Speakers

9th November (4)

   

Why attend?

 

Since October, we’ve heard from many Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim employees in the global tech sector that they feel more isolated and misunderstood than ever before. Join us to learn how to create an inclusive environment for this set of employees.

  • Hear from a Manara mentor who is Palestinian working at global tech company about his own experience from the past weeks

  • Learn what you can do whether you work in HR, are a manager, or simply a caring colleague

  • Tips for companies that hire talent remotely from Palestine or have Palestinian/Arab/Muslim employees on-site in offices in Europe or North America

Feel free to attend if you are a Palestinian employee yourself and want to figure out how to better navigate the current environment.

Panelists will be sharing their personal experiences and perspectives; they do not reflect their employers’ perspectives.

Shahla

Shahla Matar
Chief Growth Officer at Remarkable Group
Shahla has 10 years of experience in both the private and public sectors across 5 different countries and has taken up various leadership positions in politics, education, and digital/tech industries.  Shahla is a Jerusalemite Palestinian, American and Jordanian. Both sides of her family have faced direct expulsion from their homes and lands due to the 1948 Nakba. And as a direct result her father was born and raised as an Internally Displaced Refugee in Bethlehem's largest refugee camp "Dheisheh" (also known as "the camp of mass incarceration").

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Joséphine Kant
Ex-Google for startups and Y Combinator
Joséphine Kant is a start-up coach and investor that has developed entrepreneurship ecosystems through her work at Y Combinator and Google for Start-ups. She has been involved in the Palestinian start-up ecosystem since 2018, and worked in both the West Bank and Gaza.

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Mohammed Abu Jaffal
Technical director and VP of Nemetus Tanasuk
Mohammed is the technical director and VP of Nemetus Tanasuk, a software development company with offices in  the UK, UAE, KSA and Jordan. He has more than 16 years of experience in the Tech industry. He is based in Jordan, is originally from Palestine, and has family members in Gaza and West Bank.

iliana

Iliana Montauk
CEO & CO-Founder, Manara
Iliana is the co-founder and CEO of Manara. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in History & Literature of the Middle East and North Africa and has worked at top tech companies in Silicon Valley including Google and Upwork. She lived in Gaza and Jerusalem in 2014-2016.

 

About Manara

Manara is a social impact startup whose mission is to connect the top tech talent in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) to the best jobs in the world, with a focus on women and Palestine – especially Gaza. We are backed by the world’s top investors including Y Combinator, Stripe, and Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn.

We identify the top talent in this region, run the largest computer science community with 50% women, provide talent development training, and refer the best engineers to the best companies in our hiring partner network. Our alumni work at companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, and more. Learn more here.