Meet The Small Startup Behind Nigeria’s Multilingual AI Model

A year after launching its AI research lab, Awarri, a small Lagos-based startup, has become the driving force behind Nigeria’s first government-backed multilingual Large Language Model (LLM).

Nigeria’s multilingual LLM

Nigeria’s first multilingual LLM is developed by Awarri in partnership with global tech entity DataDotOrg, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the National Centre for AI and Robotics (NCAIR).

Initially, it will trained in five of Nigeria’s commonly spoken languages – Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ibibio and Pidgin – as well as accented English.

Awarri, founded by Silas Adekunle and Eniola Edun in 2019, has taken the lead in this project despite being a newcomer in the AI industry, according to Rest of World.

Awarri: Enabling AI for Africa

Awarri’s journey began with its co-founders’ prior experiences in the gaming industry.

Adekunle’s previous venture, Reach Robotics, gained fame through a partnership with Apple to distribute its MekaMon robot.  This background in technology and innovation has fueled Awarri’s current AI endeavors. 

In 2023, the company also launched a data annotation lab in Lagos, which employs over 100 workers and is tasked with data collection, annotation, and the creation of language models. 

This effort is supported by LangEasy, an app launched by Awarri to crowdsource voice and text data from users across Nigeria. 

This approach aims to gather extensive data to train their LLM, with initial targets of 24,000 hours of audio and long-term goals reaching up to 500,000 hours.

Image Credit: Awarri