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TechCheck+ Empowering Displaced Persons with Technology 3/21/22

TechCheck

CNBC

Disruptors, Tech, Technology, Cnbc, Management, Business, Faang, Investing

4.566 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TechCheck Producer Brandon Gomez spoke with Alina Vandenberghe, CEO of tech unicorn Chili Piper, about how her company has helped more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees displaced by the ongoing conflict with Russia. Raj Burman, CEO of Techfugees, a nonprofit focused on empowering displaced persons with tech, also breaks down the role technology plays in aiding communities during times of war and crisis.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Good afternoon. My name is Brandon Gomez, and I'm here to welcome you to another Tech

0:05.4

Check Plus live stream. Joining me today, I have Alina Vandenberg. She is the chief experience

0:10.8

officer and co-founder of Tech Startup Chili Piper, as well as Raj Berman, who is the CEO of Tech

0:16.0

Vuegis. Today we're going to talk a little bit about what tech is doing to aid the refugee crisis in

0:21.9

Ukraine, but also the refugee crisis at large.

0:24.7

So just to get started, Alina, I would love to turn to you just to sort of kick things off

0:31.7

and explain to us.

0:32.8

I mean, just looking at some of the things that Chili Piper and Techfugees have done in Ukraine.

0:39.2

I mean, resources for people fleeing Ukraine in an 89-page Google document, helping over 100,000 refugees,

0:46.3

Chile Piper making donations to raise over $200,000 in capital to help community-based organizations that are on the ground.

0:55.0

I mean, fill in the gaps for me. What's the latest in terms of those initiatives?

0:58.0

We have put ourselves immediately in the shoes of those that have been displaced in Ukraine

1:05.0

because we have employees in there, also have friends that have been affected by it. and I was doing this initially just to help those that

1:13.6

were in immediate need but then I realized that this was a much greater scale than I anticipated.

1:19.6

I had worked with Rajat TechFugees before on refugees initiatives so I was aware of the deep need that people that are just

1:30.2

disrupted from their normal lives. So I had a bit of experience with that. But at the

1:39.1

same time, I just want to do more and I want to make sure that I can do everything that I can in my power as a tech company to be able to put a stop on this nonsensical act that's happening now in Ukraine and in other regions as well.

1:55.0

So before I dive into specifically what Chili Piper is doing, I mean, Raj, can you give us a little bit more context to Alina says she's worked with you in the past in terms of other refugee crises as well?

2:09.1

What exactly is the state of the crisis in Ukraine?

2:12.5

What are we seeing?

2:13.3

You know, how does it scale perhaps maybe compared to some other situations that you've either

2:19.5

seen in your tenure as CEO or with your work in this community?

...

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