Technology
Intron Incorporates Africa-centric Voice AI into Ogun Judiciary, Others
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa-centric voice technology platform, Intron, has announced its integration into several platforms, including legal services, patient care, and customer experiences across Africa.
The company, which has built a suite of best-in-class speech recognition and text-to-speech AI models specifically for African voices and accents, launched its clinical speech recognition platform in 2022 for hospitals and health ministries throughout Africa. Since then, Intron’s capabilities have expanded, offering advanced real-time voice AI solutions across key sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, legal and government agencies.
According to a statement, these solutions are already driving tangible impact and powering voice applications which outperforms giants like OpenAI, Azure, Google, and AWS at recognising African accents.
Earlier this year, the Ogun State Judiciary adopted Intron Sahara to alleviate the burdens of manual note-taking during court proceedings, allowing judges to focus entirely on the dialogue in the courtroom, enhancing attention, accuracy, and speed.
Testifying to this, the Office of the Chief Registrar, Ogun State High Court said, “Before now, we had to write down everything. It was exhausting and slow. Now, we can focus on what matters. What used to take 4+ hours now concludes in 2–3 hours. My Lord no longer has to write during proceedings. He now focuses entirely on what is being said, ensures everything is properly recorded, and we’re achieving much more in significantly less time than before,”
Sahara has significantly reduced session times, enabling more cases to be heard and expediting the delivery of justice. Focusing on speech AI, Sahara tackles these challenges directly with models trained on local data, accurately recognising heavily accented African names, currencies, numbers, decimals and technical terms where imported platforms fall short.
Also, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health tapped Intron to accelerate the nationwide rollout of its home-grown electronic medical records, using voice-driven documentation and automated translation to ease adoption for clinicians.
At EHA Clinics, a leading hospital with locations in Abuja, Kano, and Lagos, Nigeria, Sahara models cut clinical note times down to 57 seconds for a roughly 100-word report, improving the quality and detail of clinical notes in far less time.
C-Care, Uganda’s largest private hospital network, is also leveraging Sahara to cut patient wait times, reduce errors, and ease documentation across its 20+ hospitals and clinics. Intron also collaborates with several enterprises and organisations like Helium Health in Nigeria, the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA), Rescue.co in Kenya, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Northern Nigeria, and Elephant Healthcare– each driving meaningful and innovative AI applications across Africa.
Digital finance platform, Branch International, is collaborating with Intron to personalise after-hours outbound engagement, improving responsiveness and customer experience using Sahara CX Intelligence–advanced low-latency human-like conversational voice agents.
Sahara is built on a proprietary dataset of more than 3.5 million audio clips from over 18,000 speakers across 30+ countries, powered by Intron’s patented AccentMix algorithm and years of focused R&D. Intron’s speech-to-text models recognise over 300 distinct African accents and dialects, from Ghanaian English to Zulu-inflected speech. Its deep exposure to African speech patterns also enables stronger performance on North African and Arabic-English accents, surpassing expectations beyond its explicit training, outperforming several frontier voice AI models.
On the back of this breakthrough and most-recent warchest of over 30,000 hours of local language data in 64+ languages from over 32,000 speakers, Intron is training its next-generation Sahara-Titan model, a single advanced AI model that can understand, transcribe, and translate between 20 of Africa’s top languages like Swahili, Hausa, and Zulu.
Similarly, Sahara-Primus will be able to generate fluent, high-quality, and natural-sounding speech in 20 African languages–advanced models that are long overdue and in high demand, ushering in a new era of compelling user experiences across the continent.
Speaking further on this, Mr Tobi Olatunji, CEO of Intron, says, “Intron represents a future where no community is left behind by technology. Our recent industry-leading benchmarks show what’s possible when Africa builds for itself. Sahara is more than a technical breakthrough; it’s an ecosystem victory. Rather than rail against Big Tech model bias, why not build better models?”
