EMPOWERING VOICES

ToumAI and GSMA Advance Local-Language Voice AI for Inclusive Customer Experience in Africa

2026  |  Project Update

Building voice AI for the way people actually speak

ToumAI is advancing Empowering Voices: Local Language Voice AI for Inclusive Customer Experience in Africa, a GSMA-funded initiative focused on making voice-enabled customer experiences more accessible across African markets.

The project brings together three areas of development: local-language voice data, offline voice AI, and user-centred experience design.

Why local language matters

Across telecom and financial services, many digital experiences still depend heavily on text-based interfaces. For customers who are more comfortable speaking a local language or dialect, navigating menus, forms and service journeys can become a barrier to self-service.

Empowering Voices addresses this gap by developing voice experiences designed around real-world multilingual speech, including natural language mixing and regional dialect variation.

From voice to action, even offline

One of the project's technology areas is an offline voice-to-action engine, designed to allow core voice interactions to run directly on a device without requiring a continuous network connection.

This opens potential applications across environments where connectivity is unreliable or where sensitive voice data needs to remain local, from mobile applications and self-service terminals to field tools and other customer-facing environments.

Building better recognition for African languages

The project is also supporting the collection and annotation of voice data for Moroccan darija and Amazigh varieties.

Moroccan darija is already part of ToumAI's production voice capabilities, while Amazigh data collection and annotation are being developed through the project. This work creates a foundation for voice systems that better reflect how people naturally communicate rather than relying solely on general-purpose language models.

Designed with users

Technology is only one part of the project. UX workshops are being used to gather feedback from intended users and identify improvements to voice-enabled customer journeys.

The goal is simple: make digital services easier to access, easier to navigate and more relevant to the people they are designed for.

What's next

The project will continue developing its voice technology and data foundations while bringing the work to market through a dedicated project website, educational content, product materials and industry engagement.

Follow the Empowering Voices project as ToumAI works toward a more inclusive approach to voice AI across African customer experiences.

Interested in exploring local-language voice AI for your organisation?

Get in touch with ToumAI. www.toum.ai/contact

Empowering Voices: Local Language Voice AI for Inclusive Customer Experience in Africa is funded by GSMA.