Michel Bega

By Michel Bega

Multimedia Editor


WATCH: A phone that speaks 50 languages

"Open" is a phone designed for people who cannot read or write, and it speaks 50 languages!


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The phone has been designed by Beninese Alain Capo Chichi and is manufactured in Ivory Coast.

“For parents, it’s very important. When you ask them their phone number, they can’t say it, because they actually don’t know their phone number”, the creator of the Open phone says.

“Beyond the 50 languages we have already done, including the 16 Ivorian languages, we want to reach 1 000 African languages, he adds.

The Open phone already has 2 000 users registered, including from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Clients have found using the Open phone is easy because all they have to do is verbally ask for what they need.

The phone is manufactured in Grand-Bassam, east of Abidjan in Ivory Coast.

Chichi is the first entrepreneur to set up a computer assembly plant in West Africa.

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