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Nigeria’s Intron adds 57 languages to AI speech platform
Nigeria’s AI startup Intron expands it’s speech platform to 57 languages
Intron, a Nigerian artificial intelligence startup has expanded its speech recognition platform, Sahara, to support 57 languages, adding 24 new ones as it scales operations across healthcare, legal, financial services, and telecommunications.
The upgraded Sahara v2, includes 23 African languages and supports more than 500 African accents. Newly added languages include Hausa, Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo, isiZulu, Kinyarwanda, Twi, isiXhosa, Amharic, and Wolof, among others. The company said language selection was driven by commercial demand.
Intron also introduces the world’s first bilingual Swahili-English automatic speech recognition model designed to handle code-switching, alongside new text-to-speech features and offline deployment options for enterprise users.
The development comes amid growing interest in voice technology across Africa, where most of the continent’s estimated 2,000 languages are primarily spoken rather than written. Industry projections show the global speech recognition market could reach $81.59 billion by 2032.
According to Intron, Sahara was trained with locally sourced voice data to better capture African accents, dialects, and speech patterns. The company’s internal benchmarks using African voice datasets showed the platform outperformed global systems such as Gemini, GPT-4, Whisper, ElevenLabs, and Azure by up to 64% in recognising African names, organisations, and locations.
It also reported 35% better performance with numbers, 20% stronger accuracy in noisy or multi-speaker environments, and 25% higher cross-domain accuracy across key sectors.
“We curated datasets of African voices and made them publicly testable so global models can be evaluated on African speech,” said Tobi Olatunji, founder and chief executive officer of Intron.
Founded in 2020 by Olatunji and Olakunle Asekun, the company initially built clinical documentation tools before expanding into broader voice infrastructure. Sahara now powers speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and voice authentication systems for enterprise and government clients.
Intron said it currently records consistent usage in at least six African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Its clients include the Ogun State Judiciary and Audere, which uses the platform to transcribe WhatsApp voice messages across multiple accents.
Sahara v2 was built using more than 14 million audio clips, representing over 50,000 hours of speech from more than 40,000 speakers across 30 African countries. The company said much of its early medical speech data had to be created internally due to a lack of existing datasets.
The bilingual Swahili-English model was developed in partnership with Penda Health to address real-time language switching common in clinical settings. Intron said additional bilingual models for languages such as Yoruba, Hausa, Zulu, and Kinyarwanda are in development.
The company also launched a Hausa text-to-speech model aimed at powering multilingual voice applications for call centres, healthcare services, and financial platforms.
While Sahara is primarily cloud-based, Intron has introduced offline deployment through a partnership with Nvidia, enabling the system to run on edge devices in low-connectivity environments.
Intron said it complies with local data protection regulations and allows clients to choose between local and cloud data storage.
The company plans to raise $3 million later in 2026 to expand language coverage and further develop bilingual and sector-specific models.
Jos is set to come alive in Arsenal colours as fans across Plateau State prepare for the much-anticipated Jos Arsenal Victory Parade, UEFA Champions League Watch Party, and Arsenal Awards Night in what promises to be one of the biggest fan gatherings in the city.
The event, described as the ultimate Gooners’ link-up, will bring together Arsenal supporters from across the state for an evening packed with celebration, entertainment, and football passion — with free entry for everyone.
Activities kick off on Saturday, May 30, with the Victory Parade scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM sharp from Terminus, by Zenith Bank, as fans are expected to flood the streets in Arsenal jerseys to celebrate in style.
The celebration will then move to Tamarald Event Centre (Outdoor), off Old Airport Junction, from 4:00 PM, where guests will enjoy an exciting lineup of activities.
Organisers have promised premium entertainment featuring free party jollof for the first 50 attendees, sizzling barbecue, music performances, comedy, dance showcases, special Arsenal awards presentations, and the official launch of a brand-new Arsenal-themed song.
Supporters are simply encouraged to show up in their Arsenal jerseys and be part of the unforgettable experience.
The event is supported by Areo Global Services, Malangwa Media Empire, Nugroove Multimedia, Grace Dimensions Ministries, Dabels Cakes and Catering, Jos Metro Foods, Da Zone Concepts, Joe B Entertainment, Royal K.O.C, and the Gunners Rhythm Gang.
For enquiries, support, and table reservations, interested participants can contact:
07031001105
08126007839
For Jos Gooners, this is more than an event — it is a celebration of football, community, and Arsenal pride.
Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Sekou Chelle has hinted that he will unleash another ‘surprise package’ on his team’s next opponent at this year’s ongoing Unity Cup in London, Sports247 reports.
Speaking against the backdrop of Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe in the competition’s opening match at Charlton Athletic FC’s home ground, The Valley, Chelle said he was impressed with what his array of rookies were able to achieve against The Warriors.
While not singling out any of the lads for particular mention, the Franco-Malian tactician admitted he was surprised by the team’s performance, considering that most of the lads were playing together for the first time.
The former coach of Mali’s national team and MC Oran football club of Algeria further hinted that many of those who featured in Tuesday’s game justified their inclusion in the list of invitees and showed that they can even be counted on to feature in the main Nigerian squad.
With his eyes now fully set on Saturday’s final at the same venue, Chelle inferred that he may not roll out the same starting 11, considering that some of Nigeria’s Grade-A players are also in camp and were rested for the opening game in order to give the rookies their own opportunities to shine.
However, Chelle noted further that there’s a strong likelihood of the next clash being against perennial Unity Cup rivals, Jamaica, who dragged the Eagles into penalties’ shootout before Nigeria could win last year’s final at Brentford’s BTech Stadium also in London.
With that in mind, the gaffer is already thinking of tinkering his squad list for the final but, while keeping hid plans close to his chest, Chelle stressed that the enthusiasm of all the lads in camp has made it possible for him to roll out tactical surprises at will.
Chelle said, “I was truly surprised by the performance of the players against Zimbabwe. I was surprised, because they played as if they had been together for six months or one year.
“In reality, it was the first time, but they showed that we can always make surprises happen in the Unity Cup. We are now looking at the next opponent in the final.”
Sports247 gathered that there is a strong possibility that Wilfred Oyinyen Ndidi will captain the squad on Saturday, while Moses Simon and Jerome Akor Adams line out alongside new rave of the moment, Femi Azeez, in attack.
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