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Good practice Imported

OpenG 'Superphone' — A Voice-First Smartphone Operating System for Illiterate Users in Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire · Abidjan · See the Côte d'Ivoire profile · See the Abidjan profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 63% 60/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Ivorian firm Cerco built its 'Kone' voice OS, covering 17 national languages plus dozens more, into an 'OpenG' smartphone so people who cannot read or write — about 40% of Côte d'Ivoire's population — can bank or reach government services by voice alone.

200,000 orders
Phone pre-orders received (as of September 2022)
200 Orange telecom shops
Retail distribution points (at national launch)
1,200 young people trained per year
Annual youth training under free-trade-zone partnership (ongoing)
OpenG 'Superphone' — A Voice-First Smartphone Operating System for Illiterate Users in Côte d'Ivoire

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Cerco
Period
2022–2024
Keywords
telecommunications, consumer technology, digital literacy, financial inclusion, e-government access

Context

Cerco, an Ivorian technology and education group founded by Alain Capo-Chichi, built the 'Kone' voice-driven operating system to let people who cannot read or write — about 40% of Côte d'Ivoire's population — use a smartphone by voice alone.

Objectives

The goal was to let illiterate and semi-literate users complete everyday and government-facing tasks, such as checking a bank balance or having an official document read aloud, using spoken commands in their own language rather than text-based menus.

Activities

Kone responds to spoken commands in Baoulé, Bété, Dioula and 14 other languages spoken in Côte d'Ivoire plus around 50 further African languages, and is built into the commercially launched 'OpenG' or 'Superphone' handset, manufactured at the ICT and Biotechnology Village in Grand-Bassam under a government partnership in which Cerco pays no import taxes or customs duties in exchange for training roughly 1,200 young people a year and remitting a share of income to the state; the phone is distributed nationally through 200 Orange telecom shops.

Results

Multiple independent outlets (Africanews, VOA, News24 and TechXplore) reported that Cerco had received 200,000 phone orders as of September 2022, shortly after the product's July 2022 commercial launch.

Conclusions

These are pre-order and sales figures rather than a measured usability or outcomes evaluation, and no independent study of how illiterate users actually use the device day-to-day, or of task-completion and error rates, was found — a gap worth flagging given the strength of the underlying design concept.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Building a multi-language voice OS and standing up in-country manufacturing under a free-trade-zone deal represents a substantial upfront investment, offset by tax exemptions in exchange for local youth training commitments.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Development of the Kone voice OS pre-dated the July 2022 commercial launch of the OpenG/Superphone handset, with national distribution and multi-country expansion plans continuing through 2024.
Staffing & skills
Cerco (Ivorian technology and education group) founded by Alain Capo-Chichi, Manufacturing operated at the ICT and Biotechnology Village in Grand-Bassam, Distribution partnership with 200 Orange telecom shops

Conditions for success

  • Government free-trade-zone partnership exempting Cerco from import taxes and customs duties
  • Commitment to train roughly 1,200 young people a year and remit a share of income to the state
  • National retail distribution network already in place via Orange

Common failure modes

  • No independent usability study of how illiterate users actually operate the device day-to-day
  • No published task-completion or error-rate data
  • Pre-order/sales figures could overstate actual sustained usage without a follow-up outcome evaluation

Where it fits

Governance type
private company with government free-trade-zone partnership
Scale
national with planned expansion to over a dozen additional African countries
Income level
lower-middle-income

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

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Data sources

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