“Intron was born in the busiest hospital wards, where background noise and scarce resources made accurate speech recognition a daily battle. We built for the hardest environment first, and now our technology scales effortlessly to courts, call centres and content creators. I’m proud of what our team has achieved – but we’re not alone. African AI is rising fast, built by local talent and data. Now is the moment to support, build and buy African so no community is left behind,” he added.
Following a $1.6 million pre-seed raise in 2024, Intron has accelerated R&D, bolstered both cloud-native and on-premises deployments, and continues to grow its Research, Engineering, and Growth teams. The company now serves over 40 organisations across 8 countries, the company continues to evolve from its roots in healthcare, becoming the voice-infrastructure layer of choice for startups and enterprises across Africa.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
As part of broader Africa-focused Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives, Google has launched the AI Skilling Blueprint for Africa, designed to help governments build a future-proof workforce.
The programme provides governments with a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to formulate national skilling strategies. It focuses on developing three critical cohorts: AI Learners, who will gain foundational AI literacy; AI Implementers, professionals upskilled to integrate AI tools into their work; and AI Innovators, deep technical experts dedicated to building the next generation of AI solutions.
Africa is home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. The continent shows immense potential for AI-driven economic growth.
However, new research highlights a significant challenge: while optimism for AI is exceptionally high, reaching 95 per cent in Nigeria and 76 per cent in South Africa, 55 per cent of firms across the continent report needing AI talent more than financing. Closing this skills gap is key to unlocking Africa’s opportunity.
Google’s Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Doron Avni, explained that, “The AI Skilling Blueprint provides a clear roadmap for governments to build the workforce of the future.
“By also investing in AI-ready data and expert local organisations and partners, we are helping build the interconnected ecosystem needed for a prosperous, AI-driven future for the continent.”
As part of its broader initiatives, Google also announced $2.25 million to support projects building trustworthy public data sets for AI by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and PARIS21.
This contribution will help national statistical offices modernize their infrastructure and empower decision-makers with the reliable data they need to address challenges from food security to economic growth.
“For Africa to drive sustainable development, evidence-based policymaking is indispensable. This requires accessible, reliable, and AI-ready data.
“This effort is a crucial step forward. By building a Regional Data Commons, we can empower African institutions with the data and tools they need to make strategic choices that will drive growth and prosperity,” the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Claver Gatete, said.
Finally, building on its $7.5 million Google.org Skilling Fund commitment, Google announced the first set of expert social impact organizations who will receive funding to execute on projects consistent with its skilling mission, including FATE Foundation and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), which will embed advanced AI curricula into universities; and JA Africa and CyberSafe Foundation, which will advance crucial work in online safety and digital literacy.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with the African Institute of Management Sciences on the Advanced AI UpSkilling Project, with support from Google.org. This groundbreaking initiative is a direct response to the urgent need for deep AI competencies in Africa, empowering tertiary institutions, lecturers, and students in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.
“This strategic support aligns perfectly with FATE Foundation’s mission to foster innovation and sustainable economic growth across the continent, ensuring Africa is fully equipped to lead in the global technological future,” the Executive Director for FATE Foundation, Adenike Adeyemi, stated.
“We live in an age defined by rapid technological change and our mission at JA Africa is to ensure that African youth are not left behind. However, even as we engage our youth in more digital programs and encourage AI literacy, we are fully aware of the harmful effects of unchecked online exposure and, therefore, invest equally in protecting their data, physical safety and mental wellbeing.
“Through this support from Google.org, we will give young people the tools, knowledge, and confidence they need to navigate the digital world safely and responsibly,” the chief executive of Junior Achievement Africa, Simi Nwogugu, remarked.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Global technology firm, Zoho, has enhanced its all-in-one business software platform known as Zoho One with improve security, and deeper intelligence across all over 50 applications.
The company improved the user interface, placing context at the centre of the user journey and removes traditional boundaries between applications.
Spaces now organise tools by purpose—such as Personal, Organisation, and Department-specific groups—enabling employees to access what they need without switching between apps. A centralised search bar spans the entire ecosystem, allowing users to find information or trigger workflows instantly.
