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Our story
Yalla means "let's go." It is a word that reflects movement, optimism, and collective action. It captures the belief that progress happens when people build together.
Yalla Labs grew out of Yalla Cooperative, a worker-owned technology cooperative founded to create fairer ways of building digital products. Since 2017, Yalla Cooperative has partnered with charities, researchers, and mission-driven organisations to design websites, platforms, and digital services that create positive social impact. Nearly half of our team is Palestinian, and our work has always been shaped by values of equity, collaboration, and shared ownership.
As the situation in Gaza became increasingly devastating, we watched colleagues, friends, and partners lose not only their homes and communities, but also access to their careers, professional networks, and the opportunity to continue doing the work they loved. It became clear that equitable opportunities alone were no longer enough. The barriers they faced required a different response.
Yalla Labs was created in 2025as that response.
Rather than creating a charity built around aid, we created a non-profit technology studio with a sustainable purpose. We partner with charities, researchers, and mission-driven organisations to build open digital products that respond to real challenges, while creating paid, trauma-aware opportunities for displaced Palestinian technologists to continue practising their profession.
Our model recognises that meaningful work can provide more than income. It can restore agency, confidence, connection, and a sense of purpose during periods of displacement and uncertainty. We design projects with this in mind, working with organisations that understand these realities and are committed to building technology through collaboration, flexibility, and trust.
The vision for Yalla Labs was deeply influenced by our co-founder, Ramy Al Shurafa. Ramy believed that technology should always serve people and communities, and that talented engineers should have the opportunity to build meaningful work regardless of the circumstances they faced. His belief in open technology, generosity, and excellence continues to shape how we work today.
Our ambition is simple; We want to demonstrate that the people closest to complex social challenges should also have the opportunity to help build the technologies that address them. By bringing together mission-driven organisations and displaced technologists, we hope to create digital products that are more thoughtful, more inclusive, and more capable of creating lasting social impact.
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