Firm introduces AI Swahili assistant

Dar es Salaam. Sartify, a Tanzania-based AI technology company, has launched the pre-version of ‘Pawa,’ a generative AI assistant designed specifically for Swahili-English speakers.

The assistant, powered by the proprietary ‘Pawa-Mini-v0’ model, is a significant step in Sartify’s mission to democratise AI across Africa.

In an exclusive interview with The Citizen, Sartify’s CEO, Dr Michael Mollel, highlighted the need for such technology, saying, “Swahili is spoken by over 150 million people, yet current AI solutions fail to fully capture the cultural and linguistic nuances of the language. With Pawa, we aim to bridge this gap, ensuring that AI is accessible, secure, and effective for all.”

The pre-version of Pawa is currently available for public use at https://pawa.sartify.com/. Sartify plans to release a more advanced version, ‘Pawa-Mini-v1,’ during the Mozilla Accelerator Demo Day in San Francisco this December.

“The upcoming version will feature APIs for developers to integrate Pawa into chatbots and other applications at a cost-effective rate compared to global competitors,” he revealed.

In addition to being tailored for general knowledge, the new version will excel in specific business applications.

“In the latter version, Sartify will work on the upcoming version, will include new features, such as multimodal capabilities for processing images, videos, and audio, and will be aligned with African languages,” he said.

Dr Mollel lamented that the launch of Pawa aligns with Sartify’sbroader vision to foster innovation across different sectors.

According to Sartify’s Chief AI Officer, Innocent Charles, the Pawa assistant is not only multilingual but also built with African culture in mind, offering a secure, low-cost solution for enterprises and individuals.

“Our assistant is fine-tuned on over 50 billion Swahili-language words, making it the most accurate open AI tool for Swahili-English bilingual users,” Charles added.

He revealed that Pawa offers advanced capabilities, including answering complex questions and understanding both Swahili and English in context.

“Its features aim to ensure that the assistant delivers accurate and culturally relevant responses,” he said.

“Another key feature is Pawa's compact size, which makes it an ideal enterprise solution for organizations prioritizing data security,” he added.

He said unlike many chatbots that rely on OpenAI, where data security remains a concern, Pawa can be deployed within an organization’s infrastructure, ensuring the highest level of data protection while delivering secure and accurate assistance—surpassing the capabilities of most proprietary AI solutions.

The company is also seeing growing recognition from global organizations like Mozilla, AWS, and HuggingFace, who have partnered with Sartify to promote the accessibility of AI technology.

The company is also seeing growing recognition from global organizations like Mozilla, AWS, and HuggingFace, who have partnered with Sartify to promote the accessibility of AI technology.

In addition to being tailored for general knowledge, the new version will excel in specific business applications.

Its work has also attracted global recognition, with partnerships from organizations like Mozilla, Library without Borders, AWS, Enterprise Neurosystem, and HuggingFace supporting its mission to enhance AI accessibility.

Mr Charles said that as Sartify continues its research in AI localization, it aims to increase the inclusion of African languages in the global AI ecosystem.

"We’re building a future where AI is not just accessible but also representative of our diverse cultures. Pawa represents more than technological innovation—it’s a bold step toward redefining Africa’s role in the digital era," he said.