech Prize, and began forming partnerships with multinational companies. But the focus remained on people. Every tutor was paid fairly. Every learner received real-world conversation practice. And every match helped close a social gap.

By 2021, Chatterbox had created hundreds of paid jobs for refugees across the UK and Europe. Tutors were working from home, earning income, and rebuilding their careers. Some moved into full-time language services. Others gained the confidence to pursue new qualifications or launch businesses of their own.

In the same year, Mursal was awarded an MBE for services to social enterprise, technology and the economy. But her mission wasn’t finished. She used the momentum to expand training programmes, improve the tech platform, and pilot new services, including cultural coaching and job-readiness support.

The core idea remained the same: people are not their paperwork. Refugees are not a burden to be managed. They are contributors, ready to participate if given a fair platform.

Chatterbox has helped shift how companies view talent. It’s not just a language provider. It’s a tool for inclusive hiring, team development and intercultural learning. Clients don’t just get better at languages; they get better at listening. And that, Mursal believes, is where real inclusion begins.

Her work sits squarely in the heart of SDG 10.2. It promotes economic inclusion, by paying refugees for real services. It promotes social inclusion, by re-humanising refugee identity. And it promotes political inclusion, by challenging systems that lock qualified people out of opportunity.

Mursal’s story is a reminder that closing the inclusion gap isn’t about grand policy. It’s about fixing practical disconnections, between talent and opportunity, between skill and visibility. And it’s about letting the people affected lead the solutions.

Today, Chatterbox continues to grow. It has served thousands of learners, and the tutors now span more than 15 countries. But for Mursal, the real success is hearing stories like her mother’s told differently, with dignity, with value, and with a clear path forward.

Your Voice. Your Target. Your Legacy.

If your business, classroom or organisation wants to reduce inequality, start by recognising the value people already bring. Build platforms, not barriers. Pay people for their skills. And create systems where everyone has a seat at the table.

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