An enhanced Action Panel provides a full view of upcoming meetings, unread messages, pending tasks, and other key updates, helping employees remain informed regardless of which app they are using.
The updated Dashboard consolidates data from Zoho and third-party apps into one central hub that can be customised using pre-existing or bespoke widgets.
The platform also introduced Vani, a new visual-first collaboration space that supports brainstorming, planning, and creation through diagrams, whiteboards, mind maps, and integrated video calling.
A central integrations panel enables administrators to monitor and configure all connections. Foundational integrations bring application-specific portals—Zoho or third-party—into a single unified portal. Practical tasks such as domain verification and authentication can now be configured more easily.
The new Smart Offboarding feature introduces outcome-based integrations, allowing organisations to transfer department ownership, manage employee device data, and determine data access rights within a single workflow, ensuring smooth transitions.
Also, Zia, Zoho’s AI assistant, is now accessible throughout Zoho One, providing unified intelligence that supports decision-making and improves productivity. Zia can aggregate and contextualise information from various platforms, including third-party systems such as Google Workspace, and present it as clear, actionable insight.
Zia Hubs, the platform’s intelligent content management system, now has a dedicated space where contracts, meeting recordings, and other important assets are automatically organised. Through Zia Search, employees can quickly surface relevant information without navigating multiple locations.
In addition, Ask Zia, available from the bottom toolbar, enables prompt-based searches across Zoho One, providing quick visibility into schedules, tasks, recent interactions, and other key details.
Commenting on the changes, the Country Head for Zoho Nigeria, Mr Kehinde Ogundare, said, “The Zoho One update reflects how work has evolved from using individual applications to operating within a unified platform.
“Zoho One customers are not simply licensing apps; they are choosing a solution that allows Zoho to handle the technology while they focus on productivity. The enhancements announced today deliver a cohesive experience built on unified integrations, context, and data.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The unlimited data market in Nigeria is getting more robust with MTN Nigeria joining the fray.
The company, in a statement, said it has launched its Unlimited Broadband Data plans powered by 5G technology.
The new plans are available in speed-based variants of 50Mbps and 100Mbps, designed to cater to a wide range of users and smart homes.
New customers that purchase a 5G router will enjoy a welcome bonus offer of unlimited data for the first 30 days, allowing them to experience the Power of Unlimited 5G!
It aims to convert interest into subscription through immediate incentives such as attractive bundles and device tie-ins, offering exclusive deals on 5G routers to ease the transition for new users.
MTN Nigeria said its new Unlimited Broadband Data plans were tailored to resolve major frustrations faced by Nigerian internet users, capped data volume limits, high costs, and unstable connectivity.
The new proposition is positioned by the company as a transformative product intended to support high-demand users, from streamers and gamers to households and businesses requiring uninterrupted connectivity.
The unlimited broadband data plans focus on providing the necessary high-speed infrastructure to support contemporary Nigerian digital demands and enable customers to Stay Limitless. This includes guaranteeing the stable connection required for virtual meetings and large file transfers, crucial for remote work and digital lifestyle expressions. It also aims to facilitate uninterrupted online learning, high-definition streaming, and professional online gaming.
The technology company is differentiating its plan by highlighting the capabilities of its network, promising lightning-fast speeds and ultra-low latency, a direct response to the pervasive problem of connection lag and buffering.
Furthermore, the network will offer affordable and flexible options, designed to cater to diverse economic segments, ensuring accessibility for both individuals and households.
Customers interested in the new Unlimited Broadband Plans can access them by dialing *461*1#, on MyMTNApp, MTN eShop, MTN website, visiting any authorised retail store, or by speaking with an agent to enquire about available packages.
“We’re building a broadband experience for everyday life; content creators, remote workers, gamers, students and households.
“Our focus is on speed, reliability, low latency, and affordability. Broadband is designed to deliver seamless connectivity that empowers Nigerians to thrive in the digital economy,” the Chief Broadband Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr Egerton Idehen, stated.
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